39 minute read
INDULGE
CURATING CASHMERE
The word alone makes you feel cozy and pampered. But not all cashmere is created equal.
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“Good cashmere is like artwork,” says Holly Adam, a cashmere expert and longtime fashion industry insider . Fortunately, though, it costs a bit less than a Matisse. The reason is simple: Cashmere is rare. It’s a natural fiber that is combed from the underbelly of goats, and it take three or four of those bellies to produce your average sweater.
“High-end designers justify their high-end prices by selecting the best-quality, pure white fibers, which like most of the best things on earth, come in smaller batches,” says Holly. “The resulting sweaters (often made in Italy and Scotland) fit better, last longer and soften with age versus the mass-produced stuff, which is often made in China.”
Purchase the real deal, take care of it, and it should last forever. Holly recommends the following: Use a D-Fuzz-It to remove piling. Hand wash your garments a few times a season with a very small amount of mild soap, such as baby shampoo, Dreft or Fels-Naptha. Do not wring out your sweaters; roll them in a towel to remove excess moisture. Lay flat to air dry and touch up with a warm iron if necessary.
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1 Lightweight
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SLATER ZORN
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4 Men’s Cashmere
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5 Modern Madras Cashmere Scarf
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JOHN LAING
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7 Women’s Boot
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9 Men’s Striped
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Styled by Angela Akers
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QUEEN OF CASHMERE
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11 Sugar Kane
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QUEEN OF CASHMERE
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DIAMONDS & THE ROUGH
Atlanta Braves aces Smoltz, Maddux, Avery and Glavine made golf key to their winning rotation.
By Steve Hummer
Could there ever be a better day, at least on this side of the pearly gates?
A rare summertime gap in the baseball schedule. Four teammates who were also great friends, all sharing a common passion for golf and the connections to indulge it. And a tee time on the top-rated golf course in America.
As this perfect tableau came together years ago at the Pine Valley (New Jersey) Golf Club, Greg Maddux counted himself the luckiest man alive. “I remember saying to one of the guys, ‘You know what? It’s a good thing we can throw a strike. Because if we couldn’t, we wouldn’t be walking down this fairway right now,” he recalls.
AND THE PITCH IS... Below: Maddux takes aim at his Maddux Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic in Las Vegas
Turns out that one of the best parts of being a major league pitcher is all the great golf you get to play. And one of the best parts of being on the Braves staff of the 1990s/early-2000s was the culture of playing as much golf as possible, especially on the road.
The only rule: No playing either on the day before or the day of your scheduled start. And even that one got stretched.
Former Braves starter Steve Avery remembers getting familiar with the fl ora while trying to cover up his transgressions from manager Bobby Cox. “I remember crossing him on the course on a day before I was supposed to pitch,” Steve says. “I sort of dived into the bushes to try to hide from him. I’m not sure if he ever saw me. We tended to skirt around that rule. Golf was like an addiction to us.”
Perhaps no group of players before or since put the diversion of golf to better use than those one-time Braves starters who made up one of the best staff s of their time. Maybe of any time. Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine were voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year, along with Bobby Cox. And John Smoltz is a serious candidate for enshrinement next year.
The cast on the course changed slightly according to the comings and goings of players and each day’s pitching schedule, but the Foundation Foursome would have to be Maddux, Avery, Glavine and Smoltz.
Other teams wanted their players nowhere near a course during the season. They thought it would blur their focus on baseball. Maddux’s fi rst team, the Chicago Cubs, fi ned any of its guys who skipped off to the course before reporting to the ballpark. Just what a diff erent world Maddux entered in 1993 was made evident on one of his fi rst road trips with the Braves. On the morning before the game, he was in the hotel lobby buying coff ee and a paper when he happened upon his new manager. “What are you doing here?” Cox asked him. “Why aren’t you out playing golf?” “When I got to Atlanta, I was SMOLTZIE HAS ACCOMPLISHED A told by Smoltzie that it was kind of a requirement to play golf if you’re with the Braves—which I didn’t have LOT IN THIS GAME, BUT I DON’T THINK a problem with,” Maddux says. “I loved the game. I always played in the off -season, but once the season HE GETS ENOUGH CREDIT FOR started I put the clubs up.” Dealing with a laundry list of arm and shoulder injuries during his HIS ABILITY TO COORDINATE GOLF.” career, Smoltz credited the camaraderie of the golf course with extending his career. He was the concierge for the group, lining up invitations to the best courses, arranging transportation, even lodging on occasion.
He was the one who kept the little black book of the important people to call to get access to some of the most exclusive tracks. “Smoltzie has accomplished a lot in this game, but I don’t think he gets enough credit for his ability to coordinate golf,” Maddux jokes.
Golf was the not-so-secret weapon of a group of pitchers who were at the heart of the Braves dynasty (14 straight division titles between 1991 and 2005). “Its benefi ts were two-fold,” Glavine says. “Number one, it was fun. We enjoyed being out there, the playing and competing and goofi ng around and all that stuff .”
He continues, “Also, yeah, there was some therapeutic value to it. I don’t care what you do, when you were doing what we were doing nine months out of the year, it gets monotonous sometimes. You need to have the outlet to get away from it, get away from your job so to speak. For all of us, and certainly for me, on those days where you went out and pitched and had a bad game, it was kind of nice to go out the next day and play golf to get your mind off it and recharge a little bit.”
How serious was this need to golf during the season? When Smoltz went to the bullpen for a stint as the Braves closer (2001 to 2004), there were all kinds of questions surrounding the move: Could he physically adapt? Did he have the mentality to close? Was it the best thing for his tender elbow?
And signifi cantly, how would it aff ect his ability to play golf? After all, there are no set off days for closers, and Smoltz would be in the position of breaking the no-golf-on-days-you-pitch edict.
While Cox cleared him to do both, there were front offi ce concerns. The team’s general manager once questioned Smoltz about the arrangement—ironically on a golf course during a round that the pitcher had arranged.
As Smoltz wrote in his book Starting and Closing in reference to a remarkable 2002 season: “Fifty-fi ve saves later, no one said another word to me about it.” There was just no way that these players were going to break with a habit that provided them such a useful distraction from the stresses of their profession and such a wealth of memorable moments.
PITCH N’ PUTT Our Fairways and Mounds Analysis
How They Pitched ... ... and How They Putted
GREG MADDUX
Years Pitched: 1986–2008 (1986–1992 Chicago Cubs; 1993–2003 Atlanta Braves; 2006 & 2008 Los Angeles Dodgers; 2007–2008 San Diego Padres) Won-Lost: 355-227 ERA: 3.16 Honors: Hall of Fame (2014); four-time National League Cy Young Award winner (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995); eight-time All Star; 18-time Gold Glove winner
Years Pitched: 1987–2008 (1987–2002 & 2008 Atlanta Braves; 2003–2007 New York Mets) Won-Lost: 305-203 ERA: 3.54 Honors: Hall of Fame (2014); two-time National League Cy Young Award winner (1991 & 1998); 10-time All Star; 1995 World Series MVP
Years Pitched: 1988–2009 (1988–2008 Atlanta Braves; 2009 Boston Red Sox; 2009 St. Louis Cardinals) Won-Lost: 213-155 Saves: 154 ERA: 3.33 Honors: 1996 National League Cy Young Award winner; 2002 Rolaids Relief Man of the Year; eight-time All Star; 1992 NLCS MVP
Years Pitched: 1990–2003 (1990–1996 Atlanta Braves; 1997–1998 Boston Red Sox; 1999 Cincinnati Reds; 2003 Detroit Tigers) Won-Lost: 96-83 ERA: 4.19 Honors: One-time All Star; 1991 NLCS MVP
TOM GLAVINE
JOHN SMOLTZ
STEVE AVERY
Handicap: 4 Low round: 69, Spyglass. “I’ve had a couple 67s, 68s on my home course (in Las Vegas), but that’s not the same thing. Your low round shouldn’t count on your home course.” On golf now: “For me, golf is 100% pure recreation. I enjoy the game; I try to play with people I’m going to enjoy spending three or four hours with. I’m there to enjoy the game, enjoy the day, to enjoy even the lunch afterward. Obviously I do want to play well, but it’s not about what you shoot; it’s about the enjoyment you get from it.” A teammate’s assessment: “Greg plays very similarly to how he pitched— not overpowering by any stretch of the imagination. Very detail-oriented. Very much a thought process trying to play the smart shot, the right shot, the shot that fi t his game. Not as consistent on the golf course as he was on the pitching mound.” – Glavine
Handicap: 3 Low round: 71. “One-under, somewhere in Florida during spring training.” On golf now: “The big thing is, I’ve had the chance to take some lessons and have begun understanding my swing. I guess it’s similar to when I was pitching. I understand the mechanics of my swing a little bit better now, so I know what adjustments I need to make within the round to kind of hold the round together, where before I had no idea.” A teammate’s assessment: “He could hit it sneaky long like nobody you could imagine, because of the cocky wrists. His only faux pas, he’d have that one or two blow-up holes where a big number would come. Glavine made the best adjustment and got better quicker than anyone.” – Smoltz
Handicap: Scratch. Low round: 63, the Floridian in Palm City, FL On golf now: “I’ve talked about trying to get the guys back together on an Ireland/Scotland trip, when everyone is a little less busy. I really want to set that up with as many guys as possible that we played with. Don’t know if there’ll ever be a perfect time frame or not. I’m determined to put that together before we get too old to swing the club.” A teammate’s assessment: “He’s legit, really good. He’s a little bit better than everybody’s club champion and a good notch or two below a Tour player. The Tour players, there’s something elite, something special about those guys. Then you have the rest of the golf world. Smoltzie is pretty high up the totem pole in that world.” – Maddux
Handicap: 4 Low round: 68, Country Club of the South, Johns Creek, GA On golf now: “I play in a golf league in the summer. In the winter it’s too cold to do anything [he lives in Michigan]. When I retired I thought I’d keep playing as much, but with three kids you get busy. I don’t play nearly as much as I used to.” A teammate’s assessment: “Raw strength. He hit the ball a mile. And it was all about his direction on any given day. He hit the ball farther than any of us, Smoltzie included. But it was just a question of what direction it was going on any given day. If it was going straight, you knew you were in trouble.” – Glavine
They played the sublime: Medinah Country Club when the course was closed, just four players with this classic course to themselves. As they rolled along on the back nine, here came one of the cooks laden with food, and the group paused for a picnic on the 14th hole.
And they played the absurd: back in Atlanta at the Country Club of the South. Smoltz had just crossed a footbridge, when he was startled by the sound of a loud splash behind him. Glavine, a graceful athlete who might have had a career in hockey had baseball not interceded, had fallen in.
“All I remember seeing when I turned around was one club sticking out of water and a head coming up,” Smoltz says. “He had completely gone under, lost the lost club in his left hand and saved the club in his right hand.”
That didn’t stop Glavine. “Just across the fairway was his house,” Smoltz continues. “He went and changed clothes and finished the round. All I could hear every time before I addressed the ball was this splash and the visual of him in the water, and I couldn’t stop laughing. He didn’t miss a beat and went on like nothing happened.” (Both men insist no beer was involved.)
Sometimes there was a Goony Golf feel to their rounds. Like the time during spring training in Florida when Avery spotted a dead bass in a lake, retrieved it and put it in Maddux’s cart. Later, in retribution, Maddux stuffed the carcass into the hole at No. 9.
Nonetheless, one of the members of the group chipped in—despite the smelly obstacle. Former PGA Tour pro Billy Andrade happened to be playing with them that day.
Most people retire to play more golf. After these guys retired from baseball, their golf actually suffered. “I guarantee you none of us are playing near as much as we thought we would once we retired,” Glavine says.
Smoltz, the best player of the group who often single-handedly took on the other three players’ best ball, has harbored dreams of joining the over-50 Champions Tour one day. But aching shoulders—he recently had surgery on his non-pitching left one—may short-circuit that.
While the former teammates went their own way as their baseball careers ended, playing little together afterward, there is an opportunity upcoming for a very special reunion: sometime in late July, in the village of Cooperstown, New York, when Maddux and Glavine are inducted into the Hall of Fame.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to go there a couple times, and they do have a nice golf course there,” Maddux said, just before he was voted into the Hall. “I’m not afraid to pack my clubs.”
This summer, when baseball turns its attention to Cooperstown, how fitting would it be if Maddux and Glavine were delivered to the induction ceremony—and into the embrace of sporting immortality—by golf cart?
THE GRAPE
AND THEGREEN
Napa Valley marks the perfect spot to indulge in all things fine. A golfer dreaming of the perfect vacation might ask why the scenic splendor of Napa Valley isn’t cherry-topped by an abundance of world-class golf, but the answer is simple: All that vineyard real estate is worth more for grape farming than it is for bunker building. You’d have to charge $100 for every available tee time and then fill every tee time 365 days a year to pull as much money from a golf course as you can from a plot of fine cabernet. But here’s why that doesn’t matter: The courses Napa has are plenty good, and you’re playing in America’s greatest wine and food area— By Scott Gummer the Tuscany of California. Napa’s windy roads invite you to get lost and take in the scenery. Drive in almost any direction—we recommend a convertible when the weather suits—and you’ll find spectacular offerings to taste and sip. But it’s also a worthy place to savor the fairway. We’re happy to report that the crisp ring of contact and the clink of a glass pair quite nicely, thank you. Here’s how.
NAPA’S FINE GREEN The 16th at Silverado’s North Course from the air.
TASTING 1,2,3 Top: Duckhorn Estate and Vineyards’ outdoor tasting room. Bottom: The chateau at Inglenook.
Francis and Eleanor Coppola bought parts and parcels of the Inglenook estate and returned it to its historic splendor. The iconic wine brand has been revitalized with a flagship red, Rubicon, and a white Rhone-style blend, Blancaneaux. inglenook.com
Rutherford Hill offers a “winemaker for a day” program that provides guests the opportunity to blend and bottle their very own merlot, complete with cork and label. rutherfordhill.com
The hit indie film Bottle Shock was based loosely on the story of Chateau Montelena’s 1973 chardonnay being honored—in an epic upset—as the finest white wine in the world at the celebrated Paris Tasting of 1976. The grounds are among the valley’s most impressive, with the hillside stone castle overlooking a lake and Chinese garden.
montelena.com
Sparkling wine lovers and architectural buffs will be duly impressed with Domaine Carnero—the former by the luxury cuvée Le Rêve Blanc de Blancs and the latter with the digs inspired by the historic Chatêau de la Marquetterie. domainecarneros.com
Napa Valley is perhaps best known for cabernet sauvignon, and no one does it quite as uniquely as Palmaz Vineyards, where the winemaking occurs within the rock of Mount George. The wine cave is 18 stories tall, allowing Palmaz to practice gravity-flow winemaking; not pumping is said to preserve the molecular integrity of the wine.
palmazvineyards.com
Dan and Margaret Duckhorn founded Duckhorn Vineyards in 1976, and they’ve spent more than three decades, establishing themselves as one of North America’s premier producers of Bordeaux varietal wines. Duckhorn’s Estate House provides a stunning, intimate space for a seated tasting with views of the vineyards and the Napa River. duckhorn.com
FOODIE FEST Top: Bottega, buttered biscuits from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc. Bottom: Gott’s classic cheeseburger.
DEBORAH JONES (EXCERPTED FROM AD HOC AT HOME; ARTISAN BOOKS).
Bottega does bold Italian food with flair. Grilled shortrib meatballs with Sicilian heirloom tomato sauce, wood-grilled octopus with olive oil-braised Ruby Crescent potatoes, and potato dough raviolo filled with spinach and ricotta are a few crowd favorites that reflect both the rustic and the refined. Large tables invite communal feasting. Chef Michael Chiarello is the Emmy-winning host of Food Network’s Easy Entertaining. botteganapavalley.com
Dieters face a dilemma at Gott’s, a roadside burger joint that is your classic drive-in style but fancy in fare. The full spectrum of Niman Ranch burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, and mahi mahi and ahi selections round out the menu. Wine is served, and the Double Rainbow ice cream milkshakes are a must. Go for the black & white or mint chip. Two locations in Napa and St. Helena. gotts.com
Celebrity chef Thomas Keller, of the universally acclaimed, überexpensive French Laundry, figured that Ad Hoc would fill a space he liked while he developed a different concept. But his family-style comfort food proved a hit. The four-course, fixed-price menu changes daily and never disappoints, featuring classic American entrees like fried chicken and pot roast, all served with complimentary side dishes like twice-baked potatoes and baked beans. Each meal starts with a salad and finishes with cheese and dessert. adhocrestaurant.com
Keller protégé Brandon Sharp has built a unique niche and a following at Solbar with his take on California soul food. The menu, which changes weekly, is divided into two sections: the left featuring lighter, more healthful dishes and the indulgent, hearty cuisine options on the right. Citrus-marinated beets, the Lucky Pig and the duck breast have diners raving. Sunday brunch on the outdoor patio is both delicious and relaxing. solagecalistoga.com
The local muni is an ideal warm-up for serious golfers and a fun outing for more casual players. Napa Golf Course is picturesque and plays 6,704 yards from the back tees—plenty of golf and a bargain to boot, with a prime-time green fee of just $38. playnapa.com
Meadowood Resort offers guests the opportunity to step back in time by offering the unique experience of playing its tranquil, tree-lined nine-holer with sets of authentic hickory clubs. meadowood.com
Twenty-seven acres of working vineyards, fragrant in the fall, border Eagle Vines Golf Club. The signature par-3 6th hole packs a visual punch: island green, waterfall, grapevines, oaks and redwoods, ducks and geese. eaglevinesgolfclub.com
Silverado Resort and Spa is the cream of the Napa golf crop. Memorable for its stately oaks and tall redwoods, the resort’s two courses—the North and the South—wend through 360 acres of countryside offering peace, quiet and plenty of challenges but nothing gimmicky.
The courses are similar on paper: both are par-72 with a slope of 133 from the back tees, while the North is less than 200 yards longer and has a 72.6 rating to the South’s 72.5. But you don’t play golf on paper, and the North is the premier layout in all of Napa Valley.
In October the PGA Tour returns to Silverado’s North Course for the Frys.com Open. (The resort hosted a Tour event from 1968 to 1980 and the Champions Tour from 1989 to 2002.)
Johnny Miller not only updated and upgraded the original Robert Trent Jones design, but he led an investment group that bought the resort in 2010. The improvements have been notable, and Silverado is a must-stop for Napa golf. silveradoresort.com
LIFE IS GOOD Opposite: The 1st on Silverado’s North Course. The 8th at Meadowood. Below: Evening comes to Auberge du Soleil.
The sunsets over the rolling hills surrounding The Carneros Inn are as colorful as the buildings at this upscale resort with a country farm vibe. Private cottages and suites, each with its own patio and garden, give guests the feeling of a vacation home and all the conveniences of a luxurious hotel. The spa on the property incorporates local ingredients into treatments. With its own town square featuring multiple restaurants, pools and a smorgasbord of activities including on-site wine tastings and outdoor concerts, guests need to be compelled to venture out. thecarnerosinn.com
Rancho Caymus is a petite, all-suites inn with a Spanish decor that recaptures the spirit of the 1830s hacienda that once stood on the site. Each suite has its own individual design, calling back to early Napa Valley adventurers for inspiration. Learn about Black Bart, Lillie Hitchcock Coit or Robert Louis Stevenson while enjoying the rustic elegance of your room. The quaint getaway in the Rutherford region is owned and operated by the Komes family, proprietors of the award-winning Flora Springs Winery. ranchocaymus.com
A Michelin-rated boutique hotel with rooms overlooking its namesake waterway, the Napa River Inn has 66 rooms that anchor the Historic Napa Mill, built in 1884. Originally a warehouse and feed store, the inn has turned into a nouveau urban destination rich with local history in the heart of downtown Napa. With shopping, dining, its own entertainment complex, European day spa and onsite bakery, the establishment has helped lift lollygagging to an art form.
napariverinn.com
Auberge du Soleil is the most indulgent way to experience the Napa Valley. Set in a 33-acre sunlit olive grove with panoramic views to the west, every detail is impeccably tended to at this hillside retreat where solitude is redefined. Luxurious Mediterranean rooms and suites with outdoor space offer multiple opportunities for just taking in the spectacular scenery, glass in hand. Soak in the hotel’s three temperate springs overlooking the property before a visit to its award-winning spa. The otherworldly dining experience in the resort’s restaurant is, by itself, worth the trip to Napa Valley.
aubergedusoleil.com
WILLIAM P. (BILL) FOLEY II
Chairman of the Board, Fidelity National Financial Vintner & Founder, Foley Family Wines
◗ Handicap: 8.8
THE SERIAL STRATEGIST
Bill Foley has a penchant for amassing businesses— from title insurance to wineries and lots in between. If only he could master the golf swing.
By Kate Meyers
Bill Foley likes to figure things out, conquer them and keep moving. That may explain why the hard-charging executive, entrepreneur and vintner has been part of several hundred (he guesses 300) mergers and acquisitions.
In 2006 he was, according to Golf Digest, one of the Top 20 Executive Golfers in the World. These days he downplays his golfing prowess, but he does own a Tom Doakdesigned golf course, and the links is still the place Bill goes to unwind and have fun.
His business skills, however, remain in overdrive. Ask him where he learned the traits that keep his portfolio expanding and that formed him the most, and he’ll offer two words: West Point.
“That’s where I learned discipline and all my life lessons,” he says. “The basic tenets of West Point are always telling the truth, always taking responsibility for your actions, learning how to delegate but also manage multiple aspects of whatever is going on at one time. They strip you down, take everything including your hair and then build you back up.”
His acceptance to attend that institution of higher learning was, according to him, pretty much a fluke. “I was a fourth alternate at West Point. After three days of testing, the principal broke his wrist and couldn’t go, the first alternate flunked the mental aptitude test, the second alternate flunked the physical test, the third alternate flunked the mental test, and then I was in.”
But like all smart business people, he embraced his lucky bounce. Post-graduation with an engineering degree in hand, another twist of fate—bad vision—led Bill away from his dream of becoming a pilot and on to discovering his deal-making acumen while working for the Air Force plant office in Seattle and negotiating military contracts.
Bill earned an MBA while in Seattle. (He has a law degree as well.) By 26, his skill at statistical analyses of cost and production was such that he was given the power to oversee contracts north of $250 million.
CATTLE DRIVE Top to bottom: The 8th and the 5th at Foley’s Doak-designed golf course at Rock Creek Cattle Company.
Fast-forward a little more than three decades, and Bill is still fi guring things out and still conquering. His biggest business baby, Fidelity National Financial, ranked 353 on the 2013 Fortune 500 list. Last year the Jacksonville-based title insurance giant reported revenue of $7.3 billion with a profi t of $606 million.
In the late ‘90s Bill got into the wine business and has amassed a long list of vineyards (see box, next page) from Napa to New Zealand. He divides his time between Healdsburg, California (he plays golf at Mayacama, a well-known course with a heavy vintner membership; members have their own wine lockers); Jacksonville, Florida (he tees up at Pablo Creek Golf Course); and in Whitefi sh, Montana—just a 50-minute helicopter ride (his helicopter, a six-seat black BELL407) away from his Rock Creek Cattle Company ranch, a community that he’s developed complete with a Tom Doak golf course.
It makes sense that Bill, who likes to move on once he’s fi gured things out, has never moved on from golf. “In the last few years I have taken the components of the golf swing and really tried to understand what’s going on,” he says. “I thought I had it right last summer, but I changed a few things and couldn’t quite get it right again.” Okay so maybe there’s one thing Bill has in common with the masses.
In Play caught up with him in Healdsburg, where he took a break to share some details of his life bio—from business to golf to the fruit of the vine.
GOLF BEGINNINGS
I started playing in ninth grade in Caracas, Venezuela. My dad worked for the U.S. embassy. The course name was Valle Arriba. It was a good golf course, built up in the side of a hill, so lots of ups and downs. Today it probably wouldn’t be rated as a great course, but for a 14-year-old, it was great. My friends and I played constantly. Caracas has a temperate climate all year round. It never gets too hot or too cold.
WORK BEGINNINGS
My fi rst job was a busboy at the club at Andrews Air Force Base. My dad was at the end of his career, and he was director of personnel or something like that there. I made 90 cents an hour. Then I started working as a short-order cook there.
I ENJOY THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE GAME. I LIKE THAT IT’S NO ONE ELSE’S FAULT BUT YOURS.”
ON CONTRACTING FOR THE MILITARY
I worked on the Minuteman III project. I was the project development offi cer on the Burner II program, which was a secondstage booster where we put spy satellites into orbit. I saved the government a lot of money, at least a billion.
I remember the fi rst contract I worked on. I started out as an industrial engineer. They were doing spares for the KC-135 (the airborne tanker made from 707 jets) that refueled B-52s so they could stay airborne. They came in with a contract for $300 million.
I did a time and motion study, and I developed a fact pattern that, as they built more spares, their learning curve would get better, so it would take less time and less man hours. I did these charts and graphs. The guy running the program thought it was ridiculous. And it came in exactly on my numbers. I got a good reputation off of that one.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GOLFER AND A BUSINESSMAN
I’m not a very good golfer. In the summer I play three or four times a week. In the winter, I’m in Healdsburg, which is rainy and chilly. I’ve only played once in the past two months. I’m like an 8.8 index right now. I got down to 0.5 in Newport Beach from 1988 to 1990. I played a lot then because I only had one job, CEO at Fidelity National Title.
BUSINESS SKILL
I kind of think in three dimensions rather than two. A lot of people think in two dimensions—they go left or right. When I’m looking at a transaction, I’m good at understanding the twists and turns a transaction can take and anticipating those twists and turns to make sure that we’re ready for that change.
I’m good at following through and fi xing things, but in my mind, once they’re fi xed I should be able to move on. I have to have people around me that implement what I’m trying to accomplish, and then I’m out of there. They see me for a meeting once in a while, and if things aren’t working, we make a change.
BUSINESS M.O.
It’s all building. The business model is really having a base in a particular industry and then acquiring other similar assets. Then we take the back off —accounting, sales, admin—consolidating all that and creating synergies with every company I buy, and then leaving the consumer-facing part of the business alone.
For example, each winery has its own winemaker. I don’t have a
director of wine. As long as they are making quality product, I leave them alone. If they aren’t going to fi t into our program, then I have to make a change. I try to keep each winery operating independently.
I approve a capital expenditure for each winery every year. I try to fi gure out what they need, what they really need, and what they can get by without for a year. But other than that, they’re pretty much on their own. That’s the deal.
CURRENT PROJECTS
We just bought the Black Knight Financial Services company. I’m the executive chair of that business and Fidelity National Financial. I don’t run businesses; I’m just the senior guy who strategizes what we’ll buy, and if we’re going to make a particular kind of move or transaction, how we’re going to structure it.
I’m not really an operator, except in the wine business. In the wine business, I’m doing everything.
WHY WINE?
I had a strong love of wine that developed back in the ‘80s. I started learning about pinot noirs and chardonnays from Burgundy. That’s where I kicked it o . I was always interested in the technical aspects of running the wine business but also of making the wine and growing the fruit.
PENCHANT FOR ACQUISITION
I’m a builder. I love having the assets of the land and the vineyards and producing a great product. For example, right now we’re building a production facility at Foley Johnson, and we just fi nished redoing the tasting room at Sawyer Cellars. We’ve invested in that and made it a fi rst-class facility.
At Chalk Hill we’ve just poured money into the place to really bring it up to standard. We’re building a production facility across the street at Roth, and the tasting room should be ready in April. And we’re building about 11,000 square feet of caves. I’m always about taking something and trying to make it better. If I buy a winery, it usually needs help—because I’m a value guy. Then we just go in and fi x it and make it better. I love getting into the details and learning about something new. And once I’ve learned it, it doesn’t bother me to just forget about it and go on to something else. I have different careers all the time because I’m always moving on.
WHAT’S IN YOUR PERSONAL WINE LOCKER AT MAYACAMA?
Just my stu . I have some Chalk Hill Estate chardonnay, some Lancaster Estate cabernet. I’ve got Foley Johnson cabernet, Roth sauvignon blanc, Chalk Hill pinot—about three cases. I don’t have other people’s wines. I’m getting a little cellar-blind because I just drink my stu . But it’s a good variety.
FAVORITE COURSE
Augusta National, even though I’m not a member. When you walk down the 11th fairway, you can almost feel the champions around you. It’s unreal. I’ve played there about a dozen times. I play with whoever will invite me.
THE MONTANA GOLF COURSE
I picked Tom Doak to design it because he’s a minimalist. I didn’t want to go through this big, earth-moving course where you tee o and go down this concocted canyon with big, grass walls on either side, and you’ve moved all this dirt around, which is what other course designers do. I like working with the land, taking the land and making the land dictate what the course does—but making sure it’s a good course too.
THE ROLE OF GOLF
Golf has helped me in terms of being something else to do other than business that I can have fun at. I think you meet some of your best friends on the golf course. You see the true character of a person. You’re with him for four or fi ve hours, and you see how he reacts to a bad shot. I’ve learned a lot about people on the golf course and made some lifelong friends who are also business associates.
CLOSING THE DEAL
I’ve helped solidify deals by going out on the golf course. I remember we were buying Alltel Information Services back in 2003. The guys we were buying from were all members at Augusta, so we fi nalized and put the deal together on the golf course. I bought Lancaster Winery on the golf course.
RETIREMENT PLANS?
No. I would get bored. I handle my business transactions out of my o ce at Chalk Hill, but it’s a lot of di erent things every day. I never want to be bored. If I start getting bored, I’ll run out to the golf course and hit balls. I just can’t sit around.
it up to standard. We’re building a production tasting room should be ready in April. And we’re building about 11,000 square feet of caves. I’m always about taking something and trying to make it better. If I buy a winery, it usually needs help—because I’m a value guy. Then we just go in and fi x it I love getting into the details and learning about something new. And once I’ve learned it, it doesn’t bother me to just forget about it and go on to something else. I have different careers all the time because I’m always moving on.
VINE, VINE & MORE VINE
Bill Foley was in the process of purchasing another winery on the day he spoke with In Play. Until that one closes, we o er the current count (18) of his wine holdings.
CALIFORNIA 12
◗ NAPA: Merus Wines, Kuleto Estate Winery,
Foley Johnson Winery ◗ SONOMA: Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery,
Chalk Hill Estate Vineyards & Winery, Lancaster
Estate, Roth Estate Winery ◗ SANTA BARBARA: Lincourt Vineyards, Foley
Estates Vineyard & Winery, Firestone Vineyard ◗ LAKE COUNTY: Langtry Estate & Vineyards ◗ PASO ROBLES: Eos Estate Winery
WASHINGTON STATE 1 ◗ WALLA WALLA: Three Rivers Winery NEW ZEALAND 5 ◗ BLENHEIM: Vavasour Wines, Goldwater,
Cli ord Bay, Dashwood ◗ MARTINBOROUGH: Martinborough Vineyard
MASTER WINGMAN
Augusta National as seen through the eyes of a PGA TOUR caddie
Kip Henley was probably destined to have a life in golf. Growing up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, his mom worked for the Arnold Palmer Company, folding boxes in a manufacturing plant. After a successful amateur career, which included winning two Tennessee Opens, Kip turned pro in 1982 and then spent the next five years going broke on various mini-tours.
He became a teaching pro and then a minor celebrity, thanks to an appearance on the second season of The Big Break in 2004. He didn’t reach the big-time of the PGA Tour until three years later, having finally found his calling as a caddie who hearkened back to a different era.
Kip, 53, treats caddying as a lark, not a profession—“After every round, I drink like it’s my job”—but his easygoing demeanor and deep knowledge of the game have made him a valuable wingman. After stints with Boo Weekley and Eric Axley, he landed the bag of Brian Gay in 2008. At that point, Brian was known primarily for wearing the loudest pants in golf, but with Kip whispering in his ear, he has become one of the game’s great success stories: a very short hitter who has won four times, thanks to guts and guile.
Kip has no trouble identifying his favorite tournament. “I just love the Masters,” he says. “I love the whole stink of it. It’s like walking through history. And it’s the one time all year you don’t have wild fans screaming at you on every tee, because everyone is afraid of having their badge pulled.”
Of Brian Gay’s first Masters, in 2010, Kip says, “I’ve never been more prepared for a tournament. I’d been studying that course my whole life.” And yet once he was inside the ropes, he found himself startled by the pageantry of the place. “The grass is greener, the hills are steeper, the greens are scarier. Everything is just turned up a few notches.”
In 2013 Brian was 170th on the PGA Tour in driving distance, at 275.1 yards a pop, meaning plenty of guys at your club hit the ball as far as he does (though probably not as straight). This should give a little more resonance to Kip’s scouting report on Augusta National, a 7,445-yard beauty/beast.
THE FIRST HOLE is a killer. It’s gotta be one of the toughest opening holes in golf. You’re right next to the clubhouse. All those people are right on top of you. It’s intimidating. And with the new tees, it’s loooong.
BG can’t fly his drive to the top of the hill. He flies it right into the bank, and it stops dead every time. So now he has a 5-iron into a green that was built to receive a wedge. That green is probably the most underrated on the course. It’s wicked, full of undulation and slopes and runoffs. You just want to make par there and run to the next tee.
WHAT FANS DON’T UNDERSTAND is how much the course changes during tournament week. It just gets faster and faster, especially from Wednesday to Thursday. It’s like two different courses.
Our first Masters, we spent a lot of time on the third green in the practice rounds. It’s the shortest par-4 [350 yards] and the only one on the course where BG can be aggressive. We hit probably 20 putts to the front-left pin position, watching the break, watching it feed out. We knew that putt cold.
Come Thursday, he has that exact putt, but it breaks like 10 more feet. His ball damn near goes off the green. BG three-putted four times in 18 holes. You’re talking about one of the greatest putters on the planet—he’ll sometimes go a month without three-putting. But the adjustments you have to make there are incredible.
MEN AT WORK Kip Henley (L) and Brian Gay at the 2014 Humana Challenge.
THE FRONT NINE is way tougher than the back nine, and some of that is because of the par-3s. No. 4 is 240 yards, and there’s nowhere to miss—long is dead, the bunkers are about the deepest on the course.
The 6th hole is only 180 yards and downhill, but that green is crazy. People sitting at home watching on TV have no idea. The fi rst time you go to the course, that’s the one green for sure where you go, “Holy sh--, look at that.” It’s so steep; it’s like a ski slope.
THE NEW TEES have really changed that course. That and the SubAir under the greens, which have made it play so fi rm. I bet a short hitter never wins there again.
Take No. 7—it used to be a birdie hole. Now it’s 450 yards to the narrowest fairway on the course. Where BG drives it, we’re left on the downslope hitting steeply uphill to a green that’s 12 steps deep, surrounded by bunkers. My guy has 185 yards left for his second shot, and he can’t get it on the green. He just can’t.
There was a practice round where we’re out in that fairway and he asked, “What do you like?” And I said, “Do you want to be in the front bunker or back fringe? Because you can’t hit this green.”
NO. 11 IS A MONSTER now with the new tees. It plays 505 yards, and we’re so far back, and the way the fairway falls away, we can barely see the green for the approach shot. We’re shooting into the sky. We’re shooting at the clouds.
BG often has a 4-wood in. He acts like he’s going for the green, but he’s not. He’ll say, “I’m trying to get it over there on the right edge,” and I’m like, “No, you ain’t. You’re trying to put it in an okay spot right of the green so you can get up-and-down.”
And that’s smart, because he’s a genius in the short game. No sense taking on that pond with a 4-wood or 3-iron.
THE SCARIEST SHOT IN GOLF is No. 12. Nothing compares to that; it’s such a tiny target. But the real problem is the way wind swirls. Some guys say you have to look at the fl ag at 11 to judge the wind, but I don’t buy that.
Pine trees don’t give away information like a leaf-bearing tree, but that time of year the pollen blows out, and that’s what I look for. If you study the pollen, you can see the wind.
MY FAVORITE HOLE AT AUGUSTA is No. 13. It’s so beautiful and peaceful, and down in that corner of the course the sound really collects. So if you do something good, the roars are awesome.
It’s a very important hole for BG because it’s the only par-5 he can reach. The long hitters are going in with a 7-iron and we have a 4-wood, but it’s still a birdie hole for us.
FIFTEEN AIN’T REALLY A BIRDIE HOLE even though it’s a par-5. Once you lay up, the next one is a way underrated shot. I’ve heard players say they think that’s the toughest shot on the course.
That grass down there is tight as sh--. You can’t help but spin the ball a little, and if you’re even one foot short of your target, it’ll come back into the pond. And if you go long, that’s one of the hardest chips on the course. There’s no margin for error on that shot. None.
EIGHTEEN IS A TIGHTER TEE BALL than people think, but that’s not why I dread that hole. No, it’s a tough-ass walk up that hill. It’s a hard pull. It’ll kill you.
THE TREATMENT OF THE CADDIES IS SICKO. You pull that bib off , and there’s a guy holding a cold beer for you. The food is so good. Players come in and eat with us all the time because the food is equal to theirs. And because we’re way more fun.
ON TASK Henley getting the job done in LaQuinta, California.
