You would be hard pressed to find a more genuine, well-liked golf industry executive than Barney Adams, founder of Adams Golf. Now retired and turning 70 in March 2009, Adams says he enjoys fly fishing more than golfing these days. Yet, it is impossible to erase Adams’ contribution to the world of golf.

It’s hard to believe that Adams Golf was only founded in 1987. Today, the company is a golf industry giant - one of the most respected club manufacturers in the game. It all stems from the passion of one man: Barney Adams.

A native of Syracuse, New York and now living in Dallas, Texas, Adams recently penned, The Wow Factor: How I Turned One Great Idea and My Unbridled Enthusiasm into a Golf Revolution. You can read our review here.

Now retired as Adams Golf chairman, Adams was a Corning Glass engineer for 10 years, a supermarket-industry commission equipment salesman for another decade, and worked in the high-tech sector of Silicon Valley before landing in the golf industry. His journey to success wasn’t easy, nor was it conventional. But when Barney Adams invented the Tight Lies line of fairway woods, his life – and the world of golf – would change forever.

London Ontario Golf editor Jeffrey Reed spent an hour chatting with Adams, and found him to be fascinating, funny, insightful – and brutally honest. In this interview, he talks about the evolution of the golf industry, the current state of the game – and even Canadian golf icons, Moe Norman and Lorne Rubenstein. 

Jeffrey Reed: Let's talk about the state of today's golf industry, in terms of the equipment side. With the exception of the technical side of things, let me ask you about the shelf life of new gear. Used to be, once a year, at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, new equipment would be unveiled. But now, a day doesn't go by without at least one news release trumpeting the latest and greatest gear crossing my desk. If this confuses me at times, what is it doing to the consumer? Why do we see so much new gear on a regular basis?

Barney Adams: I think the tail wags the dog. And it actually all goes back to Callaway. And I don't mean this in a derogatory sense. But, I have the perspective, let's say, of going back a long time in the golf industry. I've seen it prior to, and post, Callaway. Prior to Callaway, it was basically a good 'ole boy business. The market leaders were friends, roughly. They hired their friends. Nobody killed themselves working. And as the game grew, their sales increased. Eli Callaway, being a wonderful marketer, took a look at this and essentially said, 'If I can't beat these guys, there's something wrong with me. Because they don't innovate.' The one exception to this is Karsten (Solheim), and I'll explain later. This is the era in the late-50s when I was in college when every new set of clubs was a set of blades with a chrome finish, and persimmon woods. You played Louisville or Wilson if you liked a little squarer toe. Or you played Spalding, and then later on, Hogan - their toes tended to be a little longer. But that was about it. That was the extent of innovation. Everyone played steel shafts, S300s, X100s. Hogan was a little innovative with their shafts, which were basically standard shafts with a different marking system. But if you look at the innovation in a grand sense, on a scale of 1 to 10, it was maybe a 3. There just wasn't much going on.
Callaway comes along, and says, 'Wait a minute. This is ridiculous.' And starting with the S2H2, and then into the metal woods, and the use of titanium, and so forth, pioneered an era of innovation. And I can remember when Callaway first went to the PGA Show. The old boys laughed at them. And it didn't take long until Callaway was laughing at them.

Reed: I was going to say just that: who's laughing now?

Adams: Exactly right. So what happened is, Callaway started this era of intervention. And then especially with their public offering, which generated a huge amount of cash for them to go forward. And then their tremendous increase in distribution. Just the way they went about things which was way more aggressive and beyond what had been done previously. They ushered in a new era. And Callaway's objective was to dominate. It wasn't to sell product. It was to dominate the industry. And they did a pretty darn good job of it, as a matter of fact.

“And Callaway's objective was to dominate. It wasn't to sell product. It was to dominate the industry.”

So what happened was, the other companies who could afford to play in their game - and we were just spectators at the time - had to come up with strategies to counteract this tremendous marketing phenomenon that was going on. And one of the strategies was to shorten the life cycle of products. To take a little wind out of Callaway's sails. In those days, drivers or woods changed maybe every three or four years. Irons changed every five years. The life cycles were much longer. And a strategic decision was made, TaylorMade being one of the primary companies when they finally got into some hands with some financial backing, to shorten life cycles, and put some pressure on Callaway.
At the beginning the retailers liked it because they had more new stuff to sell the customers. The retailers got used to it, and they started putting pressure on manufacturers to shorten life cycles. In those days there wasn't a voice among the retailers because there were a zillion of them. In my era, and I'm retired now, I might have 2,000 or 3,000 ... retail accounts. Today you have six. So if you have six people now with this voice, saying, 'You have to get us with innovation,' you end up with the phenomenon that you experience on a daily basis. That is the story of the golf industry.
Now Karsten Solheim was the maverick as far as innovation back in the late '60s when he did his Ping putter and came out with his funny looking irons. But he was a nobody for a long time. He was a non factor in the market place for a long time. What turned Carson around was when he started providing clubs for the college kids. And what happened was, the college kids said, 'Hey, these things aren't so bad. These are pretty easy to hit.' And they started playing them. And all of a sudden, these good college players are showing up at amateur tournaments with Ping irons. And the other amateurs, the non-college amateurs, are seeing those and said, 'We have to get these. These are pretty good.' And you start this whole top-down phenomenon where the good players said this funny looking club was OK, and it was certainly a great club for the average player. And it completely transformed the Ping company as far as their sales. But that didn't happen until roughly the early- to mid-80s. So even though they were innovators, they were an overnight success after 20 years.

Reed: Today’s golf clubs: when you look at what's in the bag of a touring professional or a low-handicap amateur today, they may have a mixed bag - a distance 3-iron for example, and then into blades starting with 4-iron. That's not even considering all of the great hybrid clubs today - a club which has helped Adams Golf climb near the top of the equipment ladder. I experimented this year for the first time with a 3-iron replacement, starting with a hybrid club.

Adams: Your 4-iron will be going pretty soon. I can guarantee you that. And by the way, that's a comment I've made previously. People say, 'Isn't today's innovation simply marketing innovation, not real innovation?' I said, if you take, for example, the category of hybrids. You take the best blade 2-iron or 3-iron that has ever been made in the history of time, as far as performance goes. And the best cavity back, or best muscle back, 3-iron or 2-iron, ever made. Any one of today's good hybrids: have a competition. Guess which one wins, every single time?

Reed: A no-brainer: hybrids.

Adams: Players of all skill levels. And I've maintained that the hybrid club, the hybrid technology, is the best thing that has happened to the amateur golfer that I've seen in my 30-plus years of being aware of the industry.

Reed: I had a very similar conversation with Padraig Harrington. At that time I was still only using a 3-iron and not a 3-hybrid. And I told him, the reason I carry my 3-iron is because I may play a windy, links-style course and I want to hit stingers. Padraig said I should close the face and hit down like an iron instead of sweeping like a fairway wood and I would find success.

“And I've maintained that the hybrid club, the hybrid technology, is the best thing that has happened to the amateur golfer that I've seen in my 30-plus years of being aware of the industry.”

Adams: Absolutely right. I told people that for years. And I've heard the same comment for years: 'I need the long iron to hit the low shots.' I said, I don't have trouble hitting a hybrid low. Part of it is, we have a generation in the last 10 years or so where golfers don't play shots. They make swings. Especially in (North America). And so, you give a guy a hybrid and tell him to play it back in their stance, shut the face down and hit a little low shot - or open the face as far as that goes if you want to cut it. And it's almost like it's a revelation. Well hell, that's the way we used to play all the time. That's all it requires with a hybrid, is to do a little bit of shot making and they're fine. That's what Padraig is saying, and I absolutely agree with him.
The phenomenon with hybrids is, and it really has been a phenomenon, the Tour has accepted them before the amateurs. And it's almost always the other way around. The Tour guys say, our sales guys say, 'What the hell is wrong with these amateurs, playing in Pro-Ams, they're still trying to hit long irons. I mean, they can't play anyway (laugh). They're making their lives so much harder.' They're just scratching their heads.

Reed: My philosophy for playing in a Pro-Am: tell the pro right off the bat, I'm not going to try and impress you because I won't. I'm here to have fun and to learn. And the pros appreciate that.

Adams: Absolutely. Half of the amateurs are there so they can tell their buddies, I beat his ass on No. 14 or something like that. It's nuts. But then again, the gap sometimes between the amateur golfer between what he thinks he does and what he really does on the golf course is quite a wide gap sometimes.

Reed: I agree. I recently set a course record - using the Adams Insight XTD Pro driver, no less - and a lot of people asked, 'Why don't you play professionally, full-time?' I answered, there's a big difference between standing at the first during a casual round versus when there is money on the line.

Adams: I've had the great fortune to have played with a lot of great players over the years. I've asked every one of them the same question: who is the best player you ever saw that I never heard of? And you get some really interesting answers. Some guys in practice rounds were unbeatable. And then when the bell rang, their game changed. So you get all kinds of answers. And I've seen it. You get a little bit of jaundice after awhile - 'Oh look there's another guy, he just shot a 67 at his home club.' OK. Big deal. When he can go to a strange course with people watching him, etcetera, shoot a 67, I'll get more interested.

Reed: Getting back to the equipment, another thing I find now is, in the past you could trade in a set of five-year-old Titleist blades and get at least 50 per cent of your money back. I was just scouting around when I had some clubs regripped, and you're seeing clubs that were introduced late-2007 and early-2008 that are already on the $99 rack, that maybe retailed for $399.

Adams: You know what that has done? It has done two things, if you think it through. It has put the better quality, low-end guys out of business, like the Northwesterns. Because do you want a set of Northwesterns for $299 or last year's TaylorMades for $299? Pretty simple. And, again, during my era, the do-it-yourself guys were pretty strong in the market place. The guy at the club who bought the components, put them together, made them for his friends. That's going away, too. It has really been diminished, let's put it that way.

Reed: I wrote a story recently about a local pro who was going to repair clubs when he retired - Mike Olizarevitch, my pro during my junior days. He says now, other than regripping, there's nothing else to do. Maybe put a new shaft in. That's it.

Adams: And I used to be one of those guys. One of my first days in the business I had components. The pressures in the market place have essentially taken those guys out of business. Ten or 12 years ago, they were a big factor. It was a big deal. But no longer.

Reed: As a golf instructor, if a student is looking for clubs, quite often I will say to them, if you're starting out, or perhaps a mid-handicapper, look at last year's models and they will be cheaper.

Adams: I'd tell them the same thing.

Reed: The modern golf ball versus the ball of yesterday. Your take? The ball flight has changed dramatically.

Adams: The new balls don't spin as much. Even if you hit a big hook or big slice, it runs out of juice after awhile and you can generally find it. You don't get the big slice that starts off spinning like crazy to the right, and then goes 40 yards out of bounds. It just doesn't happen anymore. It goes off to the right, spins, but tends to fall straight down as it runs out of spin. Sometimes it goes out of bounds, sometimes it stays on the golf course.

Reed: Your take on dialling back on the shape and sharpness of grooves, and bringing them back to the traditional V-shape, instead of square or U-shaped. Will it mark the end of bomb-and-gouge golf?

Adams: No. I think the biggest change will be mental. I think if a Touring pro with a new set of grooves hits a flyer - one flyer - it will get in his head. So I think it's more mental than it is physical.

Reed: He'll think right away, 'It's the new club.'

Adams: But what will happen is, the ball guys are going to say, 'OK, here's our new prototype ball, a little softer cover, it will compensate.' Because the difference in the grooves is pretty minor. They'll compensate for that, and you'll still be able to play how you want to play. I think it will foster some new ball technology, in my opinion.

Reed: Adams Golf: I think it has progressed from a newcomer, to a specialist - a hybrid manufacturer - to being right up there with the TaylorMades and Callaways of the world. Look at the PGA Tour players you have signed now: Rory Sabatini; Aaron Baddeley. I always thought of Adams Golf as Tom Watson - he was the image of Adams Golf. But now, to me, the company is just as hip, just as modern as the TaylorMades and Callaways. It's a well-rounded company. Is that a fair statement?

Adams: Yes it is. And that is attributable to a very, very good job done by the current management staff, because that was all part of a plan. At the beginning, the analogy I've always used is, you go to the casino, you go to the $25 blackjack table when you have $100 in your pocket. You might as well tear it up and throw it away. The odds will kill you before you get started. The same thing is true if you're a small company in golf and trying to establish a presence, and you rush out on Tour. The costs - and the big companies know this - they keep the ante so high on Tour that you'll die. I could name six, seven companies that tried that strategy and they're no longer with us. What the management at Adams did a few years ago was say, 'OK, we understand that. We understand that the Tour is a hell of a lot more than just signing players. It's about having Tour reps out there. It's about having a van out there. It's a very, very expensive proposition.' So what Adams did, when the Senior Tour, before it became the Champions Tour, went on CNBC and virtually disappeared from view, because nobody knew where the channel was. The major manufacturers stopped sponsoring Champions Tour players. So there was an opportunity for us to step in and pick up some of those guys at less than regular Tour prices. We did it. And the big companies said, 'Big deal. That's not going to make any difference. People are going to look at the clubs as old man's clubs, etc.' Well they were wrong. It helped get our visibility to the point and grow our sales. I admit it, for awhile there we were certainly thought of as making the transition from a specialty club company to a higher handicap club company. But that was just evolutionary. And that gave us a position where we could grow from, and move onto the regular Tour. And as you said, now our stuff is looked at as, 'Hey, Adams makes good clubs.'
I will say this: I've seen the new line, two different models of irons and woods, and I think it's the best thing Adams has ever done. It's the best I've ever seen.

Reed: I added the Insight XTD Pro driver to my bag this year, and you hear this term a lot: 'I'm hitting the ball 20 yards longer.' Well, I actually did this season. For my personal game, that club has been fantastic.

Adams: You mention the Adams Golfs and the smaller companies, and I'll tell you something that applies to them. I'm not saying they always do it. But I'm telling you that it's tremendously applicable and we understood this a long time ago. Because of our lack of status, we had to be better. That is something for consumers to understand. 

Reed: That's a critical point. I play Wilson Staff irons and wedges, for example, and for me, anyways, it's a mental thing. It's what I've always played and I feel comfortable with Wilson.

Adams: And you like the look of it.

Reed: Exactly. And Harrington said the same thing. Other pros will come up to him at the range and take a look at the Wilson irons, and say, 'Boy, they're good looking. Wish I could play them.' 

Adams: There are only five or six significant retailers. And if they're just saying, 'We don't have enough shelf space for (the manufacturers smaller in stature).’ My point is, we'll take Wilson, we'll take Adams, we'll take whomever you want to put into that category. And I'm not saying that they all do it because some of them frankly put out fill product. Let's call a spade a spade. But we recognized that because of who we were - or who we weren't is a better way of saying it - and I can remember sitting in meetings with Adams and talking about this. Everything that we came out with couldn't even be as good. It had to be better. Now, I understand completely that better, in this industry, with the way the technology is, can be fractional. Again let's be honest about it. It's not like you're going to have a set of irons that are 25 per cent better than anybody else's irons.
But look at the hybrids. When we got into hybrids, we said, we cannot make hybrids. We have to make better hybrids. Nobody has. We're No. 1 on all the tours, etc. My point is, for your readers, when they're considering a smaller company, just take it into your thought process, understand that some of them recognize that they can't even be as good. They have to be better!

“When (Adams Golf) got into hybrids, we said, we cannot make hybrids. We have to make better hybrids.”

Reed: And I recognize that some companies aren't trying to get better - or so it appears. They're just interested in producing something new. The status quo. I try emphatically to educate our readers on using the proper equipment for their games, not necessarily using the same equipment Tiger is playing. 

Adams: All amateurs would be better off if they emulated what is played on the LPGA Tour.

Reed: You're reading my mind. We held the 2006 CN Canadian Women's Open in London. I wish I could have brought a lot of our readers inside the ropes at the range. It would have been a real eye opener.

Adams: You know what? They used to be straight powder puffers. Not any longer, sports fans.

Reed: No. When I watched Sophie Gustafson hit off the tee, averaging almost 290, it was mind blowing.

Adams: Those girls could come to your club and play with the best men's group at the club and embarrass them.

Reed: I played a few rounds with some Futures Tour competitors a couple of years ago and I was impressed - from the same tees.

Adams: And they were Futures Tour players, which means they’re in the high minors right now. That's my point. They always had nice timing. They used to have terrible short games, frankly. Just terrible. It has always amazed me, their full-swing ball striking is wonderful. Now they're long. They used to be terrible chippers and very questionable putters. Now they're pretty good. Not as good as the men, but they're pretty good. 

Reed: Their consistency impresses me. They may not be as long, but maybe Fred Funk would be a good comparison.

Adams: They may not be as long but I've watched them pull out an 8-iron and hit it 155 yards. A lot of guys I play with can't do that. They have very good technical swings and very, very good rhythm. Their efficiency factor is terrific.

Reed: And when I look at what technology has done for the women's game. In 1993 we also hosted the Canadian Women's Open, and an up and comer that year was Helen Alfredsson. To see her win this year, hit the ball longer. I mean, I am almost 47, and I'm hitting the ball much longer than I ever have. It's incredible. And I can thank technology for the most part.
So what about you, Barney: are you playing more golf these days now that you are retired?

Adams: No. I play less actually. Like a guy who has taken up golf late in life, I've taken up fly fishing late in life. And I really love to fish. I live in Dallas. I was just up north of Saskatoon fishing for Northern Pike. I really enjoy fishing. I love being out on the water. I did as a kid. But then I worked for a long time. I'm very happy fishing. I still play golf, but I'm too immature to accept the fact that I can't play as well as I used to - not that I was ever a great player. But I was a 2-3-4 handicap at the club at one time. Now a good round of golf for me is 82 or 83. And I don't handle that very well. I'm too immature to accept the fact I'm approaching my 70th birthday ... and I'm too dumb to move up to the front tees where I belong. The guys I play with still want to play the back or the near back tees. Despite the fact that when we occasionally move up to the front tees we have a better time, it's something in a stupid golfer's mentality that I'm a part of that I don't make the game as fun as it could be. I do play, but you give me the choice of a first-class fishing trip or a first-class golf trip, and I'm going fishing.
How's my friend, Lorne Rubenstein?

Reed: Just elected to the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

Adams: I saw that, good for him. We share a mutual interest: we're both jazz fans. We used to share information on jazz occasionally. We played golf together several times in the old days. And Lorne and I also had a mutual interest in Moe Norman. I played with Moe, and I watched him hit balls. He used to go down to Royal Oak (Resort and Golf Club) in Titusville (Florida). And my mom lives on the 13th fairway there. So every year before the PGA Show, for years, I would go down a few days early and walk down with my mom - my dad had passed away - and walk down to the driving range, and there was Moe. And I'm also a big-time hockey fan, and because of that I could strike up a conversation with Moe because he's a big hockey fan. I got to the point where he would at least recognize me and, of course, as you know with Moe, if he was uncomfortable, if he didn't recognize you, he would avert his eyes and walk away.
Moe made one of the greatest comments I've ever heard. And I've repeated it a jillion times. For a guy who supposedly wasn't atop of things as far as his relationships with other people. When I worked at the Hank Haney golf ranch in the early-90s when I was a club fitter there, I used to tell them about seeing Moe Norman. And finally, one year the whole ranch was going down to the PGA Show. I said, why don't you guys go a day early and I'll get you a session with Moe Norman. Hank himself wanted to see Moe. So they drive over to Royal Oak and Moe is on the range. It was a terrible driving range, but it was what we had. Moe is hitting balls. There's nobody else there. They got there late in the afternoon. There's nobody else around, just Moe and five or six teachers from Haney Ranch. Moe is hitting 6-irons. And he hits about 20 6-irons in a row that I would kill to hit one of. And one thing about Moe that I loved was you could turn your back and you could tell when he was hitting balls. They made a different sound. They were quieter. They were so perfect. And I made a lot of clubs for him. He played clubs I made for him, for several years. And while he was hitting 6-irons he hit one a little bit fat. Of course being Moe, he had hit the next one almost before the first one had hit the ground. And one of the kids said, 'Moe can I ask you a question?' And he said, sure. He stopped. The kid asked, 'A couple of 6-irons ago you hit one a little bit fat. What did you think? What was your response?' Moe looked at him and said, 'Think? Think? That was a bad shot. Why do I want to remember a bad shot? I only think about good shots. I've already forgotten that shot. I don't want to think about bad shots.' And he turns around and starts hitting balls again. I said, what a great answer.

“And one thing about Moe that I loved was you could turn your back and you could tell when he was hitting balls. They made a different sound. They were quieter. They were so perfect.”

Reed: I tell my students the same thing. You're not going to perfect this game. 

Adams: It's small victories. You never win the war with golf.

Reed: I say the key is you know you will eventually hit a bad shot. Think about it for half a second, laugh at it, and move on. Be confident your next shot will get you out of trouble. Do your work at the range and no matter what you face on the course, you know you have the shot.

Adams: When you're a club fitter, and let's say I'm working with you on the range, and we get a set of specs for you, and you hit a couple of pretty good shots with it, especially if you are a higher handicapper. The secret to being a good club fitter is to figure out how to end the session at that moment in time. Know what? The longer they stand there, the worse they're going to get. I don't care what they're hitting. That's why they're 15 handicappers. And everybody makes that mistake: 'Oh my God, let me try that again. Let me hit some more.'

Reed: It's practicing, but also practicing smart.

Adams: It is. And I would tell them, let me explain something to you. You see that shot you just hit? It isn't going to get any better. That, for you, is a wonderful golf shot. Now, if you can accept the fact that this club will produce that golf shot, and you can do it, then we're fine. But the longer we stay here, the more confusion you're going to have. Teachers essentially have the same problem, too, I may add. I can guarantee you, and I don't care if it's a 9-iron, the longer they stay there, the harder they're going to try to hit it anyways, and then they'll throw themselves off balance. It's always a secret to any kind of range relationship. I can't tell you how many times I've taken a club out of somebody's hands and said, look, if that's not good enough for you, go down the line. I can't do any better. Because that shot is so much better.

Reed: I often get looks at the range when I hit 50 towering gap wedges short of a 120-yard green. I'm hitting over an imaginary tree, so when I face that shot on the course, I have that shot and don't even worry about it.

Adams: Absolutely right. But if you are testing wedges with somebody, do you know what they'll say? 'That's pretty good but I'm not so sure I don't hit mine farther.' You just want to run and bang your head against the wall. The reason you hit yours farther, pal, is because it has 8-iron loft.

Reed: And then there are the partners you play with for the first time, and they automatically have all your swing problems figured out. You watch their swings and they're ugly.

Adams: What you see on the driving range is the 12-handicapper teaching the 15-handicapper to swing like a 12-handicapper. The great part of the game is, because it's such an individual effort, it allows all of us to indulge a little Walter Mitty stuff. And what the heck: I guess we all need that.

Reed: A good way to end our chat. It has been my pleasure. It's been entertaining and educational.

Adams: My pleasure. It's fun to talk to somebody who understands the game.

Reed: It's my passion.

Adams: You know we talk about needing more people in the game. I say, I do not like the way the game is marketed. The way the game is presented. I don't know who 'they' are, but golf is presented as a recreational activity. It's fun. Husband and wife walking down the fairway hand in hand. I say, that's not golf. Golf is hard. It's frustrating. It's challenging. And it's all about your ability to rise to the moment, whether it's hitting a 5-iron 138 yards, or hitting a 5-iron 210 yards. Whatever it is. But the club is in your hands. And it's all about the challenge and your ability to meet the challenge. And you always know deep down inside if you have performed to the level at which you had hoped to or were capable of performing to. Why not market golf as the challenge it is?

Reed: We're on the same page. Golf is a sport.

Adams: And if you market the game for what it is ... I heard a great comment one time. These two Englishmen were talking about golf. One guy said, 'If it was easy, we wouldn't be playing it, would we?' I love that comment. That's why people play the game. They recognize the challenge. And maybe if the game gets presented that way, then it will be OK for people to go play. As opposed to, 'How can you go play golf? You need to do X, Y or Z. It's just recreation. It's meaningless.' It's not meaningless!

Reed: I think this is the biggest contribution to the game that Tiger has made. He has made it look like a sport. Sure, he has made the game cool. But I think he has made the game look like a challenge, despite his enormous success.

Adams: I agree. I'd like to see that message delivered more to the public. You know, one of the things I absolutely hate - and I turn it off - there will be a celebrity golf tournament, and they're treating golf like it's pitch and putt or a video game. They're goofing around. They're clowning around. Then hit a putt 20 feet past the hole. Run around and high five guys. You hit a putt 20 feet past a hole you should be embarrassed. Their presentation isn't golf.

Reed: And I always play my worst when in a celebrity golf outing. It's a circus.

Adams: They have what they call A list celebrities, and B list celebrities. Well I tell everyone I am an R list celebrity, as in, are you seriously considering inviting him? The couple that I played in, when they reached the six hour mark, I was out of there. And I never went back. I just can't do that. As I've said before, let's look at this game for what it really is. 

Reed: The biggest issue I have with today's teenaged and early-20s golfers is, to them, golf is about riding a cart. I rarely see them walking the course.

Adams: But frankly speaking, that's the club's fault. The club doesn't want anybody to walk anymore. They want the revenue from the carts. We have these First Tee things where golf is portrayed as a wonderful thing to keep kids off the street, etc. Which I think is dubious. But be that as it may, because I don't see many kids from the inner city running out to the local golf course on the corner of 16th and 18th streets. But be that as it may, it's a noble idea. Well, how about golf being OK for the 40 year old, or the 50 year old to get out. Maybe he can't compete physically like he used to compete, but he's still now in an arena with tremendous challenges and tremendous competition and it's good for him or her to be out there. It's good for them too.

Reed: You live in Dallas – big Cowboys fan?

Adams: I am a bigger Pittsburgh Penguins hockey fan than I am a Dallas Cowboys fan.
I have my own jersey, my own Slapshot jersey, with my name on it. Because Slapshot was the life story of my best friend (Ned Dowd), and I know every detail of that movie. Every friggin’ detail. A right winger took a tape recorder in the locker room, and his sister (Nancy Dowd) wrote the script and sold it to Hollywood. Everything that came out of that movie at its baseline came right from the league, including the characters and the whole nine yards.