Recently, a local carpet distributor named Lane Summerhays was talking to a client back in Georgia who said, "Before we get talking business, I need to ask you something. Are you related to Bruce Summerhays?"
The answer was no, but the surprising thing was the question. Bruce Summerhays? Until a few months ago, nobody outside of Utah knew the name.But suddenly Bruce Summerhays, who grew up on 18th East in Salt Lake City, played for the University of Utah and toiled as a club pro for 25 years, is becoming a household name on the Senior PGA Tour. Even ordinary Joes 2,000 miles from Utah are asking about him.
Just nine days ago Summerhays cashed the largest paycheck of his life - $57,500, which is more than he used to make in an entire year. He followed that up with a $24,420 check in Nashville this past weekend.
In a little more than five months this year, he has already earned $228,255 to rank 18th on the Senior Tour money list. He's also in the top 20 in six of the nine major statistical categories, ranking 9th in total birdies, 13th in greens in regulation and 15th in driving distance. The 51-year-old is living his dream in just his first full year on the Senior Tour.
"I have to slap myself in the face every morning," says Summerhays. "This is funner than fun."
In the mid-1960s, Bruce Summerhays came close to playing the PGA Tour. Many of his contemporaries, such as Johnny Miller and Bud Allin, went on to play the Tour when it wasn't quite as competitive as it is today. But Summerhays opted to raise a young family and settled into a comfortable life as a club pro in northern California, where he also spent a few years as the golf coach at Stanford University.
In the early 1980s, Summerhays decided to return to his home state and took the job as head pro at Wasatch Mountain State Park in Midway.
He did well on the local professional scene, winning his share of tournaments, including the Utah Section Championship, the Provo Open, the Tri City Open and the Wasatch Open, among others.
When the Senior Tour exploded during the '80s, Summerhays was creeping closer to age 50 and started preparing to fulfill a dream of playing the professional golf tour, which he didn't get a chance to do years earlier.
Two years ago, after getting approval from his family, Bruce sat down with his younger brother, Lynn, and together they mapped out a plan to get Bruce on the Senior Tour when he turned 50 in February of 1994.
Summerhays had already been on a strict exercise and eating routine for several years. But he and his brother decided that he needed to make some changes in his game to move up to the level of making Senior Tour.
For instance, they discovered that "length is a huge factor on the Senior Tour." They found that of the top 30 money-winners two years ago, 25 were among the longest 30 drivers for distance.
So Bruce made some changes with his driver as well as his swing to make himself longer off the tee.
"Bruce used to be a very modest driver compared to other pros," said Lynn, who handles his brother's business dealings as his manager. "But he's put 20 yards on his drives and now he's in the upper echelon on the tour."
Indeed. The latest Senior Tour statistics show Summerhays in 15th place with an average of 261.4 yards.
The other place for emphasis was putting. Summerhays, who uses a split-grip style, worked hard on his putting and ranks 20th on the Tour with 1.79 putts per hole.
In the fall of '93, Summerhays went to Florida to play in some mini-Tour events to get his competitive game in shape. He wasn't eligible for the qualifying school until he was 50, so in 1994 he had to play as a "rabbit" trying to qualify every Monday against more than 100 players for just four spots or less.
It's a grueling and often frustrating process (in one four-week span he missed qualifying by one shot four times). He ended upplaying in just a handful of events all year, earning $20,711.
In the fall, he finally got his chance to play in the Senior qualifying tournament. First he had to make it through the regional qualifying to get to the national tourney.
He began play on a beautiful day at the Angel Park course in Las Vegas. But after shooting a disastrous 78, he stood in 63rd place. He needed to finish in the top 25 to move on to the finals and was "absolutely stunned," as Lynn put it.
That night, as he lay in bed trying to figure out what had gone wrong, Summerhays heard the wind howling outside. To him it was music to his ears.
You see, the Summerhays boys had grown up in a house right next to the 14th fairway at the Salt Lake Country Club. The best time for them to sneak through the fence to play a few holes was on lousy-weather days when no one else was playing.
So the next day, while other golfers struggled under tough conditions, Summerhays thrived and had the best score of the field by three shots. Eventually he qualified for the nationals, where he ended up fourth to earn an exemption for this year.
Some ex-club pros who make the Senior Tour have said that it's tough to break in with the former PGA Tour stars who often resent outsiders coming in and taking a chunk of their money. But Summerhays claims to have had few problems in that regard.
"I don't give them a chance to think negatively of me," he said. "I tell them how wonderful they are and I really mean it. I know without them (ex-PGA stars) I'm nothing."
Summerhays had met a few PGA players during the handful of PGA Tour events he'd played in over the years. But in the last two months alone he's played with the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Ray Floyd and Dave Stockton. Talk about your who's who of all-time greats.
Recently Nicklaus complimented him after a round, and earlier this year Player told him, "You're doing well. Keep it up."
But it isn't just playing with the stars that has been a thrill for Summerhays.
"It's fun to see guys like Art Wall, who was my idol growing up, and people like Sam Parks, Herman Keiser and Ed Furgol," he said. "That's the neat thing about the senior tour, seeing those guys."
One of the hardest things for Summerhays is being treated like a big shot. He's used to serving others as a club pro and is almost embarrassed the way "people do everything for you" out on tour.
As a top 40 money-winner he gets a courtesy car - a Cadillac - at every stop and there's always someone waiting to take his clubs. `They spoil you to death." But then he smiles and says, "I can get used to it."'
Carolyn Summerhays, Bruce's wife of 30 years, has accompanied her husband to more than half of the tournaments this year. Every week she hears the same comments from the gallery: "There's no way that guy is 50 years old" or "That one can't be 50."
Perhaps it's because Summerhays has a hairline that hasn't receded an inch and he still has jet-black hair, unlike many of the gray heads so prevalent on the senior circuit. But Summerhays is also in great physical shape.
He gets up at the crack of dawn every morning and goes through a workout routine that lasts from one-and-a-half to two hours. Included in the routine are stretching exercises designed for range of motion, weight-lifting and cardiovascular training.
"It gives me a lot more energy to do the things I have to do," he says. "When people say I'm not 50, I just smile and say, `Thank you very much.' "
His family of eight kids, which ranges from 29-year-old Shelly to 14-year-old Carrie keeps him feeling young also. Since he has to be away so much now, playing weekly on the Senior Tour, Summerhays makes sure he sees his children as much as possible. Already four of his boys have caddied for him this year, with 24-year-old Joseph leaving today for two weeks of bag duty.
And even though it may appear Summerhays is getting rich on the Senior Tour, Carolyn says that isn't the case. She points out that they went into debt to get him there and a lot of money is spent flying her and her children to be with Bruce. "We're still very careful," she says. Bruce, by the way, continues to stay at Hampton Inns every week, not Hyatts or Hiltons.
Like all professional golfers, Summerhays knows the next paycheck could be his last. But he's going to try and ride out his good fortune as long as he can.
He plans to play in nearly every tournament the rest of the season and would like to continue for a few years to build his retirement and fund his children's missions and college educations.
While he still has to pinch himself to realize what he's already accomplished, Summerhays is looking for even bigger and better things.
"Now I'm just trying to get to the highest level . . . and I think I'll be there eventually."