Bob Wylie: The Swing of a Legend

McKenzie Meadows Golf Tip:

Bob Wylie: The Swing of a Legend

BY SCOTT ORBAN, PGA EXECUTIVE PROFESSIONAL, MCKENZIE MEADOWS GOLF CLUB

In 1995 Calgary golfer Robert (Bob) Wylie was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. He played on the PGA tour in 1957, then returned to amateur golf where he represented Canada through the 1960s internationally. Later in his career, he won the Canadian National Senior Championship seven times. During a different era, he would have competed for Canada as an Olympian and perhaps continued on the PGA tour.

Mr. Wylie passed away in September 2021 just days before his 93rd birthday. He had a reputation that preceded him in the golf world and was a fantastic person with class, poise and a great smile. Canadian golfers looked up to him for decades and his swing resonates with us locals to this day. What was the secret to his swing that allowed him to compete and win at this high level for decades?

Mr. Wylie’s home club was the Calgary Golf and Country Club. I was the associate golf professional there and I had the opportunity to learn from Mr. Wylie by watching him practice, compete and visit with him at his home club.

Prior to a game together, I queried: “Mr. Wylie, why are you hitting off the stance mat?” “Isn’t it too forgiving?”

“Scotty I don’t mind a bit of forgiveness. I like to see good shots before my game,” he remarked. This resonates with me whenever golfers ask me why we are not on the grass range before their round. Start your game with confidence, warm up is not the place to challenge yourself and your swing.

Mr. Wylie’s ball striking was very consistent, with a dime pattern worn on his Great Big Bertha. Although not a big muscular man, he generated incredible speed. Mr. Wylie did not talk to me about bits and pieces, parts and specified movements of the golf swing. The swing was ‘one whole motion’. The full movement of swinging the club with proper rhythm allowing the club to gain momentum and speed to strike the golf ball. CG&CC head pro Tom Greiner told me he had heard that his teacher Martin Allred had Bob swing a golf club for months before he was allowed to hit a ball. Imagine putting this kind of discipline in to learn the fundamental motion of a golf swing without having a ball to interrupt your swing thoughts.

We can learn the positions of the golf swing, but undoubtedly, we all need to put this together in one complete motion: The Golf Swing. Bob Wylie mastered this and became one the best Canadian golfers of our time and a man we will remember.

See Bob Wylie’s swing at 89 years old: https://twitter.com/ golfcanada/status/1070792684103720962

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