My college coach, Stan Wood, was one of those that started the All-American teams. He was really well respected in college coaching, one of the giants. It was a lot different back then. I'm not sure they were even allowed to walk with the players. Now you see coaches that are too much in the guy's faces sometimes. Let the guys play. Back then, we just went and played. Stan Wood was really supportive. He just made things fun. It was just fun to play for him. We had a great team. We'd all hang out together all the time. 

Back then recruiting was totally different. I wrote to USC to say I'd love to go there and play golf. I remember right before school started, I went up, met the coach, met Craig [Stadler] and we went to a football game. Coach said, ‘By the way, Scott, there's no room in the dorms, so you're gonna be rooming with Craig.’ Craig had just won the US Amateur. He was a junior and he looked at Coach and said, ‘No way. I'm not rooming with a freshman.’ I was really shy back then. I hardly ever talked. So I roomed with Craig who had a friend that was a real estate agent in LA. He found this house to rent and it was pretty darn old. It got condemned after we left, I think. We didn't have any dining room furniture. We put a golf net up in our dining room so we could hit balls inside the house. We didn't have simulators back then. After a few beers, we didn't have a whole lot of windows left in the dining room either!

We put up a golf net up so we could hit balls inside the house

I was known as being very calm but I broke so many clubs. Craig never broke a club. He learned how to throw them but he never broke the club. And he's like, ‘Jeez Scott, everyone thinks you're all calm. You break clubs. What do they think I'm so mad for?’ 

I never thought I was going to be that good. I always figured if I'm going to compete with these top guys, I had to work my butt off. So I was the guy always practising and working hard, hitting balls and going out and playing as late as I could at night. 

I thought Curtis Strange was unbelievably good. The first time I won the NCAA [he was individual medalist in 1976 and 1977], I was just playing the best golf I'd ever played in my life. They had an East-West match and I played Curtis Strange and beat him 5&4. How in the world could I beat Curtis Strange? I never took it for granted that I was all that great. In some ways I obviously knew I could win but it was a big thrill. 

I remember  looking down the list of names on the NCAA trophy. Hale Irwin and Jack Nicklaus and all these guys. I thought, ‘Wow! Maybe I could be a tour pro one day,’ That was my dream. But I never know if I'd really make it out there. That was a big confidence boost.

I won the NCAA twice. When I turned pro, I had to start from zero

The players coming out now are much better prepared to go to the PGA Tour. I think it's a combination. The teaching has gotten better, there's more national junior tournaments and the kids just get used to competing with the very best earlier. When you're the best in college now, you really have confidence that you can go out there and play and beat the pros. You see guys do it. I like the fact that we have the PGA Tour U now and there's better opportunities. You see guys coming out now that they get seven sponsor exemptions on the tour. 

I won the NCAA twice. I got no sponsor exemptions. When I turned pro, I had to start from zero. Nowadays, these guys have a running head start. 

College programs are better than they ever were. With the opportunities and with the things that the coaches are doing, these guys are much better prepared than we were. We played in college, you got as good as you could get and then a lot of times you just had to kind of start over on the PGA Tour and work your way up. It was tough.

I remember crying under a tree. My wife was sitting there and I was going, ‘I'm never gonna make it.’ After I got out of school and graduated, I tried the tour school for the second time. I was right on the edge and I think I shot 80 the last day. I was crushed. You either do one or two things: either you quit or you pick yourself up. I guess I just went back to work. I was gonna give it the best I could. I ended up making it the third time. 

Rookies coming out had nothing. They had to qualify on Mondays to get in the tournaments. All that making it through the Q school did is allow you to Monday qualify. It was tough. 

It was great to be able to play golf and make a living. Being on the tour was fun.

The US Open definitely suited my game. I remember my wife was looking through a Golf World one time and she said, ‘Hey, look, you won at all the hardest courses on the tour.’ I think the harder, the better for me. I hit the ball pretty straight, kept it in play. I was always a really good iron player and I had a good short game. I didn't have any super strength in my game, but I didn't have any big weaknesses. 

As a general rule, I'm pretty calm on the course. I can handle adversity pretty well. If I make a bogey or double bogey, I'm okay. I like that about hard courses. A lot of guys would get so frustrated, so angry: ‘To heck with the USGA, I hate these guys.’ I always loved it. I always thought the harder, the better. Nicklaus always said that too. He felt like the harder the courses in the majors, half the guys were already defeated because they thought it was  too hard. They set up really well for me.

I had to write a resume for the first time in my life when I applied for the job as Head Coach of the University of Hawaii men’s team. It was funny. I gave it to the girls coach and she goes, ‘Scott, let's work on this. You need to make it look better.’ They were worried if I could do all the paperwork. I don't have an assistant, so I've got a plan for the travel and I’ve got to plan for the recruiting. I said, ‘Well, I did travel the country on my own for 40 years, so I kind of know a little bit of what I'm doing.’

Photographs courtesy of Ka‘anapali Golf Courses & Big West Championship