Golf: Waite calls time on his playing career to become a coach

Grant Waite. Photo / APN

The wait is finally over for a golfer known as much for his sumptuous swing as a putting stroke which soured over time and ultimately did him in.

One of only seven New Zealanders to taste success on the PGA Tour in the United States, Grant Waite has called time on a playing career which earned him more than US$5 million ($6.3 million) in tournament income alone.

These days, the 46-year-old introduces himself as Grant Waite, coach, and one confident that his sharply analytical mind and myriad life experiences can be used to help others.

In a short period of time the Ocala, Florida, resident has found his services appreciated by a small number of PGA Tour players and he was in Charlotte, North Carolina, this week dispensing advice to those who appreciate it ahead of the Wells Fargo Championship.

Waite is comfortable with the switch from inside to outside the ropes, saying his strong streak of curiosity made instructing a natural fit once a terminally ill short game left him to weigh up the financial strain of continuing to play for a living.

And he has an instant retort to any smart alecs out there who are tempted to question the worth of his short game advice given his chequered history with the short stick. "We all have strengths and weaknesses. Just because a person played on the tour and his putting may not have been at the level it needed to be successful doesn't mean that you don't know what you're doing in that area. It just means that over time I wasn't efficient in that area," he said.

Waite's playing career hit a downward spiral from 2004 when he lost his full PGA membership, meaning a downgrade to the second tier Nationwide circuit where his ball striking remained top drawer even if the cursed putter proved reliably unreliable. Any number of fixes were tried and failed. He adopted the reverse grip, tried the belly putter, attempted to clean up his act with the broomstick and eventually resorted to standing on the right side of the ball and putting left-handed.

"Not only have I tried everything but I have had to apply it at the highest level. I know things that work and don't work, and they're not theories," Waite said, explaining his 12 seasons on the PGA Tour armed him with a wealth of knowledge to share.

Waite is quietly confident of attracting sufficient player support to make a name for himself as an instructor.

"There are certain sensitivities I bring to the table from being a player who played at the highest level against the best players in the world. There's no other instructors out there who can say that other than the likes of Dave Stockton and [fellow Palmerston North product] Craig Perks. There are only a few of us in that arena."

His reputation as a silky smooth long game player is widely acknowledged and although his coaching career is in its infancy he thinks this will help to establish his credentials.

"At the tour level there are guys I am helping who are more interested in the long game because they understand my prowess in that area is of a high, high level.

"There are things I know about the golf swing and how to apply it to help a player that can be very beneficial to a player at this level," said Waite, who politely declined to identify those players using his services because their relationships were very much at the formative stage.

Waite benefited hugely from the sage advice of noted coach Mac O'Grady in the mid-1990s and he has also at times tapped into the brains of the best in the business such as David Leadbetter and Butch Harmon.

Waite said he would occasionally play a mini tour event to keep his hand in and feed his appetite for competition, the thing he missed since walking away from the playing ranks.

- NZPA

Grant Waite

Born: Palmerston North, August 11, 1964.

Residence: Ocala, Florida.

Turned professional: 1987.

Career wins (4): 1992 New Zealand Open (Australasian Tour), 1992 Utah Open, Trafalgar Capital Classic in Canada, 1993 Kemper Open (PGA Tour).

PGA Tour second placings (5): 1995 Greater Hartford Open, 1996 Kemper Open, 1997 Michelob Championship at Kingsmill, 2000 Air Canada Championship, 2000 Bell Canadian Open.

Tour appearances: 408. Cuts made: 205; 22 top 10s.

Career low round: 11-under-par 60 at 1996 Phoenix Open.

Career earnings: Estimated at US$5.5 million ($6.9 million).

* Represented New Zealand on five occasions at the Dunhill Cup from 1989 to 1996.