Carol Semple Thompson - Part 1 (The Early Years)

Music playing  00:00

Mike Gonzalez  00:15

Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin, we waited 83 interviews to have our first lifelong amateur. And what an amateur she is.

Devlin, Bruce  00:28

Oh boy. You certainly said that correct. 62 Amateur wins. Seven USGA titles. And there's only one player who's won more USGA titles and Carol Semple Thompson, and that is Bobby Jones. So, Carol, welcome. Thanks for joining us. I know Mike, and I've looked forward to telling your story for quite a while and we thank you for being with us.

Semple Thompson, Carol  00:56

Well thank you, Bruce. I'm looking forward to this too. And thank you, Mike. It's, it's a little nerve wracking. But I'm thrilled to be on your podcast.

Mike Gonzalez  01:06

Well it's great to have you Carol. And course as we've talked about, we're trying to tell the stories, Bruce and I, of all of golf greats, starting with World Golf Hall of Famers like yourself, winners of major championships and others who have been influential in the game. That probably numbers, just the first two categories, about 241 living golfers, of which you're one, as I mentioned, at the opening you're interview number 83, but our first amateur, and we started with you on purpose, because we can't think of a finer women amateur player that's ever been around the game. Certainly none more highly recognized than yourself. And so we're delighted that you joined us to tell your story.

Semple Thompson, Carol  01:55

Thank you.I'm delighted too. 

Mike Gonzalez  01:57

If you were a veteran, FORE the Good of the Game podcast listener, you would know that we always start at the top at the beginning. And you know, you grew up in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, born there, stayed there, perhaps ventured out on occasion, I don't know. But let's just start at the very beginning and tell us about life as a youngster growing up in that part of Pennsylvania.

Semple Thompson, Carol  02:25

Well, Sewickley is a lovely area. It's a it's an old summer retreat for the Pittsburgh business barons, they came out too Sewickley from Pittsburgh to escape the, I guess the dirty air and the problems of cities. And they built huge mansions. And now it's been they've the mansions have disappeared. But the area is still lovely rolling hills and several terrific golf courses. And a lot of equestrian activity, lots of activities. So I I had an idyllic childhood childhood, I'd say, lived in the village of Sewickley. And grew up with four siblings, several blocks from the school that we all attended. So we all walk to school and you know, at least several blocks uphill in the hallway. And we just we had lots of activities and, and, and happy times. My parents were terrific. They, they were happy together. We had we had dinner together every night. And we siblings were amazing. We were able to fight just like all siblings, but we had a terrific life.

Mike Gonzalez  03:44

So where do you fit in the pecking order with your siblings?

Semple Thompson, Carol  03:47

I was third of five. 

Mike Gonzalez  03:49

Okay,

Devlin, Bruce  03:49

So right in the middle huh?

Semple Thompson, Carol  03:50

 Right in the middle.

Mike Gonzalez  03:52

So what was that like being in the middle?

Semple Thompson, Carol  03:55

Um, well, I thought it was a pretty good position because my two older siblings, I was actually bigger than most of my siblings. So I could hold my own in our fights. And then my youngest sister came along 10 years after the fourth one. So she was out of the picture. Most of the time she was practically a different generation.

Devlin, Bruce  04:21

So early early days, I gather from reading all your information that both your mum and dad they were both keen golfers.

Semple Thompson, Carol  04:33

They were both very good golfers my mother didn't take it up until she met my father. She was probably 19 when she met him and I think she knew right away that he was he was the one for her. Actually, there was an older golf pro at Allegheny by the name of Fred Brand, Senior who recommended that my mother latch on to my father. So she did that as quickly as she could but, but she took the game up with event and Jensen became a scratch player and my father was a scratch player, so and they both early on in the 50's became involved with the USGA. So I really grew up as a USGA brat. They were interested in working for the association and playing in the championships. And so I learned that the USGA was very important in our lives early on,

Mike Gonzalez  05:26

Your father Harton, I guess went by Bud, served as the USGA president in 1974 and 1975. And then your mom, who played competitively eventually, Phyllis, but she served on several committees over the years. And so as you say, quite involved, you grew up with the USGA, and I suppose that's perhaps why you would attribute your long, lifelong participation in those events is looking back to the involvement your parents had in the organization?

Semple Thompson, Carol  05:56

Oh, I think definitely. That's, why I took the path that I did. I mean, I did think about turning professional at one point, but it was right after college, I did not play college golf. I played all the other sports I could find. But I went to my father and told him I was going to turn pro after college. And he said, No, no, no, no, you're not going to turn pro. I said, Oh, okay. Well just seemed like something to do. And he said, Well, here's, here's the deal. I'll support you for a year if you don't turn pro. So he sent me to Florida, and I practiced all winter and I thought I practice pretty hard. And I was working with Bobby Cruickshank was my pro down at Gulfstream in  Delray. And the next summer, I was just a basket case, I couldn't play, I could hardly qualify for match play, let alone win any matches. And so I decided that maybe the professional life wasn't for me. Maybe dad was right huh? Unfortunately, I would never admit it. But yes, he was right.

Devlin, Bruce  06:59

There is a postscript to to the USGA, you, I'm not sure if you are aware of it or not. But the USGA will be archiving this great story of your career for forever and ever, for all the kids that come along. Two or three generations from now, they can go to the USGA, and they can press a button and listen to Carol.

Semple Thompson, Carol  07:21

Well, I think that's absolutely wonderful. I know that I've been on the museum and library committee for the USGA for a number of years now. And they've always along the way been trying to develop oral histories, they call them and interviewing people, but they haven't been able to get as many people organized as you have. So it's going to be a wonderful boon to the USGA.

Mike Gonzalez  07:49

I'm not sure we knew what we were doing two and a half years ago when we started, but it became fairly clear to us early on that, hey, we're onto something here. It's unique. No one else is doing this. Let's commit ourselves to getting all these stories down. And, you know, as I said, we're about a third of the way there we got a few more years of work ahead of us.

Semple Thompson, Carol  08:08

Yeah, that's, that's a big job.

Mike Gonzalez  08:11

But anyway, let's, let's talk some more about your younger years, particularly how you got introduced to the game, I assume it was from your parents, you played at a fairly early age, maybe casually before starting to take it seriously. Just tell us about how you first got exposed?

Semple Thompson, Carol  08:32

Well, I can vaguely remember I was born in 1948. And in 1954, the U.S. Women's Amateur was played at my home club Allegheny. And I'd have a vague recollection of that of a lot of good women players being on the Golf Course. And they befriended me, like, I think Alice Dye was there and Marlene Streit was there. And, and my mother had had gotten to know these women casually through some of her early competition. So I was, I was introduced at a fairly young age to some high level, women's golf. And actually, in 1954, my father and my uncle were chairman of the championship. And that was when he met my father met Joe Dey. And my mother met Joe Dey. And that was a pretty good connection right there. Because Joe put my mother on the women's committee at the USGA and I think 55 or the year after, yeah. But as far as me really becoming a golfer, I would say my mother was the main motivation or the main push, she was very determined that that we that we children were going to learn to play the game. And she's she was that way throughout her life. She tried to get all young people to play and, and old people she just loved the game. So much. But she did. She was very good at bribing me to, I think what my recollection is that when I was had been playing a little bit, and I was about ready to break 60 for nine holes, she offered me a new golf glove. And that was, that was a big deal. Golf, a new golf club. And then, I think for 55, it was, it might have been $5. And then for 50, it was a new pair of golf shoes. And she she was pretty canny in her her motivation. And she also took me to a lot of tournaments when I was young. She was playing in the Pennsylvania State Championship, and I think the Women's Eastern and some of the regional events, and she would take me with her. And she I was taught to sit quietly on the Golf Course while she went off and played and then she'd come back and get me eventually. But I mean, there wasn't any babysitting available. So I mean, I had to be a little bit older to to notice it quietly and not disturb the golfers but I learned a lot about the game that way. Watching my mother play against good players.

Mike Gonzalez  11:16

You mentioned a couple of things first, that 1954 Women's Amateur at Allegheny that sort of your maybe one of your earliest memories of getting exposed to golf at a high level. I'm sure you remember who finished second in that Women's Amateur?

Semple Thompson, Carol  11:31

Well, I didn't remember at the time, but I know it was Mickey Wright. So I was definitely being exposed to great golf. And another little tidbit about that particular championship was there were nine women who were members of Allegheny who played in that championship. So it was a sort of a hotbed of women's golf.

Mike Gonzalez  11:52

Yeah, it sure was. Barbara Romack won that event over Mickey Mickey right, the great Mickey Wright, probably, many would argue the finest player that ever played on the LPGA Tour, despite the fact that Kathy Whitworth has got her beat in terms of victories, but boy she was awfully tough. The other thing he mentioned was Joe Dye. Of course Joe's name has come up a lot on the podcast over the over the years. And and wasn't he the first sort of professional commissioner of the newly formed PGA professional tour back in the in the 60s.

Devlin, Bruce  12:29

correct?

Semple Thompson, Carol  12:29

Yes, I believe he was. Was that was quite a quite a coup for the PGA to get Joe I think.

Mike Gonzalez  12:36

It sure was because, of course, he was a professional administrator having overseen the USGA for a while. Everybody that's old enough remembers Joe and his look, and I'm sure he had plenty of opportunity to officiate some of the USGA championships. So you probably ran into Joe Dee quite a bit in your younger days.

Semple Thompson, Carol  12:58

I did. I did. I thought the world and him he was such a gentleman. He was just he was, his demeanor was absolutely wonderful. And I think he had such respect across the whole world of golf.

Mike Gonzalez  13:13

So you mentioned your mother introducing you to the game. What do you remember about those early days playing golf and what sort of attracted you to the game at the time?

Semple Thompson, Carol  13:26

Well, I didn't have very many people to play with who were my age. If I was going to play, I usually played by myself. Or I played with my family, not so much my siblings, but my parents. It was a regular Sunday game. And since they were four children, at that point, there were my parents would play all 18 holes, but two children would play nine holes, and then another two would come and play the back nine. Because my parents really wanted all children to learn to play well enough to to enjoy the game. I mean, my father's rule actually was we had to learn to play well enough to break 90 And then we were allowed to quit. So my siblings pretty much did learn to play well enough to enjoy the game and and then they quit. But then then they came back to it later in life with with their families to a certain extent. So it was pretty effective rule, I think. Yeah. And I of course got hooked.

Mike Gonzalez  14:24

Were you the kind of kid that enjoyed the solitude of the game?

Semple Thompson, Carol  14:27

I didn't mind it at all. I just remember going out carrying my bag quite a lot. Although one day I do remember, I hit a few bad shots in a row and I got so mad that I actually saw red. There was a pink tinge to my vision. I thought no, I'm never getting this mat again ever scared me to death. Like demeanor a lot.

Mike Gonzalez  14:53

So, you mentioned lessons from Bobby Cruickshank, and of course your mother helping you Shape your game. Were there others that early on were sort of influences on you developing skills with the game?

Semple Thompson, Carol  15:06

Well I actually took lessons from the Pro and Allegheny Country Club whose name was Frank Smith. In the 50's. He was really the first one to give me a lesson. But then, quite quickly, my mother took me to Bobby Cruickshank because she was she wanted to go to what she considered the person she considered to be the the best teacher in this Pittsburgh area. And Bobby Cruikshank was working in a club in Pittsburgh by the name of Chartiers. So she would troop over there and have a lesson with Bobby and bring me along and I'd sit and watch her and get bored but Bobby became a very good friend and a wonderful teacher. So he was really my first main teacher. And then through the years I've also taken lessons from another local Pittsburgh man by the name of Chuck Scalley and then two head professionals at Allegheny Roy Vucinich and, and John Aber now, so John doesn't seem to be able to help me. I think I'm hopeless now, but I've had a lot of lessons through the years.

Mike Gonzalez  16:11

Well you had mentioned early on that there, there is some fine golf in the Pittsburgh area.

Semple Thompson, Carol  16:19

There is some fine golf in the Pittsburgh a lot of fine golf, and there's a lot of fine golf clubs, a lot of excellent club professionals and amateur players. So and we we have produced some, some pros, but maybe not as many some other areas, but, but there is a lot of great golf here. 

Mike Gonzalez  16:39

Bruce, if you if you we start talking about Carol's first big tournament win it must have been a bit bittersweet for her at  age 16.

Devlin, Bruce  16:48

How about that. Yeah. Tell us about that first victory.

Semple Thompson, Carol  16:51

Well, it was bittersweet. Although I was a kid, what did I know? It was the Western Pennsylvania Women's Championship. And my mother and my older sister and I all entered the championship. And it was being played at a Golf Course that my father had founded Sewickley Heights Golf Club. So it was a sort of a family affair. And my mother and I got to the finals, and I was on my way up. My handicap was dropping, and I was getting better quickly. And my mother had probably leveled off in her game a little bit. So I played really well. And she didn't play as well. She was probably distracted. But I being the kid didn't think anything of hitting good shots. And I killed her. I think I beat her by five and four in the finals. So I think it was bittersweet, but mostly for her.

Mike Gonzalez  17:45

But I'm sure as a mother, she was quite happy.

Devlin, Bruce  17:47

As happy as she was. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  17:51

So did that light a fire under you thinking man, if I can do this at age 16? Just think of what I might be able to do if I really get serious about the game.

Semple Thompson, Carol  18:01

Well, I can't. It did sort of get me started a little bit more. Although, the year before when I was 15. My parents had taken my older sister and me to watch a Curtis Cup in Wales. We went to Porthcawl, Wales. And we saw the the Curtis Cup players there on that team was a young American player by the name of Peggy Conley. And she was 16. And I was 15. And I thought, boy, if someone 16 can make the Curtis Cup team that's pretty amazing. But my real memory was the weather over there. We arrived at Porthcawl in a horizontal driving rain with wind and, and those poor women were out there playing I couldn't. It was just it was unbelievable. And then we went for eight days around Scotland and played eight courses in eight days and I never wants to buy long underwear off. I just thought it was unbelievable that people would want to play golf in that weather. But, but I was introduced pretty young to the curse cup. And then for the next summer to win the Western Pennsylvania it did change my outlook a lot on the game.

Devlin, Bruce  19:16

We all had idols when we were growing up. You know, I read a lot about all the American players and of course we had some pretty good Australian players as well, but But I look at the list of people that you idolized in the game you got some pretty strong names there.

Semple Thompson, Carol  19:37

Well, I think most of my idols tended to be women amateurs. Because probably because my mother introduced me to them. When we went in the 60's we went to U.S. Women's Amateur championships and U.S. Women's Opens. We were able to just enter those championships without qualifying. If your handicap was low enough as an amateur, you can enter anything. And so we went and played and and I was able to see JoAnne Carner and Dot Porter and Helen Sigel Wilson, a lot of Pennsylvania names that were, I had come to know through the state championships. But it was it was really, it was wonderful. I played with Mickey Wright. One time I played with Louise Suggs. I think I played I may have played one time with Kathy Whitworth, but I can't. It just seems I should have played with her. But I can't actually remember the round. But there were, I mean, the top players were within my experience. So it was it was wonderful.

Devlin, Bruce  20:42

Yeah. Peggy Kirk Bell too?

Semple Thompson, Carol  20:48

Peggy Kirk Bell was a very good friend of my mother's. And I came to know her very, very well. In later years, I, when I was driving from Pennsylvania, down to Florida for the winter, I'd stop and stay with her for a night. She was just wonderful.

Mike Gonzalez  21:04

So you'd mentioned earlier that you didn't play college golf. And as we've talked about a lot with our interviews with the women, and while telling their stories, telling the stories of the history of women's golf history, the LPGA Tour and its development, it always comes up that those players kind of in their college years, particularly the 60's, there weren't many opportunities, either your college didn't have a golf team. This was long before Title Nine. And so the world hadn't changed yet. And so, and if they did play, they probably played on the men's team. But in your case, tollens Was there no team.

Semple Thompson, Carol  21:46

There was no team, although we played a little bit of golf in Virginia, but I was able to enter the National Collegiate championship as a college student, I could just enter the national college championship, which was an individual match play event. And I believe, one year at Duke during the qualifying round, there were maybe seven or eight women's teams. And they had a little bit of a competition just for the one day of qualifying. And then everybody went into the individual match play. And that year, I got to the finals, which was a huge shock. And I played Gail Sikes in the finals, and I brag about becoming a member of the double digit club because I lost by 10 and nine in the finals. It was a 36 hole final,

Mike Gonzalez  22:35

 I was gonna say I hope it was yeah,

Semple Thompson, Carol  22:37

 It was, it was 36 hole,final and but that's not the only time I became a member of double digit club. I lost again in later years in the finals of the Women's Western by 10 and nine so I have that claim to fame twice. But I'm not complaining. 

Mike Gonzalez  22:56

We skipped over Miss Porter's School, I guess graduating from there in circa 1966 where you played a lot of different sports as you had mentioned before, maybe not a lot of golf, but you were quite an athlete back then.

Semple Thompson, Carol  23:12

Yes, athletics were my strong suit that studying was definitely not my strong suit. But But I did love sports. I played field hockey and basketball and lacrosse and tennis and horseback riding. I didn't do those at school, but I did a lot of horseback riding through the years in my life. So I was a team player and I I was a pretty good athlete. I was pretty fast back then. But as with every year I got a little bit slower and a little bit slower. And by the time I was in college, I became the goalie in lacrosse. So I was a good goalie but I wasn't very fast moving. So I think golf suited my abilities better.

Mike Gonzalez  23:52

The participation Bruce in multiple sports is obviously something we've heard a lot from these great golfers

Devlin, Bruce  23:58

Amazing how many how many great players have loved all the other sports too. You know, the team team aspect of it. And then of course golf. Not much of a team aspect there. Unless you get into the Curtis Cup or you know, Solheim Cup and stuff like that, but Right, but yeah, great, great sports people seem to do very well. I mean, the one guy that jumps right out at me is Nicklaus, you know, Nicklaus was a was a really good basketball player, and he was a good tennis player. And of course, I think his golf has spoken for him fairly well. 

Semple Thompson, Carol  24:37

I would say so.

Mike Gonzalez  24:40

So you talked again, about as you were finishing up college, having thoughts of turning pro of course, back in that day. Turning Pro is a lot different than it is today, isn't it? 

Semple Thompson, Carol  24:56

Well it was I mean, I there wasn't very much money on the tour. I don't think it would have been very difficult to Well, I think it's still difficult for women to support themselves. But it's, I don't even remember back then what was involved, I don't think there was a Qualifying School of any sort. In turning pro, I think you pretty much just said you were going to be a pro and you went and played. But there just wasn't a lot of money available. And I thought it would be a difficult lifestyle. I thought traveling would be difficult as a single woman, and I just didn't have that many friends out there on the tour that I could, that I thought I can team up with.

Mike Gonzalez  25:37

So it certainly was difficult, as you know, because you know, a lot of the ladies that that came during that time to, to compete on the LPGA Tour, to your point about no money, the total purse on the LPGA Tour in 1970 for all the tournaments for all the players $435,000.

Semple Thompson, Carol  26:01

Boy, that's quite a statistic. That's scary. Yeah. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  26:06

And then, you know, obviously, Colgate Palmolive, and David Foster, really jumped started the tour, you know, back in the early 70s, with the advent of The Dinah Shore, but back then, turning pro as you said, it was a declaration essentially.

Semple Thompson, Carol  26:23

That's what I recall. And it was very serious declaration, if you even mentioned it at the time. Sometimes they took your amateur status away if you even mentioned your intention to turn professional. 

Devlin, Bruce  26:34

Right. Yeah, that's right.

Mike Gonzalez  26:36

As you would know, growing up in a USGA family that was very specific language you wanted to avoid back then?

Semple Thompson, Carol  26:43

That's right. That's exactly right. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez  26:46

So you're coming out of college about the time that Big Momma Gunderson is finally deciding to turn professional.

Semple Thompson, Carol  26:54

I know she was amazing. As an amateur. She was amazing. And then she was one of the top professionals she, she is one of my idols, and she is such a good friend. I just love her. I still talk to her often. She and Marlene Streit, spent a lot of time together in Florida. And they've been nice enough to include me in some golf games with them. And JoAnne is great. I played with her the last couple of years at the Senior Women's Open. And of course, she's sparkled there too, by shooting her age, breaking her age. She's amazing.

Mike Gonzalez  27:30

Well, I enjoyed seeing you both this year at that event out in the Portland Oregon area. And of course, Bruce and I were delighted to have her on the show as well and reflect on her career. But I just think about you know, what sort of record like your she might have posted has she stayed a lifelong amateur adore what sort of additional professional record she could have posted had she just decided to turn professional at a young age like a lot of these women. 

Devlin, Bruce  27:59

Sure.

Semple Thompson, Carol  27:59

I couldn't agree with you more. She was just she was at the top of the game in both categories. And she would have been way at the top if she had stayed stayed amateur or if she turned pro early. So she was she was wonderful.

Mike Gonzalez  28:15

And you know, I think is a 21 year old playing today's game she would have fit right in.

Semple Thompson, Carol  28:22

She's well she fits in anywhere. She's just got that personality that nothing fazes her and she's just got a great golf game.

Mike Gonzalez  28:31

So, back to that decision pro, not pro, you probably get some good advice from your father. And the so you said you set that aside for the time being but how many more times did the thought of turning professional come up during your life?

Semple Thompson, Carol  28:49

Not too many. I mean, I never regretted my decision after that first year, I did struggle to support myself for a couple of years. Between 1970 and 1973. I was a sales clerk and I tried to sell real estate and keep playing a little bit of amateur golf. And then in 1973 I well I ran into a guy I was trying to sell real estate to and he he talked about hypnosis. So he he was just a businessman, but he liked working with children. He said he hypnotize them and these children had disabilities have some sort of coordination problems. And after he hypnotized them, they were able to improve on that they like if they couldn't jump up and down on a trampoline. After the hypnosis, they could figure it out and they could time their jumps and and we got to talk and he said I you know, it would be really fun to work with an athlete to see if the hypnosis would help. And I said, Well, I'm a little bit of an athlete, so maybe, maybe you could help me so he agreed. And he he invited me to his In the house that he was renting, and I went in, I went some one evening and he said, coming in, in the living room, I laid down on the floor, and his kids were running up and down the steps making noise and stuff. He said, Now just ignore everything and relax. And he, he made a tape hypnotizing me. And the tape was maybe 20 minutes long of, you know, relaxation and then visualization for most of the 20 minutes. And it had to do with playing golf. At the time, I was not hitting my three iron very well. I don't know what I was doing playing a three iron, but we talked about seeing the three iron flying through the air and visualizing all that and, and on the tape, he left about a three minute space for me to visualize playing a golf round. So that just it all just 20 minutes. There was visualisation relaxation. And then he brought me out, and I and then he gave me the tape. And I listened to that tape for the next six weeks. And I won the U.S. Women's Amateur. And it was because I was so relaxed, and I was so able to visualize every shot. And he gave me a posthypnotic suggestion of account to read to relax me when I was nervous. And it was just like magic, this mental outlook could could make such a difference in my game. So once I won the Women's Amateur. Then I went to the British Amateur the following spring, which was played at Porthcawl. 10 years after I'd been there, watching the Curtis Cup and I won that. And then I was pretty sure I was going to be on a Curtis Cup team. So that was pretty exciting. And then once I got on a Curtis Cup team, there was absolutely no turning back, I was determined to keep playing on the amateur circuit as long as I possibly could. And I just loved that Curtis Cup. And and then the World Team came along too. So that wasn't that doesn't have quite the ambiance of the Curtis Cup, though. But it's still a team event.

Mike Gonzalez  32:09

We're gonna go through all that. But but just back to the mental side of things. You were a real pioneer, then I mean, I don't remember as a youth hearing anything about the mental approach to golf, I'm sure. At the higher levels. There were some things being done, but you didn't hear about much.

Semple Thompson, Carol  32:27

Well, I had tried a lot of I had read a lot of books. "The Power of Positive Thinking" was one that comes to mind but but there was the there were some tennis books that I read and they were all about the the positive mental side of golf, but nothing really clicked with me until this specific hypnosis tape. And I think it was I think it was a little bit on the cutting edge. I'm sure people have done it. But it just hadn't been publicized so much. But I remember when I won the British amateur, one of the British tabloids over there I was of course using my tape then sitting in the locker room listening to tape. And one of the tabloids said, hypnotized simple wins. And I know my my family was horrified my my grandmother in particular was shocked that I had been hypnotized, hypnotized, and it helped me with my goal. Well, she was happy to help me but she was just shocked because it wasn't. It was more of a show thing. I think then sometimes people would get on stage and quack like a duck or whatever. But this was this is pretty serious to me. It really worked. I need a new tape now.

Mike Gonzalez  33:40

Well, but you listen to that tape and the for the first time you listen to it, you're thinking to yourself, I was out I was this is this definitely real stuff.

Semple Thompson, Carol  33:49

Oh yeah. I loved to hypnosis. I love being that relaxed. And I think I was a good subject. Because I didn't I didn't go to sleep. During the tape. I was just so relaxed. I didn't even feel my body. I was just in my mind thinking these good thoughts. So it was it was very effective.

Devlin, Bruce  34:09

Great story.

Mike Gonzalez  34:10

So, you had to go into that first session with a lot of trust of what this fellow was doing. Yeah.

Semple Thompson, Carol  34:16

Well, I do remember thinking when I was in, I think I was in kindergarten. And we used to take naps during the day, you know, lie down on the blanket and have quiet time. And I remember the teacher going around the classroom and lifting people's arms and letting them flop and she'd say, Well, no, Johnny, you're not very relaxed. Just relax more. She came to me and I was like a noodle. Oh, Carol, you're you're really good. You're so relaxed. This is great. So I remember thinking even when I was young that I was good at relaxing. So it didn't it didn't it wasn't anything that made me nervous, sir. I just thought it was probably a good subject.

Mike Gonzalez  34:53

Yeah, Bruce, did you ever try any of this stuff in your career?

Devlin, Bruce  34:57

No I never did no, 

Semple Thompson, Carol  34:59

you If you didn't need it, 

Devlin, Bruce  35:02

I could have done with a lot of it actually.

Mike Gonzalez  35:06

Did you know any guys that had tried it that you had heard about back in that timeframe? Bruce? 

Devlin, Bruce  35:11

No, you know, a revelation back in my days was, you know, somebody that went to the gym and worked out. I mean, Player, for instance, was, you know, everybody thought he was nuts, you know, going, you know, getting up and going to the gym every morning and then playing golf. I mean, our exercise was down in the beer after we'd finished.

Mike Gonzalez  35:38

Well, and you certainly didn't have teams, I've said this a lot. But Carol, one of our first guests, when we started this was Lanny Wadkins. And we, we talked about how the game has changed and how players now are traveling with their teams. He said, Well, yeah, he said, My team was my caddy and whoever the bartender was in the town we were playing.

Semple Thompson, Carol  35:58

I believe it. I mean, times have changed. Yes. And I see that with with young girls. I mean, I ran a tournament in Florida for 10 or 12 years. And these young girls who were, I mean, eight, 9, 10, 12 years old. I'd say to them, well, who's your teacher? And she said, Well, which teacher Do you are you talking about my short game teacher? Or my long game teacher? Or my mental coach or I mean, school? 

Devlin, Bruce  36:23

Or my reacher at school.

Semple Thompson, Carol  36:25

Yes, that's right.

Mike Gonzalez  36:27

Well, I'm sure we'll talk some more about how the game has changed. But Bruce, just to sort of recap Oh, wonderful amateur career as you mentioned the top for Carol simple Thompson 62 total wins. Winner of seven USGA championships and so the other lifelong amateurs who have won a serious number of USGA championships included as you mentioned Bobby Jones with nine and then Glenna Colette Vare, the Vare Trophy of course named after her with six. Francis Ouimet three plus he was on 12 Walker Cup teams. And then while an amateur JoAnne of course won six USGA titles when she was an amateur and Tiger Woods won six amateur, including three straight juniors three straight amateurs, which I look back on that six year stretch, and I'm thinking, will we ever seen anything like that again, because you can appreciate this, Carol, how tough it is in matchplay to win just one time.

Semple Thompson, Carol  37:25

It is it's really tough. And I want to add one person to your list there. There's another amateur woman who's won seven USGA titles, and that's Ellen Port. She's won either four mid AM's and three Seniors or whatever, but she's tied with me. So.

Devlin, Bruce  37:47

So you better go out and win another one?

Semple Thompson, Carol  37:49

Well I know she wants to win another one. And she's still playing actively and has some exemptions. So it certainly could happen.

Mike Gonzalez  37:58

I think you mentioned when we talked earlier, your current number of appearances in USGA competitions, 121 .Is that right? 

Semple Thompson, Carol  38:07

That's correct. But who's counting? 

Mike Gonzalez  38:10

Well, I am.

Devlin, Bruce  38:14

That's a lot of competitions, isn't it?

Mike Gonzalez  38:16

Has anyone played more?

Semple Thompson, Carol  38:18

No, not that I know. Not USGA. But I compare that to Jack Nicklaus, who played in something like 150 majors. So I mean, I'm no big deal. Except it's been fun through the years.

Mike Gonzalez  38:32

Yeah. You played I think the numbers right, 32 Women's U.S. Opens, not counting the Seniors probably. Right. That's correct. Yeah. So you know, and normally, Carol, we sort of do this in chronological order.  In your case, it's almost like we can probably go from major competition to major competition, because as you mentioned, there's the Curtis Cup, the Espirito Santo the Amateur, the Women's Amateur. So I think we want to talk about all of those in your record in those events. And then as we go along, you know, you might help us with the chronology of things, because as you mentioned, you won the Women's Amateur and then went over to Porthcawl and won the British Ladies Amateur, being perhaps the first maybe the only that held those two titles at the same time. Right.

Semple Thompson, Carol  39:27

Well, I think there were others, but I know, Marlene Streit did it, I think Barbara McIntire, so there have been several others who have done that. And mine was in two different years, but I held both titles at the same time. So that was good.

Mike Gonzalez  39:43

Thank you for listening to another episode of FORE the Good of the Game and please, wherever you listen to your podcasts on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe spread the word and tell your friends. Until we tee it up again, FORE the Good of the Game, so long everybody.

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