Rivercut golf instructor one of nation?s 100 best

He's given golf lessons to everyone from former State Amateur Champion Anne Cane to rock star Alice Cooper. Indeed, if you're going to talk about golf and golf instructors in the Springfield area, Rick Grayson's name is bound to come up.

Grayson, who's been a Professional Golf Association teaching professional for 24 years, is one of a handful of golf instructors in the nation who've achieved guru status.

Since 1996, the Rivercut instructor has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Golf Instructors in America by Golf Magazine.

In 1991, 1998 and 2000, he was named PGA Teacher of the Year, and his instructional articles have graced the pages of Senior Golf, USA Today, Golf Magazine and PGA Magazine.

Grayson also is the co-author of the book "SuperGolf," which was published by Harper Collins in 1997, and his instructional video "Golf Made Easy" is the reference-guide-of-choice among many area golfers.

In addition to running his own golf school, Grayson teaches at the Connie Morris Golf Learning Center, which is located at Rivercut Golf Course in Springfield. That's where we found Grayson when we asked him to weigh in on a few subjects of interest to local golfers.

Q: How long have you been teaching at the Connie Morris Golf Learning Center?

A: "I've been here since March 2000."

Q: Where did you teach before?

A: "I taught at Grandview, which later became the Bill and Payne Stewart Golf Course. I was there for 11 years. It was hard to leave, but it really came down to doing what would be best for my students. We have one of the finest teaching facilities in the state here at Rivercut. Not only that, Golf Digest recently rated this course as one of the best public courses in the United States for its price."

Q: What did you do to get this teaching facility started?

A: "I looked at some other golf schools to see what they were doing, and then I contacted Dorl Sweet, the pro at Rivercut, about the possibility of building a new golf teaching facility here. He didn't oppose the idea, but there just wasn't enough money to do it at the time. About a year later, Jim Morris donated some money to get the project started. His late wife Connie, who the center is named after, was a good golfer. She used to play in tournaments all over the area."

Q: What do you offer students?

A: "Outside we have a practice pitching and putting green and several tee boxes, which are covered so students can practice in any kind of weather. We also have a hitting area inside and some state-of-the-art computer equipment that we use when we analyze a student's swing. This information gets transferred to a videotape, which includes some voice-over instructions from me. Putting instructions on a videotape allows a student to practice their swing at home whenever they have time."

Q: Have any of your students gone on to achieve golfing greatness?

A: "All of them. To me, golfing greatness is about improvement, whether that's knocking two strokes off your game or getting rid of your slice. As far as standout students go, though, I'd have to say Anne Cane was one of them. She won the Missouri State Amateur one year and went on to play at the University of Georgia where she was named as an All-American two times. Right now, I'm working with a high school student in Oklahoma by the name of Tyler Carson, who finished his senior year 23 under par."

Q: Who taught you how to play?

A: "My dad taught me how to play golf. He can shoot his age 73. That's the hardest thing to do in golf. I've also studied under teachers like Bob Toski, Jim Flick and Davis Love, and attended seminars run by David Leadbetter and Hank Haney."

Q: Do you think golf conditioning is a fad, or is it here to stay?"

A: "I don't think it's a fad. I think it's here to stay. If you look at other sports, the athletes have some kind of conditioning program that they follow. Gary Player is the first player I know of that followed a golf conditioning program, but Tiger Woods is the player that brought it into the mainstream. Tiger's done a lot for the game. He's made it cool to play golf because he's doing things distance-wise and record-wise that are almost superhuman."

Q: What's your opinion on the USGA's ruling to ban the Callaway ERC and other "non-conforming" drivers?

A: "The USGA should continue to set the rules concerning the type of equipment people can use to play in order to maintain the integrity of the game. To tell you the truth, though, I'm not sure anyone has ever invented a club that makes you play better. You still need a certain amount of skill, and on average, an illegal driver will only add six more yards to your shot."

Q: Do you agree with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that makes it legal for PGA player Casey Martin to use a golf cart because he has a disability?

A: "Absolutely. Walking isn't a major part of the game. The PGA gives golfers the option of riding or walking during the final qualification round. Out of the 165 golfers who tried to qualify last year, only 14 decided to use a golf cart. That says to me that walking isn't a decisive factor."

Q: Are there any up-and-coming local golfers that we should watch?

A: "Mark McBride from Lebanon has a lot of potential. He's already won the state amateur twice. Chris Hall from Springfield also is a tremendous player."