Calvin Peete

The Epitome of Class, Humility and Cool

Growing up Calvin Peete was one of my favorite golfers. If I went to a tournament and Calvin was in the field, I always followed him for a few holes. There was something about his quiet confidence and uncanny accuracy which drew me in. Calvin never looked flustered or upset. He spoke with humility and carried himself with a class and a level of “cool” country clubbers wished they had. There were bigger names with flashier personalities and prettier swings. His swing looked strange with his bent left arm. The ball flew shorter than his contemporaries, but I just loved to watch the precision with which he played. Before Tiger Woods arrived, Calvin Peete was the most successful black player on the PGA Tour. His story is truly the stuff of dreams.

Many of the great black players who proceeded Peete on tour learned the game by working as caddies. Peete took a very different path. He took up the game at age 23, an age in which many of the tour pros he would end up competing against were already getting their feet wet on the PGA Tour. Calvin took to the game quickly and started to excel. He turned professional five years after taking the game up, and, in 1975, he successfully qualified for the PGA Tour at age 32.

Born in Detroit in 1943, Peete was the eighth of nine children. His family spent time between Detroit, Florida and Missouri. At the age of 12, Peete fell from a tree breaking his left arm and elbow. Despite surgery to repair the fractures, the elbow remained permanently fused. This unfortunate accident ended up being a tremendous gift.

In 1966, while Peete was selling clothes, watches, jewelry and other goods out of the back of his car to migrant workers in Rochester, NY, he took up golf. It quickly became his passion. He moved back to Florida practicing at night at driving ranges with floodlights. In 1971, Peete turned professional and started competing in mini-tour events in Florida. Four years later, he earned his Tour card in the PGA Q School. Four years after joining the PGA Tour, Peete earned his first Tour victory at the 1979 Greater Milwaukee Open.

From 1975 to 1993, Calvin competed on the PGA Tour. He won 12 times including the 1985 Tournament Players Championship. He was a member of the ‘83 and ‘85 Ryder Cup teams going 4-2-1. He won the Vardon Trophy and Byron Nelson Award in ‘84. He won ten straight driving accuracy titles from 1981-1990 average just shy of 82% of fairways hit over that time frame. Perhaps more astonishing is in 1200 rounds played on the tour, Peete only hit one ball out of bounds. His legendary accuracy earned him the nickname, “Mr. Accuracy.” Lee Trevino called him; “Xerox.”

What was the secret to his success? Remember the broken elbow he suffered as a child? Peete was unable to straighten the elbow. It remained permanently bent. As a result, Peete lost the ability to create a lot of power, but he was naturally forced to keep his left arm against his side, a technique Ben Hogan espoused. This required him to rotate through the ball which created a perfect squaring of the clubface at impact. It also allowed the elbow to fold naturally in the follow through.

At age 51, Peete joined the Champions Tour and competed for several years before retiring from professional golf in 2001.

Peete passed away in 2015 in Atlanta, GA after a battle with lung cancer.

He surpassed the great black trailblazers who joined the PGA Tour before him. Men like Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder and Jim Dent. There was no flash to his game. No booming drives to rouse gasps from the gallery. He was just more deadly accurate than anyone who has ever played the game.

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As always, be thankful when you get to play this amazing game. Be grateful for every shot. Appreciate every moment on the course. Now, go golf!