11. 5.2012
tim rosaforte
flick’s legacy will live on
Jim flick was taking his final
calls late last week. His body
ravaged by pancreatic cancer,
his strength sapped by not
being able to eat, the 82-year-
old swing instructor came
to the phone friday morning
just to say goodbye. after i
called, so did golf channel
analyst brandel chamblee.
after chamblee, it was beau
Hossler, the high-school
junior from southern califor-
nia who played so well at the
u.s. open this summer. “it
was difficult, but it was a call
i needed to make,” Hossler
said, breaking down. “He was
almost like a grandfather.”
instructor when they worked
at frenchman’s creek in
florida. “day after day he’d
not say a word, just watch-
ing,” nicklaus said from his
home in north palm beach,
fla. “He could see what we
did, he could understand
what grout was doing, and
he changed his way of teach-
ing because of that.”
Junior golfers, renaming
the Kingdom (the state-of-
the-art club-fitting facility
at taylormade) the “flick
Kingdom,” and building
a library in his name. “He
passed on a lot of thoughts
that i tried to capture.”
ue the legacy. when i spoke
to flick during Hossler’s run
at olympic club, he talked
about passing down what he
learned from nicklaus and
bob toski. “grip pressure and
transition with his feet from
the ground up,” toski said.
“to me, that’s what sepa-
rates great players.”
young or old, we all felt the
same way, from the 17-year-
old Hossler to 72-year-
old Jack nicklaus. when
nicklaus came to desert
mountain in 1990 for his
champions tour debut, flick
was there to play Jack grout,
turning a frustrated golden
bear into a tradition win-
ner. as a teaching pro in the
early 1970s, flick sat behind
nicklaus and his childhood
over the last week flick took
calls from former president
george H.w bush, former
supreme court Justice
sandra day o’connor and
Home depot co-founder
arthur blank. other than
phil mickelson, who stopped
by on his way to the Hsbc
champions, or lyle ander-
son, the developer of desert
mountain where Jim was
once director of instruction,
taylormade ceo mark King
was the only one flick would
allow visitation.
it was King who gave flick
the platform for the final
stages of his career, and
tom lehman who put a
spotlight on it during his
victory at the charles
schwab cup champion-
ship. “He’s got a whole
stable of kids that became
his passion,” said lehman.
“Jack has faded away from
competitive golf and i’ve
gotten older, but these
young kids, whenever i go
there, he’s just got one kid
after another coming in to
work with him and he loves
it. it kept him young.”
and what separated flick
from other great instruc-
tors? “it wasn’t so much the
swing as it was the life les-
sons that were invaluable,”
Hossler said. “without him,
i wouldn’t be anywhere
near where i am right now.
He’s always there for me.”
and he always will be, for
more than just beau.
“i’d literally lay in bed, hold
his hand and talk golf,” King
said. they also discussed
a Jim flick foundation for
flick’s work in 2006 with
aJga players of the year
philip francis and esther
choe at desert mountain
started it. Hossler will contin-
cover // contents // 10 tHings // pga tour // cHampions tour //lpga tour // equipment // tim rosaforte
