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Bill Seitz

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OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« on: June 09, 2023, 03:07:00 PM »

...On his upcoming induction into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.  Not sure what took so long.  He played on some pretty good basketball teams.[/size]


"Lynn Shackelford was a member of three consecutive NCAA championship squads with UCLA men's basketball from 1967 to 1969. The Bruins went 88-2 during Shackelford's two seasons, which he spent playing alongside his classmate Lew Alcindor – now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."
[/color]

Jeff Segol

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2023, 05:44:54 PM »

...On his upcoming induction into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.  Not sure what took so long.  He played on some pretty good basketball teams.


"Lynn Shackelford was a member of three consecutive NCAA championship squads with UCLA men's basketball from 1967 to 1969. The Bruins went 88-2 during Shackelford's two seasons, which he spent playing alongside his classmate Lew Alcindor – now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."



Best known for his huge rainbow jumpshot from the corner. His other claim to fame was that when UCLA played Houston in the 1969 NCAA Tournament, after having lost to them in the regular season, Coach Wooden decided to play a combination defense against Elvin Hayes. He played a diamond-and-one, wlth Lynn as the one shadowing Hayes. It worked, and they won the championship. As a Cal guy, I hated UCLA during those years.


I played and/or hit balls at Lynn's Sinaloa Golf Course in Simi Valley pretty regularly when I started playing seriously as an adult. I was working mostly nights as a newspaper reporter then, and needed something to occupy my afternoons.

Anthony Butler

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2023, 05:51:25 PM »
He's a pretty damn good golfer for a lefty as well. And his son  is one of the essential voices in the golf mediaverse. 
Next!

Pete Lavallee

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2023, 06:19:20 PM »
He also sat alongside Chick Hearn as the local LA Lakers color commentator for many years.
"...one inoculated with the virus must swing a golf-club or perish."  Robert Hunter

George Pazin

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #4 on: June 09, 2023, 07:50:18 PM »
I miss Lynn and Geoff posting on here regularly, as they once did. I can't even imagine the stories Lynn could share, playing under Coach Wooden on the greatest teams ever, and then following it up as he did.


Congrats, Lynn!
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Rob Marshall

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2023, 08:58:30 PM »
To have known Wooden let alone played for him, had to be magical. Congratulations Lynn!
If life gives you limes, make margaritas.” Jimmy Buffett

John Kirk

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #6 on: June 09, 2023, 09:31:57 PM »
I've spent a few enjoyable hours with Lynn over the years.  I imagine he is thrilled about this honor.  Congratulations, Lynn!

Tim_Weiman

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2023, 12:12:54 AM »

...On his upcoming induction into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.  Not sure what took so long.  He played on some pretty good basketball teams.


"Lynn Shackelford was a member of three consecutive NCAA championship squads with UCLA men's basketball from 1967 to 1969. The Bruins went 88-2 during Shackelford's two seasons, which he spent playing alongside his classmate Lew Alcindor – now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."



Best known for his huge rainbow jumpshot from the corner. His other claim to fame was that when UCLA played Houston in the 1969 NCAA Tournament, after having lost to them in the regular season, Coach Wooden decided to play a combination defense against Elvin Hayes. He played a diamond-and-one, wlth Lynn as the one shadowing Hayes. It worked, and they won the championship. As a Cal guy, I hated UCLA during those years.


I played and/or hit balls at Lynn's Sinaloa Golf Course in Simi Valley pretty regularly when I started playing seriously as an adult. I was working mostly nights as a newspaper reporter then, and needed something to occupy my afternoons.
Lynn was deadly from the corners. He made it very difficult to double team Alcindor.


As you said, UCLA definitely got revenge over Houston.
Tim Weiman

Michael Whitaker

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2023, 03:26:39 AM »
Congrats, Lynn!


Hope to see you back in Gullane before too long… I need another putting lesson! 🤣
"Solving the paradox of proportionality is the heart of golf architecture."  - Tom Doak (11/20/05)

David Kelly

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2023, 04:03:53 AM »
What took them so long?
"Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent." - Judge Holden, Blood Meridian.

Steve Wilson

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2023, 11:08:37 AM »
I've had the experience of meeting and playing with Lynn at three of the BUDAs.  Great company, impressive player.


In Golspie in 2018 Lynn and I were matched against Paul Graham and Ian Galbraith in the alternate shot round.  We were confronted by a stiff northeast wind which was in diametrical opposition to the prevailing wind.  Lynn and I had reached the 16th two up, but since we had lost the previous hole momentum was switching.  It was my turn to be hitting the tee shot, and while the wind may have been from the northeast  my game had gone decidedly south.  Despite my best attempts I couldn't get through the ball and I knew what was going to happen if I got my ball into the air--it was going to be blown well to the right, and those of us who are familiar with 16 at Golspie know that anything that goes very far to the right is very likely dead.


After our opponents tee ball had been carried into the rough next to the green on the right, I recalled a Paul Runyon tactic from the 30s during a PGA.  Knowing he couldn't make the forced carry from the back tee, Runyon chipped down to the ladies tee and hit a fairway wood from there and went on to win the hole.


With this in mind I approached Lynn and told him what he no doubt already knew that my game had gone away.  I propose to him that I"ll putt the ball to the ladies tee and let him hit the second from there.  My recollection is that he greeted this idea with a nod.  So, I putt the ball to the ladies tee, Lynn takes his wedge and with that silky smooth left handed swing proceeds to leave the ball about three feet from the  flag.  It's a virtual gimme so we win the hole and the match.


World class athletes respond to pressure very differently than the rest of us.  I don't know that Lynn and I discussed this tactic then or later, but I do know that I hear about it every time I see Paul Graham.


So congratulations to Lynn on a well deserved honor.  And thanks for making me look really smart on the golf course.









Some days you play golf, some days you find things.

I'm not really registered, but I couldn't find a symbol for certifiable.

"Every good drive by a high handicapper will be punished..."  Garland Bailey at the BUDA in sharing with me what the better player should always remember.

Ian Galbraith

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #11 on: June 11, 2023, 11:20:00 AM »
I've had the experience of meeting and playing with Lynn at three of the BUDAs.  Great company, impressive player.


In Golspie in 2018 Lynn and I were matched against Paul Graham and Ian Galbraith in the alternate shot round.  We were confronted by a stiff northeast wind which was in diametrical opposition to the prevailing wind.  Lynn and I had reached the 16th two up, but since we had lost the previous hole momentum was switching.  It was my turn to be hitting the tee shot, and while the wind may have been from the northeast  my game had gone decidedly south.  Despite my best attempts I couldn't get through the ball and I knew what was going to happen if I got my ball into the air--it was going to be blown well to the right, and those of us who are familiar with 16 at Golspie know that anything that goes very far to the right is very likely dead.


After our opponents tee ball had been carried into the rough next to the green on the right, I recalled a Paul Runyon tactic from the 30s during a PGA.  Knowing he couldn't make the forced carry from the back tee, Runyon chipped down to the ladies tee and hit a fairway wood from there and went on to win the hole.


With this in mind I approached Lynn and told him what he no doubt already knew that my game had gone away.  I propose to him that I"ll putt the ball to the ladies tee and let him hit the second from there.  My recollection is that he greeted this idea with a nod.  So, I putt the ball to the ladies tee, Lynn takes his wedge and with that silky smooth left handed swing proceeds to leave the ball about three feet from the  flag.  It's a virtual gimme so we win the hole and the match.


World class athletes respond to pressure very differently than the rest of us.  I don't know that Lynn and I discussed this tactic then or later, but I do know that I hear about it every time I see Paul Graham.


So congratulations to Lynn on a well deserved honor.  And thanks for making me look really smart on the golf course.


I had forgotten that Steve - thanks for the reminder, great fun. :) [size=78%] [/size]


Congrats to Lynn on his elevation.


Ian

Lynn_Shackelford

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #12 on: June 11, 2023, 12:57:38 PM »
I think the reason it took so long was too many were aware of my faulty and failing golf game.


Thanks everyone for the comments.  And yes Steve I remember that hole.  You played it properly.


“I think you have to be what you are. Don’t try to be somebody else. You have to be yourself at all times.”  John Wooden
It must be kept in mind that the elusive charm of the game suffers as soon as any successful method of standardization is allowed to creep in.  A golf course should never pretend to be, nor is intended to be, an infallible tribunal.
               Tom Simpson

JohnVDB

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #13 on: June 11, 2023, 01:22:38 PM »
Congrats Lynn, definitely deserved. I’ve enjoyed the couple of rounds we had in the past and hope we can get together again some day.


As a UCLA a fan from back then, I enjoyed some of the stories you shared in the past.

Garland Bayley

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #14 on: June 11, 2023, 09:18:41 PM »
Congrats Lynn,

Enjoyed playing a social round with you after the singles at St. Enodoc. When I played for the Brits et. al. at Brora and Golspie, I was hoping for a match against you, but apparently I was so formidable that you ducked out of such a match. ;D

Again, congrats! I loved watching you throw in those Shackelford layups from the corner while in HS in a Montana village. Can you believe they now give three points for those shots?! You were robbed of your potential scoring total. Being robbed thusly is undoubtedly why this honor is so belated.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2023, 09:20:32 PM by Garland Bayley »
"I enjoy a course where the challenges are contained WITHIN it, and recovery is part of the game  not a course where the challenge is to stay ON it." Jeff Warne

Bill Seitz

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #15 on: June 12, 2023, 02:17:12 PM »

Lynn was deadly from the corners. He made it very difficult to double team Alcindor.



Some video game programmers agreed.  In the mid-90s when I was in college at UC Riverside, we played a lot of Coach K College Basketball on Sega Genesis, which inlcuded some historical teams.  I'm a lifelong UCLA fan, so I would often take the 1995 national championship winning team against the 1967 team.  I'd use a 2-3 zone and control George Zidek in an effort to slow down Kareem.  It rarely worked, because #53 would go off for about 50 points per game. 

David Kelly

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #16 on: June 12, 2023, 04:10:48 PM »
I think the reason it took so long was too many were aware of my faulty and failing golf game.
Despite having beaten Lynn like a drum repeatedly over the course of hundreds of rounds for the better part of a decade at Rustic Canyon - or not, I don't really remember - I can attest to the metronome like golf game he's always had and how it probably was related to the shooting stroke for which he was renowned in his basketball days (before my time, of course, but well known to anyone growing up in Southern California).


Congratulations.
"Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent." - Judge Holden, Blood Meridian.

Doug Wright

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #17 on: June 13, 2023, 03:41:25 PM »
Congratulations Lynn, well deserved and definitely tardy. I loved watching those uber talented UCLA teams play selfless team basketball, the way basketball should be played. There's a team here in Denver that just won an NBA championship playing that way.
Twitter: @Deneuchre

MCirba

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #18 on: June 13, 2023, 03:48:23 PM »
Congratulations to Lynn who I've had the great pleasure of playing golf with several times in years past.


Hoping Lynn can come back in a few years for a return visit to Cobb's Creek.   He really enjoyed our tour a few years back and we'd love to have him.
"Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent" - Calvin Coolidge

https://cobbscreek.org/

Lynn_Shackelford

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #19 on: June 14, 2023, 05:54:12 PM »
Thanks everyone.  Good to hear from old friends.  My love for UCLA has increased in the past few days!


I would no doubt look forward to seeing and playing with all who posted here.



It must be kept in mind that the elusive charm of the game suffers as soon as any successful method of standardization is allowed to creep in.  A golf course should never pretend to be, nor is intended to be, an infallible tribunal.
               Tom Simpson

Ben Stephens

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Re: OT - Congrats to GCA's Lynn Schackelford!
« Reply #20 on: June 16, 2023, 03:55:39 AM »
Until a few years ago I hadn't realised that Lynn was a UCLA basketball legend with a famous teammate Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor and a commentator in the NBA. Wow!

Always a privilege to play against the best southpaw in the USA BUDA team (Sorry Whitty). Boy the Peyronin and Shackleford pairing is legendary in BUDA circles always a tough nut to crack. Look forward to the next round.


Congratulations Lynn - Time you were on UCLA's Hall of Fame. Also an UCLA player is playing well in the US Open this week.