By Richard Oliver
roliver@express-news.net
On a recent steamy morning, Sean Elliott walked out his back door and headed to a corner of the patio of his sprawling home in far north San Antonio.
There, the former Spurs star renewed the quest for another miracle.
Only this time, Elliott wasn’t launching a 3-pointer from a deep corner of the Alamodome basketball court, a breathless city waiting to erupt. Instead, standing on a square patch of artificial turf, a scattering of scuffed golf balls at his feet and a weathered pitching wedge in his hands, the 6-foot-8 athlete lofted shot after shot toward a small, distant putting green that bordered the back of his nearly 5-acre plot.
The only spectators were the dozens of wild birds that screeched and swooped in and out of nearby towering oaks that hugged a large man-made pond.
“I want to be much better at this,” said Elliott, 43. “I want to be a plus handicap. Years ago, I was eating at a table with the coaches, talking about golf, and I said I wanted to do that.
“One of them said, ‘It’s impossible. You can’t do it.’ I got that bug inside me and said, ‘I’m going to do it.’”
Elliott, who took up the game in earnest after retiring from the NBA in 2001, is getting closer.
Listed these days as a 5-handicap, he practices with the kind of focus he once did when NBA championships were the goal. Whether in his picturesque backyard, playing in at least two scrambles a week or toiling at any number of driving ranges around the city, he will sometimes hit 400 shots or more a day, perfecting his game.
He’s not alone among former Spurs who have fallen in love with golf.
Hall of Famer George Gervin, who also professes a 5-handicap, carries his clubs with him around the world in his role as one of basketball’s beloved ambassadors.
Bruce Bowen, a passionate player since retiring two years ago, has rapidly whittled his handicap from well in the 20s to about 14. Other former Spurs players, including Brent Barry and Terry Porter, are excellent players.
“I just enjoy the game of golf,” said Bowen, 40. “It’s difficult, and that’s intriguing for me. There are so many things about golf that equate to life. One day it’s your best day of life, the next day it’s tragedy. In golf, one day it’s your best score ever, the next day you shoot about 100.
“In every round, there are real-life moments.”
When not teeing it up in China, Germany or at various headline courses nationwide, Gervin is practicing on the makeshift driving range he has constructed in the back of his 30-acre tract in Spring Branch. The practice area, from its teeing mats to the fence cutting across the other side of the property, stretches roughly 270 yards.
In between, Gervin has installed greens and flags at 50, 80 and 100 yards. A prolific scorer who totaled nearly 27,000 points during his NBA and ABA career, the 6-foot-8 “Iceman” now wants to score far less in a sport that requires it.
“That’s where I put the clubs in my hands every day,” Gervin, 59, said of his home range. “It’s therapeutic. I cut my own grass, I get up in the mornings and hit balls and in the evening I hit balls.”
He laughed. “I threatened to put some lights out there, but my wife thought it was overboard,” he said.
Gervin began playing golf actively after retiring from basketball in 1990. He said it filled a competitive void for him.
“I loved basketball so much. I had a passion for it,” he said. “We all wish we would have played (golf) when we were younger, but my mind was occupied on something else. I’m glad I had a passion for the game of basketball. But that time of life is over. Now, I’ve got golf.”
Elliott understands. After hitting wedge shots over the oaks and mesquites in his backyard, landing them on the rectangular green beyond, he gathered up errant balls and put them in a pile about 20 feet away from the flag. Under a blazing sun, the former Spurs great chipped shots toward the hole until sweat streamed down his brow.
He’s a 5-handicap working to become a scratch golfer. Only better.
Elliott admits he would like to someday try to play a pro event, perhaps on one of the blossoming celebrity tours.
“I love the game for a lot of reasons,” he said. “It’s challenging, for one. It’s a journey, a hard journey, and I like that. There’s nothing easy about it, and it takes a lot of work to just be mediocre.
“I feel like I can do it, so I’m going to go for it.”
Ex-Spurs greats’ golf profiles
Former Spurs George Gervin, Sean Elliott and Bruce Bowen, among other players, have taken up golf to fill a competitive void after retirement from basketball:
GEORGE GERVIN
Age: 59
Professed handicap: 5
Favorite local courses: Sonterra, River Crossing
Best golf memory: Playing Bob Hope Classic pro-ams with pros Bill Haas, Justin Leonard, David Duval and Kevin Chappell.
Holes-in-one: None
Thoughts on golf: “I’m glad I had a passion for the game of basketball. But that time of life is over. Now, I’ve got golf.”
SEAN ELLIOTT
Age: 43
Professed handicap: 5
Favorite local courses: Sonterra, The Quarry.
Best golf memory: Playing Valero Texas Open pro-am with Adam Scott and ATT Championship pro-am with Lee Trevino.
Holes-in-one: Two.
Thoughts on golf: “I love the game for a lot of reasons. It’s challenging, for one. It’s a journey, a hard journey, and I like that.”
BRUCE BOWEN
Age: 40
Professed handicap: 14
Favorite local course: Briggs Ranch
Best golf memory: Playing Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., this year. Enjoyed seeing historical photos on site, then playing.
Holes-in-one: None
Thoughts on golf: “I want to get better. There are so many things about golf that equates to life. One day it’s your best day of life, the next day it’s tragedy.”
— Richard Oliver
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Former Spurs playing golf
Former Spurs player and current broadcaster Sean Elliott practices his chip shot at a putting green in the backyard of his San Antonio home Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. (Jerry Lara/glara@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
Spurs great Sean Elliott uses his hat as a pin flag Monday, Sept. 12, 2011 while practicing at his home in far north San Antonio. (Jerry Lara/glara@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
Former Spurs player and current broadcaster Sean Elliott practices his golf swing in the backyard of his San Antonio home Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. (Jerry Lara/glara@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
Former Spurs player and current broadcaster Sean Elliott jokes around as he practices his golf game in the backyard of his San Antonio home Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. (Jerry Lara/glara@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
Former Spurs player and current broadcaster Sean Elliott practices his golf game in the backyard of his San Antonio home Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. (Jerry Lara/glara@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
Spurs forward Matt Bonner shakes hands with former Spur George Gervin during the Matt Bonner KSN Charity Golf Classic on Monday, Oct. 20, 2008. (Helen L. Montoya/hmontoya@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
Former Spur Sean Elliott hits his tee shot on the No. 16 at La Cantera on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006 during the pro am event for the Valero Texas Open. (Tom Reel/treel@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
PGA golfer Dickie Pride (left) and former Spur George Gervin play a game of “Horse” for charity on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 19, 2006 during an event held for the media to promote the Valero Texas Open. (William Luther/wluther@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
Then-Spurs guard Brent Barry (left) and PGA golfer Dickie Pride talk Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 19, 2006 during an event held for the media to promote the Valero Texas Open. (William Luther/wluther@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
Then-Spur Brent Barry blasts from the sand on No. 3 during the Oak Farms Dairy Charity Pro-Am event of the Valero Texas Open at La Cantera on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005. (Bob Owen/rowen@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
Then-Spur Brent Barry tees off under the watchful eye of playing pro Olin Browne during the Oak Farms Dairy Charity Pro-Am at La Cantera on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005. (Bob Owen/rowen@express-news.net / San Antonio Express-News)
George Gervin smiles for the camera at the George Gervin Celebrity Golf Tournament on Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 at Tapatio Springs. (File photo / San Antonio Express-News)
Former Spur George Gervin watches his putt on the green at the George Gervin Celebrity Golf Tournament on Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 at Tapatio Springs. (File photo / San Antonio Express-News)
Former Spur George Garvin (left) talks with Reggie Jackson at a golf tournament benefiting the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials at Tapatio Springs in Boerne on July 9, 2002. (File photo / San Antonio Express-News)
Then-Spur Sean Elliott smiles as he misses a birdie on the sixth hole at the Dominion Country Club SBC Senior PGA Tour on Tuesday, June 13, 2000. (File photo / San Antonio Express-News)
Then-Spur Terry Porter keeps a close eye during a drive off the fairway at the Dominion Country Club SBC Championship Senior PGA Tour on Tuesday June 13, 2000. (File photo / San Antonio Express-News)
Then-Spur Sean Elliott tees off on the seventh at the pro-am Senior PGA Tour on Tuesday afternoon, June 13, 2000. (File photo / San Antonio Express-News)
