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Filling a legend's spikes
By Joel Gretsch
Special to Page 2He's the only golfer to win all four majors in one year. He designed Augusta National Golf Course and was the genius behind the Masters. He graduated from Georgia Tech at age 18, picked up a Master's from Harvard in three more semesters and passed the bar exam after just one year of law school.
|  | | Playing Bobby Jones was a dream role for actor Joel Gretsch. |
In the South, he was just as popular for his friendly, gentleman-like manner and boyish good looks as he was for his achievements.
And in the movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance," these were the shoes I had to fill.
My father, my grandfather, my brothers ... everyone played golf in my family, so I knew all about the mystique of Bobby Jones well before my acting career even began. I have been playing since I was about 5. I remember telling the casting director, when I walked in to read for the part, "Listen, I know I look nervous, but that's because there's nothing I ever wanted more."
I was ecstatic that I got the part. Sure, there was pressure playing a golf icon; Bobby was such a loved human being back then, especially in the South. So what I wanted to do was express certain things about him, sort of offer my interpretation.
Before shooting, I did as much research as I could on Bobby. I read tons of literature, and even found some old Bobby Jones instructional tapes from the 1930s. The more I learned, the more I became in awe of the man and what he accomplished in life.
The learning didn't stop there. Even during filming in Savannah, Ga., extras would come up to me and say, "You know, not to be rude, but Bobby did this or Bobby did that or Bobby had this expression." I always appreciated that. It was those nuances that made him unique.
Perhaps the hardest thing was to try to copy Jones' trademark swing, that rhythmic, perfectly balanced stroke he was known for. Lucky for me, ever since I can remember, my golf coach has stressed a slow swing speed, which made the transition to Jones easier.
And we used authentic 1930s hickory clubs in the movie, so you couldn't swing that fast anyway. If you swung with one of those clubs like you normally would with the steel and titanium shafts of today, you'd swing right past the ball because the old clubs are so whippy, the head stays behind you. So it basically requires you to have this Jones-like rhythmic swing or else you're going to wiff.
If me or Matt Damon or Will Smith didn't slow down, the ball would have gone flying right into the extras. And let me tell you, I worried about that. But the clubs were fun. I mean, I was putting with a 1913 Calamity Jane putter. I'm sitting there on the green looking down at the putter and not believing all this.
While I tried to learn the intricacies of Jones, Matt was learning how to swing a club, having never golfed before. I was skeptical that he could do it, but Matt is one of the most focused individuals in the business. When we first met, he was down in Savannah practicing four, five, even six hours a day. He had blisters on every finger and even separated his shoulder trying to prepare for the role.
Because he started from scratch, though, he didn't have any bad habits. He learned to play the right way. And he's such a good athlete that he picked things up very fast.
I remember the day he got his first birdie. Bruce McGill (who plays Walter Hagen) and I were walking by this par-3 of about 195 yards. Matt put a 4-iron on the green and had this long, left-to-right putt off the side of this rolling hill. So I said to Bruce, "God I'd love to see him make that." And he did. We were all jumping up and down like little kids.
With Will, I could tell he was a golf nut the first time I ever saw him. He walked into this reading at the beginning of filming one morning, I think it was about 9 a.m., and he was just covered in grass stains, all over his pants and his shoes from a round he had already finished. He's got the golf bug bad. Unfortunately, he and I didn't get to play at all. We played a lot of hoops on the set instead.
But Matt and I played a lot. To be a bit childish, it was fun hanging around with him because he could name-drop and get us a tee time just about anywhere. "Oh? Matt Damon's coming? Sure, we can get a foursome for you." We played Ocean Trails, Riviera Country Club, Sherwood Country Club, a couple nice places in Vegas.
We played in between filming and at first, I had to give him a bunch of strokes to keep things even. But by the end, I told him, "I'm not giving you anything." And besides, he can afford to lose a little more money than I can.
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Matt Damon and Will Smith talk with Gary Miller on Up Close.