Tim Herron Reflects and Prepares

“The window is very short,” said Tim Herron as he prepared for the next chapter after a long and successful career on the PGA Tour.  He turns 50 on February 6th and will head out on the Champions Tour shortly thereafter. With 24 years on the PGA tour, “Lumpy” is rich in experience and reflections on the game. 

We sat at the YUM restaurant in Hopkins, MN where out the window the bitter cold wind whipped the snow on a December day. “It won’t be long now before you will be in the warm,” I said. It was a wide ranging discussion as I listened to Tim’s thoughts.

In the past six years Tim has been able to get into only 51 events. With the difficulty of getting into tournaments, it made it hard to plan a schedule of playing where and when he wanted. 

One of the good things about the Champions Tour (which is players 50 and older), “They kind of set your schedule. 26 tournaments that run for segments of four weeks with two weeks off between,” he said. “I have at least three to four years of exemptions based on career money earnings.” 

Tim is exempt for the Champions Tour in the ‘Career Tour Money Winning’ category. His career winnings are $19,382,000. “Right now the qualifying amount is $14,000,000. It goes up about $500,000 a year.” With Champions Tour money added to career money, with success, Tim should stay exempt for many years.

“The last six years (since playing regularly on Tour), have given me a different perspective. I’ve changed. I’m now outside the bubble.” (The PGA Tour being the bubble.) “There’s more to life than the bubble. I’ve been able to spend more time with my family.” With his wife Ann, he has three sons; Carson, 17, and twins Mic and PJ, 13. “The last couple of years on tour I felt like I was sliding down a rope. I’ve matured. Now I have more fun playing.”

In November of 2019 Tim had Carson caddy for him at the RSM Classic in Sea Island, GA. “It’s a great experience having him in the game. Some of the other caddies invited Carson to play golf and have dinner. It was great to see.”

The second round Tim shot 64, the lowest round he had in six years on tour. “Carson kept saying ‘Dad, will you get off the wrong hole in the yardage book.’” In an on air interview young Carson said it happened five times. “He also told me that I swear a lot under my breath.” 

With his reduced time on tour he has become involved in other areas. He has a website, lumpco.com. It’s a light hearted Q and A site, along with selling clothing and hats with the Lumpco name. Nearly all of the promotional work he does has a humorous aspect to it. He has a beer, Lumpy’s Lager, brewed by a Northeast Minneapolis brewery. 

He has put together a college preparatory golf tour for players in high school and younger. It provides competition for younger players in the fall of the year in Minnesota when the high school season is down. He is also involved with a non profit, Caddie U, which identifies, trains and places at country clubs disadvantaged kids and kids with disabilities to caddie or work around the pro shop. 

His playful nickname “Lumpy” was given to him by his buddies as a kid while working at Woodhill Country Club and is nearly always a part of the promotion work he has done over the years. “He’s a funny, personable, approachable player, well-liked by players and fans,” said Lance Ten Broeck, a former tour caddie of Tim’s. 

“I’ve been working on my putting.” Tim has been seeing Larry Borka, an instructor at 2nd Swing in Minneapolis. “He likes the arm lock style. I’m trending better. It keeps the left wrist from breaking down.” Arm lock putting is the style made famous by Matt Kuchar, whereby the shaft of the putter rests against the left forearm through the stroke. 

“If my putting is good I can be more aggressive. The courses are shorter on the Champions Tour. It means more looks with wedges in my hand, more looks at putts for birdie.” 

“He should win in his first year and do very well,” Lance Ten Broeck, told me. “You gotta shoot low, though,” said the current caddie for Ernie Els. 

“He’s got a beautiful, sound swing and he’s not afraid. He’ll be a top 30 player,” said Lance. “His putting got a little defensive, as happens with most guys later in their career.”

“After age 58 the body starts to deteriorate and the window is short,” Tim said. Statistics prove him correct. There are few players over 58 at the top on the Champions Tour, Bernhard Langer being the exception.

Tim is a national spokesperson for Dupuytrens Contracture, a painful condition that causes the fingers to curl and lock up. The condition runs in his family. “I’ve gone to a mid size grip to allow me to keep my hands from separating and stay on the club better.”

We spent time talking about the changes in his more than 25 years as a touring golf professional. After a stellar amateur career capped by being selected for the 1993 Walker Cup Team, he played the Korn Ferry Tour as it is known now, in 1994 and 1995. He then qualified for the PGA Tour in 1996. Few players stay on the PGA Tour for 24 years. His 4 tournament wins, 7 second place finishes and 59 top tens are impressive. However, the 565 starts and 364 cuts made are testament to his longevity. 

In 1996, his first year on the PGA Tour, Tim’s average driving distance was 283 yards, which made him the fifth longest driver on tour. In 2019 his average driving distance was 282 yards, 218th on tour. It’s quite a statement on how much further the professionals are hitting the ball. He will be back to near the top ten in driving distance on the Champions Tour. “I drive it straighter now,” he said. 

Tim has seen it all on tour. In 1999 he was leading the AT&T at Pebble Beach on Sunday. “I was playing great.” In the wind a tree fell on the 16th green forcing the final round to be cancelled. However the three leaders were brought back three months later to play the final round to determine the champion. Unfortunately he did not win. “It’s the only time they have brought players back three months later.”

Tim’s career benefited from the Tiger Woods effect. Purses on the PGA Tour exploded with the rise of Tiger. Tim has a long history with Tiger, starting with Tim winning a match against Tiger in the USGA Junior in 1988. They both came out on tour in 1996 and were paired together in the Masters along with other events.

“Tiger is the only guy that moves the needle,” Tim said. “Tiger can do anything. I will never say Tiger can’t do something in golf.” 

“Players are taught to accept bad shots today. There are more stories about getting upset from the old guys. Today there is not time to get upset. On today’s tour the personalities come out on social media, not on the course.”

“When I was young and my grandfather (who was a great player also) saw me hit shots, he would always look at my grip,” Tim said recently at a ceremony honoring his deceased grandfather.

Later he told me, “The grip is not talked about. It’s not that important. The swing is now fit to the grip. Teachers don’t teach the grip.”  This author has talked with several teaching professionals about the grip and it is not emphasized like it was.

“The shafts, the use of hybrids are also changes, but the biggest change is the ball. Plus there is much greater access to teaching and video. Some players coming out today swing with a shut club face and their feet leave the ground.”  Nobody on tour left their feet 25 years ago.

After 24 years on the PGA Tour with a refreshed perspective, Tim Herron is looking forward to the Champions Tour. He has a “beautiful, sound golf swing,” a good grip and both feet on the ground. It will be interesting to see how high up the ladder Tim Herron will go on the Champions Tour in A Life In Golf.