Q&A spotlight: Mike Gove
Q: What's your strangest experience on a golf course?
A: I was the head pro at the Astoria Golf and Country Club in Oregon the past 11-plus years and one day I was playing in a pro-am in Portland on a cold, windy day. I wound up chasing a member's umbrella to try to keep it out of a lake. I went barreling over a hill chasing this $15 umbrella and then it stuck in the ground and I went head over heels over it. I suffered a shoulder injury and couldn't finish the round. The shoulder bothered me for about a year and a half.
Q: You won the 1985 Washington Open at Inglewood and your final-day caddie was Jeff Gove, your nephew now on the PGA Tour. You both are playing in the Washington Open next week at Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent, right?
A: Yes. I'm looking forward to it. Jeff would have been almost 14 when he caddied for me that final day.
Q: Talk about growing up playing golf in the Seattle area.
A: When I was young, my parents were members at Inglewood and I caddied for my dad. Our family then switched to the Sand Point Country Club because it was closer to our home and my older brothers could play there after school. I graduated from Nathan Hale in 1975 (he was Metro League golf champion) and then played at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, for four years.
Q: You won a dozen tournaments at Weber State, were a three-time All-American and were fourth in the 1978 NCAA tournament. Did you turn pro right out of college?
A: Not quite. I played on the Walker Cup team in 1979 and at the time that gave you an exemption into The Masters. I played in the 1980 Masters, then turned pro the next day. They had two qualifying schools every year back then, and I finished second in the June one and got my Tour card.
Q: How many years were you on the PGA Tour?
A: I started in 1980 and kept my card through 1986. I could have played in 1987, but I never really sustained any real consistent play the last 2-1/2-3 years. I didn't play as consistently and confidently as I had early on. There were a lot of tournaments I didn't get in during my Tour years because I hadn't finished in the top 125 on the money list or high at the most recent qualifying school. Back then, they didn't reshuffle eligibility like they do now at various times of the year, based on how you have played recently.
Q: When did you play best on the Tour?
A: My first year. I tied for fourth in my last two tournaments, at Pensacola and then with Doug Campbell, now the pro at Auburn Golf Course, in the Walt Disney Team Championship. I was in the last group on Sunday at Pensacola and in the Disney with Doug. The next year, my hand started hurting late in the season. A bone scan found a stress fracture in a finger. I went almost a year without playing.
Q: Talk about any wins while you were on Tour and your best round.
A: I won the New Hampshire Classic, a Tournament Players Series event that was opposite the U.S. Open in 1983. ... One year I shot 61 in the last round of the Greater Hartford Open at the Weathersfield Country Club. I had a legitimate shot at 59.
Q: What prompted your decision to take the head pro job at Inglewood this spring?
A: My wife, Carrie, and I felt it would be "coming home." I've always considered Inglewood one of the premier private clubs in the Northwest. I had good Inglewood memories from my childhood and from winning the state Open here.
Readerboard
Q: My kids want to start playing golf. Where should I take them? - Larry.
A: Here's the progression: Driving range, par-3 course, nine-hole regulation course that isn't too tough.
(Got a golf question? If we use yours, you get a sleeve of balls. E-mail csmith@seattletimes.com, fax 206-464-3255, mail P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111.)