Carmel Magazine

48 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 5 LOCALKNOWLEDGE Bobby Clampett Pro Golfer, CBS Sports Broadcaster, Golf Educator, Course Designer and Winemaker M onterey County native Bobby Clampett discovered his des- tiny at age 6 on a family walk by a San Francisco golf course. "When I saw the golf ball being hit for the first time, it was a target moment for me," he says. "I started asking questions about the game and inquiring about the possibilities." After pestering his mother for years, Clampett finally got to explore the sport at age 10, when his family moved to Quail Lodge & Golf Club in Carmel Valley. "My mother knew Ed Haber and introduced us, and he gave me a job there," Clampett says. "The head pro gave me lessons and within six months, I started playing in my first competition." At age 15, Clampett won his first national junior tournament in Colorado Springs. "They had 24 PGA touring pros and I beat 18 of them," he recalls. "It was the first time I had a chance to measure my talent…at that point I started thinking I might have the ability to turn pro." Clampett's talent was quickly recognized, and college scouts started offering him full rides to universities. Today, the pro, who lives with his family in Carmel Valley, still holds many unbroken records, is celebrating 25 years as a CBS Sports Broadcaster, has developed the Impact Zone Golf teaching system, and bottles Clampett Cellars Wine. Q: What are some of your career highlights? A: When I was 18 and playing in my first Masters and finished in the top 24, I became the youngest person in history to be invited back based on performance. That record still stands. In the NCAA, I set a record winning 12 college tournaments in three years, and that record still stands as well. I was undefeated in the Cal State Amateur and I won that twice…I won the US Japan All Star by seven shots…I was the youngest player to pass half a million dol- lars in prize money… Q: What about some of your personal highlights? A: I am really blessed with an amazing wife, Marianna. We are like the Brady Bunch with three of my kids and two of her kids, but they are all our kids. She's an incredible supporter. She retired about seven years ago as the leading executive in the world's largest pri- vately held software company. When she retired, we formed Impact Zone Golf…We identified what is the proper impact and how to achieve it while embracing one's own style of swing. Q: What are some of your favorite local courses to play? A: I love playing at Quail, the Preserve and Cypress Point. Q: How did you get into designing golf courses? A: I was on the panel with other PGA tour players to help redesign the course at TPC in Jacksonville…I had very strong opinions on how to improve design, mostly from a strategic stand- point…One principle is to make a course playable for every level of golfer, and challenging and rewarding for every level of golfer. The second principle is to make it so the average golfer is not so severely punished, but the more errant the shot is, the more the shot is punished. Q: What are some of the charities you are partic- ularly proud of being involved with? A: I've done a lot with First Tee and I'm a big believer in its mis- sion, which is golf is a vehicle to teach kids life values. I'm most proud of what we did at Kids Across America. It's the largest Christian inner city sports camp…After my longtime friend, US Open and PGA champion Payne Stewart tragically died, we got together and built a memorial at the Kids Across America in the Ozarks. We created a First Tee program there and built a whole practice facility and a clubhouse…Also, Children's Flight of Hope, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, which relates to my first-born child, Sara Elizabeth Clampett. She died when she was two days old. We fly children in need of medical air transportation…for burns, cancer treatments…a wide range of things. I'm a pilot and I got to fly the first two missions. Q: You seem to be involved in every aspect of golf: on both sides of the camera, through your charity work, and your personal life. A: I also have some Clampett Carmel golf history: My Irish grand- father, Frederick Clampett, was an Episcopalian minister in San Francisco. In 1904, some church members gave him a block of land in Carmel to build a summer home. When the earthquake of 1906 destroyed his home, he moved his wife and seven children to Carmel. He became one of the five original founders of the Carmel Point 9-hole golf course. — Brett Wilbur

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