Teen-age golfer Bob May proved he had the physical and mechanical abilities when he qualified for the L.A. Open. Now he has to . . . : . . . Learn to Think Like a Pro

About 1,000 people were huddled in the gallery as Bob May teed up his golf ball at the first hole of the 59th Los Angeles Open in January, 1985. There were more eyes staring at the 16-year-old from Los Altos High School than ever before.

May, who qualified for the tournament by shooting a 4-under-par 67 at Hillcrest Country Club in December to become the youngest amateur ever to make the event, was not used to the crowds a professional tournament draws.

“I was so nervous,” he recalled. “There were trees on the right, out of bounds on the left and people all around. I just wanted to keep the ball on the fairway. I didn’t care how far it went.”

May kept the ball in play and finished with a 73. He followed with a 76 in the second round, but his 149 total was not good enough to make the cut. Despite the disappointment of not playing as well as he could his first time out with the professionals, May said the experience reaffirmed a valuable lesson: The right mental attitude is more important than physical ability.

‘Have to Think Right’

“The majority of the game is thinking on the course,” he said. “You have to think right to play well and win tournaments.”

That realization is certainly good news to May, who at 5-6 1/2 and 135 pounds is not powerfully built. His longest drives sail about 250 yards--if the wind is at his back.

May, now a 17-year-old junior, spends four to five hours a day practicing and honing his mechanical skills.

Still, he said those skills would be meaningless without the proper mental approach, which includes knowing how to concentrate and block out the distractions posed by huge crowds and understanding how elements such as the speed of each green, the hazards associated with each hole and the weather can affect strategy and play.

When May first picked up a golf club 10 years ago, he wasn’t the least bit concerned with mental part of the game. He simply wanted to enjoy an afternoon with his aunt and uncle.

Parents Not Thrilled

“I remember running around the golf course. I was just swinging golf clubs and getting in everybody’s way. But my aunt (Barbara Purkey) told my parents how well I hit the ball.”

Initially, no one else in the May household was thrilled with the idea of a golfer in the family.

“We tried to discourage him from playing at first because neither my husband (Jerry May) nor I were involved in the game,” said mother Muriel. “But we decided to let him give it his best shot, thinking that he’d burn himself out. But he hasn’t.”

In less than two years, despite not knowing anyone who played the game, May was hooked. He said he quit playing baseball and soccer and devoted his energy to golf.

At 9, he was practicing four days a week--more if his mother would let him. And his parents soon joined in.

Professional Coaching

“It was kind of awkward just sitting there watching him on the course or the driving range,” Mrs. May said. “So we all got involved in the game.”

Jerry May, recognizing the potential in his son, took him to Eddie Merrins, a teaching professional at Bel-Air Country Club and the UCLA men’s golf coach, six years ago. Besides stressing fundamentals, Merrins began tutoring May on the importance of mental preparedness.

“Golf is a combination of mental, physical and mechanical abilities,” Merrins said. “Although some professionals and other instructors argue that the game is 90% mental, I think it’s about 33% each.

“The mental aspect of it deals with management, which is the aspect that’s least touched upon by teachers.”

Merrins said that all professionals possess a certain amount of physical and mechanical ability but it’s their ability to manage those skills that has enabled them to reach that level of play.

Think Like a Pro

Merrins said he has tried to teach May to manage his skills and to think like a professional.

“He talks to me and gives me ideas of how I should think when I’m on the golf course,” May said. “We started working on that when I was about 13, and it’s really helped me.”

In fact, his entire practice routine is regimented to further develop the right mind-set. He said he seldom keeps score, which helps him avoid two of golf’s most treacherous traps: anger and frustration if he’s doing poorly.

“He thinks like a real top-notch older player,” said Coach Dick Slosek, who has led Los Altos to eight consecutive Sierra League championships. “He can do things on the course that most younger kids simply can’t do.”

Slosek said May benefited from competing daily against senior teammates Jimmy Osborn and Jeff Hellman during his freshman year. Both received golf scholarships, Osborn to UC Santa Barbara and Hellman to University of the Pacific.

Battle to Be No. 1

“Being the hot golfer going into high school and not being No. 1 on the team really helped him,” Slosek said. “Our two seniors certainly didn’t want to lose to a freshman, so there was a lot of competition.”

The team ranking among the three fluctuated throughout the season, but May emerged as the Conquerors’ No. 1 seed by the end of the year. He beat Hellman by two shots for the league individual title. And since his freshman year, May has accumulated a resume that would make most aspiring professional golfers turn green with envy:

-He was the youngest qualiifer in the U. S. Amateur, in 1984.

-He was the youngest (15) to win the Tournament of Champions in Georgia (1984).

-He won the America’s Cup in Nevada in 1984, coming from six shots back after three rounds to win by 12 strokes.

-In 1985, he won the Doug Sanders International at Houston after finishing second the year before; the Woodlands International at Houston, which title he will defend this week, missing his school’s team trip to Hawaii; and the Mission Hills junior tournament at Palm Springs.

-Also in 1985, he represented North America in the Doug Sanders World International in Scotland and finished third in the Professional Golfers Assn. Junior Nationals.

-He earned player of the year honors in 1985 from the PGA Golf Assn. (for the second consecutive year), the American Junior Golf Assn. and the Southern California Junior Golf Assn. (he shared the honor in 1984).

-And he was named the most valuable player in the Sierra League as a freshman and sophomore, was No. 2 and then No. 3 in the CIF those years and was named the Los Altos High athlete of the year twice.

For some 17-year-olds that would be more than enough. But not for May.

He has not set specific goals except “to be better than I was the day before.” So he practices and practices and practices.

Bad Day? Work Harder

“He has a penchant for wanting to practice beyond the ordinary,” Merrins said. “That’s rare, especially in Southern California where there are so many things to do and so many diversions.

“When things don’t go well, someone else would go to the beach or something. But not Bobby. When he’s doing poorly, he goes out there and works that much harder. That’s one of the reasons he’s such a standout.”

One might think that after all the practice, league play and tournaments, May would grow sick of golf. Again, nothing is further from the truth.

“You can’t sit around and get better at golf,” he said while keeping one eye and an ear tuned to a golf tournament on television. “I love it and every day I learn more about the game, and that makes me a better player.”