Island Packet Verizon Heritage 2008 Coverage | Harbour Town, Sea Pines Resort, Hilton Head Island, SC

By JUSTIN JARRETT
jjarrett@islandpacket.com
843-706-8120

Now that he’s a father himself, Jim Furyk has a deeper appreciation for his unconventional situation.

Furyk is a rare breed on the PGA Tour in that his father, Mike, is the only swing coach he’s ever had, an arrangement that has served him well throughout his career, but more so in recent years.

“Early on, it was wonderful and difficult all at once,” Furyk said. “Now it’s wonderful.”

The world’s eighth-ranked player, the younger Furyk has 13 PGA Tour victories, including the 2003 U.S. Open. Still, Furyk concedes it wasn’t always easy learning the game from his father.

“It definitely caused some arguments and some tough times early, but it was always wonderful, because I got to spend a lot of time with my dad and do something that he loved,” Furyk said. “Now, I get to spend a lot of time with my father, and even though it’s in a business-like sense because it’s my job, I’m still there with my dad, and that’s something most kids don’t get the opportunity to do.”

It’s an opportunity that isn’t lost on D.J. Trahan, who also has stuck with his dad, Don, as swing coach while ascending to the PGA Tour. Trahan has become the public face for his father’s unorthodox but highly researched mechanics, and the son’s success has lent immeasurable credibility to the method the “Swing Surgeon” has developed.

“What I taught him was quite unique compared to what everybody else was teaching, and it never let him down, so why would he leave?,” Don Trahan said. “Why would he not have faith? It has taken him to No. 1 at every level, and he’s starting to really rise up.”

D.J. Trahan was Golfweek’s top-ranked amateur while starring at Clemson University, and he’s off to his best start in four seasons on the PGA Tour, having earned more than $1 million already this year.

He gives much of the credit to dear, old dad, who had a club in his son’s hands almost as soon as he could hold one but never pushed too hard.

“For me it’s always been fun,” D.J. Trahan said after earning his second PGA Tour victory in February at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. “He’s been my coach. He’s been my teacher. He’s been the one who got me started in the game. But I think a lot of parents, maybe especially nowadays with the heavy focus on athletics and athletes in general, maybe ride their kids too hard. And I was so fortunate and so blessed because my father was never that way.”

Perhaps just as important is the fact D.J. Trahan never pushed back too hard. Furyk said one of the biggest challenges he and his father faced in the early years of his career was the natural tendency of a son to rebel against his father’s instruction. Furyk admits he “probably wasn’t as good as a pupil as I would have been with another instructor.”

“As a son, you would respect your teachers in school or an instructor in golf, and you wouldn’t say anything out of line because you would respect the authority,” Furyk said. “But when it’s your parents, no kid wants to do everything they’re told and wants to always take instruction the proper way.”

In many cases, that dynamic could undo the delicate pupil-teacher relationship between father and son. But Don Trahan said the key is for the father to have coaching ability on par with the son’s playing prowess. Both Don Trahan and Mike Furyk were club professionals while their sons were growing up, which helped them keep pace with their pupils.

“Most dads don’t have the skills that I have, as a player and never mind as a teacher,” Don Trahan said. “The one thing I tell a lot of people is maybe you can teach a kid from 5 to 7 or 8 to 10, but at some point, if his talent is starting to outdistance your abilities as a player or teacher, you’ve got to hand him over to somebody who is better.”

Luckily for the Trahans and the Furyks, that’s a scenario they never had to face.