New perspective, swing have
helped fuel Allen’s senior rebirth
Michael Allen believes pressure is self-applied, and for many years he was overdosing on the tension of tournament golf. Nerves tended to verwhelm him, particularly on the greens,
sabotaging a natural talent and free spirit who as a teen had
no qualms about rock climbing a 1,500-foot mountain, where
a mistake could be much more costly than a double bogey.
His career was like a business that would have a few
good months, close, re-open in a different location, prosper
for a while but have trouble again. It is a route taken by
many of golf’s journeymen, for whom Allen, who successfully got through PGA Tour Qualifying School nine times,
could have been a spokesman.
The difference between Allen and many other players
who have toiled in anonymity, shooting scores noticed by
only friends and family, is what has happened to him the last
few years. He is older, wiser and, at 53, actually better—now
the golfer to beat on the Champions Tour. The latest evidence
was Sunday’s victory with partner David
Frost at the Liberty Mutual Insurance
Legends of Golf in Savannah, Ga., Allen’s
second consecutive senior win.
He is living up to the potential he
showed when, as a 50-year-old still
competing primarily on the PGA Tour,
he won the first Champions Tour event
he entered, the 2009 Senior PGA
Championship. “I played with him that
week,” said David Eger, “and I was thinking, ‘Stay over on the
regular tour, buddy. You don’t need to come over here yet.’
Allen’s peers wouldn’t mind if he still had one eye on the
PGA Tour given he has 23 top-10s in 43 career senior
starts. As have other golfers who flourished in their
second acts following lukewarm primes—he won the
1989 Bell’s Scottish Open on the European Tour and 1998
Greater Austin Open on the Nationwide Tour—Allen has
put the pieces of the competitive puzzle together. He has
worked on his body and swing, but the transformation
began with his outlook.
“You’re not in war, you’re playing golf,” said Allen,
wearing shorts on the eve of the Legends of Golf. “It’s
supposed to be fun. If you can get that attitude, it makes it a
lot easier to deal with. Golf is not this incredibly stressful,
terrifying experience that it used to be for me.”
Chris Dorris, a friend of Allen’s who is a life coach, got
him to change his attitude in a way Allen’s many sessions
with different sport psychologists couldn’t. “He’s the one
who made me realize this should be fun,” Allen said. “I
don’t have to show up and play tournaments. I’m doing it
because I want to. That’s a big factor in life, to understand
that it’s an option to have a good time.”
Refining his swing under the tutelage of instructor Mike
Mitchell, Allen has flattened his plane, reduced hip move-
ment on the downswing and is taking smaller divots. He
goes through extensive workouts with trainer Bobby Duvall
and believes regular massages aren’t indulgences but
rather an essential part of being an over-50 professional
athlete. “Getting someone who is specialized in stretching
and tissue work seems imperative to me,” Allen said.
“You’re not in war, you’re playing golf,” said Allen.
“It’s supposed to be fun. … Golf is not this
incredibly stressful, terrifying experience
that it used to be for me.”
test drive. He won the Senior PGA with a belly model but
has returned to a long putter. “It’s been the best for me,”
said Allen, who is ranked sixth on the Champions Tour in
putting average this season. “Stroking with one hand, I can
only get half as nervous.”
He dearly would love to give the long putter another
whirl in a U.S. Open. The national championship is at
Olympic Club in San Francisco, where Allen, who grew up
in San Mateo, Calif., has been a member since he was 14.
When he was 7, he spectated at the 1966 Open at Olympic,
collecting Arnold Palmer’s autograph and a few Spalding
Dots that had flown the practice range. In 1998 he was first
alternate at Olympic and didn’t get in. The June 4 sectional
qualifier at nearby Lake Merced is a priority. “I’m going to
make sure I’m ready to go and give it my best shot,” he said.
“Thirty-six holes is a long walk for an old guy.”
During a year of his golf rebirth, it would be only fitting if
that walk resulted in a spot in the U.S. Open field. n
