What does it take to play the best golf of your life as a 59-year-old senior who has established himself already as one of the best amateurs of the modern era?
It’s more than natural ability.
You may have to spend five days stuck in a hotel room during quarantine just for the chance to compete at the British Senior Amateur before going on to win. Or getting out of bed early to train, two decades removed from open-heart surgery and other physical issues like a detached Achilles. It’s having not just a swing coach, but a putting coach, a short-game coach, a caddie and a supportive wife who also shares a perpetual passion for competition.
This dedication is at the crux of Gene Elliott earning the title of Men’s Amateur of the Year from Global Golf Post. The resident of West Des Moines, Iowa, captured the U.S. Senior Amateur and the British Senior Amateur, won two other marquee senior events and finished in the top 5 an additional seven times in WAGR-counting events.
You can’t be that dominating unless you leave no stone unturned.
It started when Elliott was 54, reaching the precipice of senior amateur golf. For all his success as a mid-amateur – winning the Porter Cup and Terra Cotta Invitational, being medalist at the 1999 U.S. Amateur, earning just about every title in Iowa amateur golf that you can name – he admittedly hadn’t pushed himself as hard as some others, like his close friend Mike McCoy. Seeing Chip Lutz and Paul Simson rack up major titles as seniors was an inspiration, a jumping off point for what could be possible.
“If I could put in the time, wake up early when you would rather be in bed, I thought I could really do something,” Elliott said.
So he got to work putting a team in place that sounds more like he is a young professional rather than a senior amateur.
His golf instruction department is led by Ken Schall, a local Iowan and longtime friend who has taught Elliott every few months for the past seven years. While Schall touts Elliott’s “nose for the hole” and repeatable swing that holds up under pressure, he noticed a lack of flexibility in his hips that restricted his turn in the backswing. That held Elliott back from delivering the club slightly more from the inside on the downswing, a move Schall believed would help with providing power and a higher ball flight.
With every piece in place, it’s clear how Elliott has enjoyed the best year of his golf career. It’s a balanced effort – at times, he’ll put his clubs away for weeks – but it’s a dedicated effort.
Elliott describes himself as stubborn when it comes to his golf swing, saying “I want to think I can fix everything on my own, but I know that’s not the case.” He fought through that stubbornness and hired a physical trainer, eventually switching to the Titleist Performance Institute-certified Bo McBee a little more than two years ago. His initial assessment showed what Schall had talked about as Elliott’s hips were struggling to open.
In time, Elliott added about 5 mph of clubhead speed and saw significant changes in how his body could fire through the ball at impact. Before each round, he has a warmup routine in his hotel room to work on his hip rotation.
“These top senior players, they are phenomenal with their hands and can make the ball go where they need it to,” McBee said. “But when it comes to the body and the back, if we don’t have the proper glute strength, mobility and sequencing, the game gets tougher as you get older.”
McBee has also worked on taking out some of Elliott’s “rounded back” position at address to relieve pressure. Elliott is down in Florida for much of the winter and is working on strength training that should continue to relieve pressure from his lower back.
All of that has enabled Schall to see Elliott get into the proper position at the top. The results speak for themselves.
“I like to keep things simple with Gene,” Schall said. “He didn’t come to see me to reinvent his swing, but that small change made him a better ballstriker.”
Playing from close in also has been a point of emphasis for Elliott, who had struggled with putting yips earlier in his career and rarely considered his short game to be a strength. At one point a few years ago, Elliott hit shorter putts left-handed and longer putts right-handed. It showed a lack of confidence with his stroke.
In 2014, Chris Foley walked with Elliott at the Masters as they watched Mike McCoy compete. Soon after, the two got together for a putting lesson and noticed there were issues with his setup position. His ball position has often gone astray, which affects his aim. He uses a long putter, and the angle of the putter grip can get off as well.
So before big events, Elliott will send videos to Foley to make sure everything is in working order. He made several massive putts in 2021, including one from just inside 20 feet on the 18th hole of a round-of-32 match against McCoy during the U.S. Senior Amateur. Elliott needed to make it to extend the match.
“Most of our work is remote now, and it usually relates back to the very first things we started working on,” Foley said. “Just like anyone in the golf swing, you always fall back on your tendencies.”
Elliott’s golf instruction team has another vital member. John Traub, the former head pro at Detroit Golf Club who has been teaching in Florida at Seminole where Elliott is a member, told Elliott that he could revamp his chipping and pitching by relying more on bounce than the leading edge of his wedges.
Last March, Traub promised Elliott that changes to his technique could elevate his game. They did, as Elliott noticed that he went from chipping in once every couple of years to once every month.
“Gene’s technique was like a lot of great players, both amateur and pro, who know how to score well but use the leading edge too much and tend to dig,” Traub said.
The U.S. Senior Amateur was held at the Country Club of Detroit so Traub, a Michigander, had dinner with Elliott before the event and walked a practice round with him. When the event started, however, Traub was nowhere to be found.
He wanted to stay out of the way, following closely through live scoring and reports from those on the ground. During the championship match, he sat in the parking lot and walked toward the clubhouse multiple times but ended up turning back around.
When Elliott walked off the 18th hole, Traub was there to remind him about the promise he made.
That’s the instruction part of Elliott’s dedication. But there are two other team members worth mentioning.
The first is Adam Hanson, a caddie at Seminole since 2009 who has been a regular on Elliott’s bag during USGA events. It was Hanson who reminded Elliott to breathe during his match against McCoy, calmly guiding him around while focusing on eliminating unforced errors.
“Gene is one of those guys who is pretty relaxed and never shows too much emotion,” Hanson said. “So it’s pretty relaxing to work for him, actually.”
The two had been on other runs together during U.S. Senior Amateurs, but with both being from the Midwest, this latest edition in Detroit seemed ideally located for Elliott to finally capture his elusive USGA championship.
Elliott ate at the same Italian restaurant in Detroit with his wife, DaLena, and Hanson for the last three days of the tournament. Elliott, a creature of habit, stuck with the same order but Hanson was willing to experiment with different meals.
On the course, however, it was all about routine. The familiarity of a player-caddie pairing can’t be overstated.
The last piece of the group dubbed Team Elliott is considered the heart of operation. DaLena Elliott is not only an emotional supporter, an authority on logistics and a taker of swing videos to be sent to the respective teachers, but she also serves as a caddie herself. She was on Elliott’s bag during the British Senior Amateur, having gone through extensive quarantine protocols for which she and her husband were tested seven times for COVID-19.
“We’ve been married for almost 13 years and we got married in October because that was the end of the golf season,” DeLena Elliott said. “As a spouse, I knew this was his passion … and he is always very conscientious of his family aspect of it, and he’s very respectful of taking time off for anything that is going on with me as well.
“It’s a give and take. It’s definitely not all golf. He has a good balance when he’s home. He doesn’t play a lot of golf just for fun, which helps. He’s always there when he needs to be there.”
It’s all for a love of the game.
“I love the competition. That’s why I play golf,” Elliott said. “This year, I’m a bit blown away by it all. It’s been a magical alignment of everything.”
And behind the magic there has been a lot of hard work.