The year 1999 was a watershed in the golf life of Tim Hogarth.  Several years earlier, he had given up the life of a struggling professional and returned to the amateur ranks. “I wasn’t paying the bills,” explains Hogarth straightforwardly, “and I finally came to grips with the fact that I just wasn’t good enough. If I had the game then that I have now that might have been a different decision.  But I didn’t."

However, he still had a big dream.  “I always wanted to play in The Masters,” he said in 1997 “and I figured my best chance was as an amateur where I could try to win either the U.S. Amateur or the Publinks.”  That’s exactly how it turned out. He won the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 1996 and played in The Masters less than a year later, a moment he still cherishes.  He was paired with Gary Player for two rounds.

From then on, however, Hogarth struggled.  Things got so tough that he wasn’t even named to the inaugural SCGA Seaver Cup team when the North-South competition was inaugurated in 1998.  So Hogarth went back to work with Randy Petersen, his coach when Hogarth was a student at Cal State Northridge, and re-dedicated himself to re-tooling his golf game.  “Practicing has always been the key to my success,” he says.  “With a family and a job, I don’t play enough golf to rely on that to get better.”

Then came the spring of 1999, when Hogarth received his first invitation to Lakeside Golf Club’s Kelly Cup, one of the nation’s premiere invitational tournaments.  While there, he met Roger Kelly, the legendary amateur golfer for whom the event was named. “I told him that I hoped when my career was over I would be able to accomplish something like what he had been able to do,” remembers Hogarth.   “The man and his legacy have always been an inspiration to me, something that I continue to hold in front of me.”

Hogarth went on to win the first of his four Kelly Cup titles that year.  Two months later he won the 88th California Amateur Championship in a 38-hole final match over former champion Gary Vanier in one of the most exciting matches in state amateur history.  “I had to call on all of the things I’ve learned as a match play player to win,” said Hogarth after beating Vanier.  “This was far more difficult than the final match to win the [the 1996 U.S. Amateur].”

Since that breakthrough, Hogarth has compiled one of the most impressive legacies in SCGA history (see accompanying box).  His seven SCGA titles have him in second place behind the 12 amassed by Mark Johnson before the latter turned professional at age 45 in preparation for the Champions Tour. 

Hogarth is the only player ever to win the California Amateur, SCGA Amateur and SCGA Mid-Amateur titles, a feat he calls the “Triple Crown.”  He’s also won a record five Los Angeles City Amateur titles and four Kelly Cups at Lakeside GC.  Earlier this year, he qualified for the PGA Tour’s Buick Invitational by shooting a 5-under-par 67 over the Torrey Pines South Course.

“I generally play tournaments only if I can stay at home,” says Hogarth, “and only if they’re individual — except for the SCGA Foursomes and Four-Ball.” Hogarth teamed with John Pate to win the 2004 and 2005 Foursomes Championship.

For Hogarth, preparation is the key.  “I usually spend two to three weeks preparing for a major event,” he explains.  ”For me to do well requires time and effort.  I have to hit enough shots so that I can make the same swing under pressure without having to think about it. 

“My training routine is to try to always hit good shots,” continues Hogarth.  “When I get into problems, it’s because of the same old problems, so I go to Randy Petersen who can look at my swing and say ‘you’re doing this’ or ‘you’re not doing this.’"

Although he and Petersen are close friends, Hogarth often wavers before going back to his old coach.  “In one sense,” he muses, “I wish I could fix things myself, but I can’t.  Of course, all the great Tour players, from Tiger on down, have their own set of eyes, so I’m definitely not alone.”

— Robert D. Thomas is the SCGA’s Senior Director of Communications