Jim Furyk – My Life of Dad

Jim Furyk was born into golf. Well sort of. He grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His father Mike was an assistant pro at Edgmont Country club. That was where Jim learned about the game of golf. Jim then went on to play at the University of Arizona in Tuscon, where he was an All-American twice. He also led the Wildcats to their first NCAA title in 1992. That same year, Furyk turned professional and joined the PGA TOUR in 1994 and has won at least one tournament each year between 1998 and 2003.

Furyk truly hit his stride in 2010, winning a career-best three tournaments on the PGA TOUR that year. The most notable victory was the season-ending Tour Championship. That victory earned him the 2010 FedEx Cup. His stellar performance in 2010 won him both the PGA Player of the Year and PGA TOUR Player of the year.

Jim and his wife Tabitha also started the Jim and Tabitha Furyk Foundation. The foundation was created in 2010 to help children and families in need. With Jim’s success on the PGA TOUR, the couple decided it was time to establish a foundation to continue support of community charities. The foundation is dedicated to helping support those organizations that lend a hand to those who can’t fulfill the most basic needs. By providing project specific funding to these organizations, the foundation helps to give food for underprivileged children, care for children with life-limiting or threatening conditions, and simply providing a safe place for them to go after school.

I had the great honor of talking with Jim about his foundation, fatherhood, and golf.

Art Eddy: Before we talk about golf and fatherhood let’s talk about the Jim and Tabitha Furyk Foundation. Tell me what inspired you to create the foundation.

Jim Furyk: Every golf tournament that we play in does something for the community that we are in. It raises a lot money. The PGA Tour has now raised over two billion dollars. So as you grow up with the game to try and help others. Tabitha and I represented a lot of charities, mostly children charities in our hometown of Jacksonville, Florida.

I had a really good year in 2010. We have always talked about starting our own foundation. It gave us a really good platform. We felt like the time was right and it was now or never. We created the foundation. Tabitha had this vision where we would partner up with all the different charities in town that we represented. We together as a whole can become stronger as a group.

It was a great vision. It has worked out real well for us. We have taken on some new projects and we have about five to six events a year. Our biggest being the Furyk and Friends Concert. Our golf tournament will be on March 13^th and 14^th this year.

AE: How can people help your foundation out?

JF: You can go to our website, the jimandtabithafurykfoundation.com. There is a button where you can go and donate. Also check out the different projects we have going on. One of the charities we represent is a nationwide charity called Blessings in a Backpack. They are nationally headquartered in Louisville. We represent over ten schools in our community in Jacksonville. We give kids, who are food insecure, some food to take home over the weekend. We make sure that they are fed and they are getting some food.

We find that these kids are more apt to come to school. Attendance rates are up. They are doing better in school. Their grades are better. It is all revolved around them getting fed. It is humbling to look out there at the statistics of how many kids are food insecure.

The event we had in December used Blessings in a Backpack as a vehicle. We packed over 3200 holiday meals for kids to take home and enjoy. We get a lot of support from the community from sponsors donating food. We set the food up in a production line. We invite parents to bring their kids out to help pack the bags. It is amazing that we get to pack those bags up in an hour and a half. It is harder to get them loaded up in trucks and out to the different schools to disperse in the morning.

AE: You grew up in the game of golf as your father Mike was a pro at Edgmont Country Club. At what age did you start thinking that golf was going to be a career for you?

JF: For my career I would say I was probably in college. I dreamed of that as a junior in high school. I started quitting other sports my sophomore year. I started focusing more on golf. Growing up in Pennsylvania I played basketball in the winter. I quit baseball and football. I put those aside to focus more on golf.

I got a scholarship to go to the University of Arizona. The first couple of years you are trying to get your feet wet and do well in college golf. I think the rude awakening for every college student is getting a job in a couple of years. My dad was always a forward thinker. He said let’s stop trying to be the best college player and focus on trying to improve to become a professional golfer and how are we going to make a living at this. That is what I set my sights for. So it was probably my last two years of college. A couple of bumps along the way, but it worked out well.

AE: You have won many titles and championships in your career. Out of all of them does one stand out above the rest?

JF: Well I think you always go to your first. My first and only major championship, The U.S. Open in 2003 is probably the most special. My first win as a pro and my first win on tour were definitely special. I think winning the tour championship with the timing and all with the pressure knowing that if I won that event I would win the FedEx Cup. I would probably be Player of the Year. Three wins in one year and in the press room everyone was reminding me of those things. I was really proud to be able to win that event. Being a U.S. Open champion and having your name on that trophy eternity is really the most special to me.

I would have to mention Ryder Cups. I was able to represent the U.S. on nine Ryder Cup teams. Probably the most disappointing moment in my career is only being on two winning teams. Those two teams were really special. The big comeback win at Brookline. Then at Valhalla in Louisville, we won in a kind of dominant fashion, which the U.S. hasn’t done in the last 20 years. I think that might have been the only time that we won going away a little bit and enjoyed that one as well.

AE: Each year it seems that there are new advancements in the way of golf clubs and equipment. What is your take on the evolution of that technology?

JF: I don’t want to be that bitter veteran for sure. It definitely has changed golf. I think that there have been some giant changes. My career on tour started in 1994. Immediately in ’95 and ’96 the titanium driver was invented. It was just an instant ten yards. I remember being at the Riviera on the PGA and bouncing balls into the net and all of a sudden flying the balls 20 to 30 feet up on the fly. I was saying I will switch today. How do I get one of these?

We quit playing wound golf balls and started playing solid golf balls. They went farther, but they were making that ball spin. It was good around the greens. It was good in the wind. It had a lot of advantages over a wound ball. One of those was distance. I gained another 10 yards almost instantly on my driving average in one year.

The last time I was hurt and had surgery in ’04 I had been on tour for ten years. My driving average increased 27 yards. 20 of that were those two new products. Seven might have been technique or I gotten a little stronger, but 20 of that was just ball and driver. It has revolutionized the game. The style is changed. When I first got on tour it was about working the ball, being a ball striker, being able to draw it, and being able to cut it. Hit it high. Hit it low. Work it around obstacles.

The game has become more power dominant. Guys are not working around it as much. They are working over it. You have guys who are crazy talented like Bubba Watson, who cannot only work it over them, but also around them. That is why he is so successful. The best players will always be able to adapt and change their style to make sure that they will be able to compete. The question with me was always am I going to be long enough to change to the bombing style? We play courses where it is still important to be able to maneuver the golf ball, work the golf ball, hit it both ways, and hit a lot fairways. I try to pick and choose my schedule accordingly so I can play the courses that benefit my game the most.

AE: Switching to fatherhood now, what are some of the core values you look to instill in your children as they grow up?

JF: I think family first. My wife and I both grew up in a close-knit family. Our parents are still pretty young in the late sixties. Both have been married now for about 45 years. Our parents spend a lot of time with our children. So I think the first thing is family. It has been just really fun to watch them grow and mature. They are 12 and 13 years old right now. It is hard to imagine that they are going to be out of the house in five to six years. That is a crazy thought.

I am enjoying watching the different stages and maturity. For my wife and I it all started with a close-knit family and being all together. As much as I travel they started out before they were in school traveling the PGA Tour. I think we are almost comfortable when the four of us our together.

AE: How do you balance work and family?

JF: I think it has changed over time. I read an article this morning when I got up about how Jason Day was talking about Rory McIlroy, Jordan (Spieth), and the Rickie Fowler’s of the world don’t have a family because they were questioning taking so much time off in the winter. His wife just gave birth to their second child. He wants to be home a bit more.

I went through those same things. There has to be a balance. You have to play enough golf to stay sharp and keep your game in good shape. There comes a time when you get older that when you are in the car and you are driving to the airport there is a tear in your eye because you don’t want to leave. You are missing little league ball games, school plays and a bunch of things that you don’t want to miss.

You try and balance those out. I am fortunate that I have a very strong and wonderful wife at home that is the glue to the family. She is able to keeps things more than together when I am gone. I also have been fortunate to have a spot in my career where I didn’t have to play 28 to 32 events a year to stay successful or to stay eligible to play in the PGA Tour.

As I have gotten older and the kids are at school and have been away more I really have reduced my schedule. I went from playing 28 events to 26 and 24. Last year I played 19. I was going to be down to 21 without injuries. I am trying to get it down to about 20 events maybe 18 in the future. Spend more time at home and less at the golf course. I have realized that I can play at a high level because I am happy. It is what balances it for me. When I get out on tour I am hungry. I am thirsty. The drive that I had when I was younger is still there, but if I try to play too many events I am not sure it would be because I would miss being home.

AE: What advice do you have for new dads out there?

JF: One of the things that another player on the tour told me is that when you start out in your life it is about you. You then meet your partner and your life is about us. You then start having children and your life is about them. I think that is wonderful. My wife and I still take time out to spend time together. We will spend a long weekend together. Some of the advice that she got on tour from the veterans was saying that you still need to remember why the two of you feel in love. You need to make some time for yourself.

You want to love your children. You want to let them know that you are always there for them, you will support them and that you are proud of them. My parents instilled in me a hard working drive. Their parents worked in a steel mill. They were hard working folks. I watched my mom and dad work very hard when I was a kid. I knew that was the way it had to be. Try to instill those qualities, but still show them love along the way.

Life of Dad Quick Five

AE: What is your favorite family movie that you guys like to watch together?

JF: They are changing as they get older. I enjoyed some of the younger movies when they were little. You could go watch Shrek. They threw a lot of adult humor in there for you. I enjoyed that. We now watch a lot of movies.

AE: Do you guys have a favorite song that you all like to dance to?

JF: In the car we start from the top of the radio stations and we work our way down. You have to name the artist and you have to name the song. No matter where we go in the car everyone keeps a point total. Thank God for the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s, maybe a little R&B and Hip-Hop and Country. I can kind of keep my point total up there. The Ellie Goulding and Justin Bieber’s and the DNCE’s are killing me. I am getting beat up in the game pretty bad.

AE: Describe the perfect family vacation.

JF: Well it depends on the time of the year. My kids love to ski. We spend a lot of time in the Park City, Utah area. They both are very good skiers. I can take the nice easy way down the mountain and they can hit the moguls. We can meet up at the same time at the lift. You got about six to seven minutes with them to talk and chat.

We live by the beach in Florida, but in the spring and fall Tabitha and I love going to the Virgin Islands. We took the kids in the fall for the first time ever. They enjoyed it. So time of the year we would either be on a boat in the Virgin Islands floating around or we would be out in Utah skiing.

AE: What is the first thing you would recommend to someone who is thinking about playing golf?

JF: Honestly I would say to see a golf professional and start out with good fundamentals. Good grip, good setup and get fit for their clubs. Most bad players will tell you that they are terrible and buy something off the rack and just play with them. It just doesn’t really work that way. Everyone has a different height and body style. You need to be fit for the proper clubs. It will help you improve quicker. That would help the most.

AE: Do you have a favorite course to play at?

JF: At home my favorite course is Pablo Creek. I am a member. It is kind of my retreat. A lot of my friends play there. On tour it would be Harbor Town in Hilton Head Island. It has been my favorite course for about ten years. Anywhere in the world is a tough call. There are still so many that I haven’t seen. I don’t have much golf on my bucket list, but I have a few courses I would like to see before I made that decision.

To learn more about Jim and his foundation go to http://jimfuryk.com/ and http://www.jimandtabithafurykfoundation.com/