No Practice Makes Perfect Sense for Her

Amateur golfer Marianne Towersey isn’t letting this week’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship affect her one bit.

In fact, she has been preparing to compete in the tournament at Big Canyon Country Club, which began Tuesday, by sticking to her usual training regimen.

“I never practice,” said Towersey, 49, of Newport Beach, the current Women’s Golf Assn. of California state champion. “It’s just more fun to be out on the course. I work more on the mental side of golf to prepare.”

She engages in activities that help her relax and focus, including metaphysical readings and visualization techniques, leaving the physical side of golf to her years of experience.

Not that this is a lesson she passes along to the boys’ and girls’ golf teams she helps coach at Newport Harbor High School.

Towersey said that practice is something she stresses to her players, even though her situation is clearly not a case of “practicing what you preach.”

“It’s important for 95% of people,” Towersey said. “Not practicing is probably not a good ethic to teach to general golfers. But I’ve been playing for so long.”

The qualities that best describe Towersey as a coach are persistence and her unquestionable knowledge of the game, said Kelly Hunt, a junior at Newport Harbor who is in her third year on the girls’ golf team.

“She’s a real perfectionist,” Hunt said. “She never gives up. If there’s something you’re doing wrong, she’ll keep telling you until you get it right. And whenever you need help, she’s there.”

Considering the influences, it’s no wonder why the sport is such a major theme in Towersey’s life: her grandparents played golf, her parents played, and she grew up down the street from the Santa Ana Country Club, where she is the women’s club champion, a title she has held 16 times in the last 20 years.

She credits her godfather and amateur golfer, Ivo Clarich, with her success. Clarich coached her from when she was a young girl up until his death a few years ago.

Whatever knowledge he passed down to her paid off at the age of 16, when Towersey beat defending U.S. Amateur champion JoAnne Gunderson Carner in 1967. Since then, she has played in 10 other U.S. championships.

Towersey said she’s excited about the chance to dethrone another tournament champion, Alissa Herron, sister of PGA Tour player Tim Herron, in her hometown.

Last year, Towersey lost in the second round of match play on the 18th hole, something she hopes to get past this time around.

“I’m excited,” Towersey said. “On the other hand, there’s more pressure on me because people here know I’m playing and they’ll be watching to see how I do.”

Does she have what it takes to add yet another title to her resume?

“Oh, yes, it’s buried in there somewhere,” Towersey said. “I just have to pull it out. If I win, I’ll be surprised.”

Hunt thinks so too.

“I think her chances are pretty good because of her local knowledge of the greens,” she said. “She’s played the course before.”

But no matter how her career as a player turns out, Towersey said she wants to continue teaching the game, possibly on the college level.

“I’ve always enjoyed working with kids,” she said. “I really feel golf has given me so much. If I can touch the golf lives of today’s youth and give something back, I feel it’s very fulfilling.”