Celebrating Seve

Tommy Does Golf - The Podcast

EPISODE 3
SEASON 01
15 Jan 2026

tommy: Welcome to Tommy Does Golf, the podcast where three old timers give you our opinions on everything. Golf. I'm Tommy Long, joined by fellow PGA professionals, James Morgan and Paul Charman. With over a hundred years and counting in the golf industry between us, we are well into our back nines. We'll do our best to stay on topic, but just like our tee shots these days, this podcast could go anywhere.

We are hoping you enjoy the banter and maybe just maybe we'll share a few pearls of wisdom along the way. Let's get into it.


tommy: This episode is dedicated to one of golf's all time legends, the late great ano ballast Deros. It's a celebration of the game's most charismatic competitor, a shotmaking artist, a Ryder Cup warrior, and the first European to ever conquer Augusta. Tragically se passed away from brain cancer in 2011 at just 54.

But his legacy remains timeless. We'll dive into the genius, the passion, and the unforgettable story of a man who didn't just win tournaments. He captured the imagination of millions around the world.



James, I wanna start with you. Everyone loved Seve, but I want your professional take.

What made him so great? What was the essence of his genius?

James: I wrote down a few words, , passion, fearless, charisma warrior, ,

He'd take everything on. One of my favorite stories. Billy Foster, his caddy,tells a story about Crans-Sur-Sierre. The European open, he hit it in the trees on the last, he's just gone on a birdie run and, Billy's going, chip it out, knock it on the green, make par Mike, get into a playoff.

So he goes, I can see a gap. And , Billy's going where? There's a gap. It's like 150 yards. It's that gap there. There's a brick wall. There's a 12 foot high brick wall in front of him. Anyway, Billy gets me yard and he goes, it was a waste of time giving the yard. Just could have told him anything.

Out comes a seven iron or a six sign. Cuts up through this gap, sticks it on the frontage of the green chips in for birdie. Thanks for coming. He had. The vision to see the shot. He had the skill to play the shot. Yeah. But then he then had the courage to do it and not even blink. Billy Foster goes on to say that, , he went through so many Ks 'cause he never ever had a bad shot.

It was always a caddies fault. Yeah. But , that was the man. It was like, I'm so good at what I do. You must have given me the wrong yardage.

tommy: I remember that story and he said that it was the size of a dinner plate, the gap he was looking at, and it was like 15 yards ahead of him.

James: Yeah. But it was the 12 foot high brick wall. But fast, he goes, I went out on the fairway. 'cause , if he hits that brick wall, it's come back and hitting me in the head. So he went out to go and watch this disaster happen. . Also, , I wrote down here in my notes his vision for the impossible.

He saw stuff that we couldn't see, he could see the flop shot over the bunker, land it there with a bit of extra check. So I'd spin to spin it down to there. So he had the vision. He could shape a shot both ways, high, low, do the whole nine yards.

And the charisma, you know, when it came to the Ryder cup, if you were playing with him. You played better. I've got se on my side. I'm one up, but one up before we even started, he'd give you a no and a wink. We've got this. And you suddenly go, yeah, I've got this, we've got this. I trust you. I trust you to hold that part.

Okay. Oh, I'll go and do it. So that's what set him apart. , He's just his amazing feel and his love for the game. And I suppose from a European point of view. His almost hatred of, the US tour, because he, was treated so badly over there, so every time he went there, he just wanted to thrash him all.

Mm-hmm. Uh, not just in in the right cup necessarily, but just when he wanted to play there, he just had this massive chip on his shoulder. Whereas now if he was around nowadays, , he'd just be loved over there. Mm-hmm. But he was a little bit chastised at the start of his career. But yeah, that's my take on, him.

tommy: Okay. Just quickly before I move to Paul, one of the things I remember so very clearly about Sevy was how immaculately dressed he always was. He was a snappy dresser, let's not forget. He was a good looking man, that distinct tan, the jet black hair. I remember seeing a painted portrait of SEVE where he was sitting there in his jacket and his neckerchief, sitting with poise, and if you'd said to somebody who didn't know. This man is the king of Spain. They would've believed you. He just had so much charisma.

Had this aura about him, didn't he? For me, nobody matched his presence didn't even come close to doing so until Tiger Woods came along

Paul, this is probably gonna be a hard question for you to give me a definitive answer on, but what was it about Seve that made people just feel this deep connection with him?



Paul: Well, I'll give you ~a, ~an example, ~um, ~of why I think Seve had that connection ~to, to, ~to actually everybody in a way. And that was the, ~like my, ~my misses has never played golf.

Okay. And yet when I first met her, she knew more about Severiano Ballesteros than I did because when the open was on her family would sit and watch the open and they would watch se, and they would love SEVE for the way he played for his. I don't even know whether this is a word, but Matador, ~he was like a matador.~

He was like a matador. . You could see him in a bull ring, you know? And there was that. Aura about him that drew people who maybe didn't even play golf towards this person,

I remember seeing him for the first time as a kid in 1979 in Kenya. Okay. He came to play in the Kenya Open, very early on in his professional career. And I just remember thinking he was massive. He looked so much taller, even though he wasn't, he just looked so much taller than everybody else.

He had this way of presenting himself that was ~look, was like, ~look at me. But ~not in a, ~not in a obnoxious kind of way. In a kind of ~like, let's just, Hey ~look, this is me. Watch this, watch this. And I think that's the thing that I just remember ~about ~about him and I think. ~You know, ~possibly was one of the reasons why, ~you know, ~people, whether they be amateur, amateur golfers, or even people who, ~you know, ~didn't play golf.

Oh, Seve. Yeah. I remember Seve, ~you, ~do you play golf? No, I never played golf in my life. But Severiano Ballesteros, I know that name. I know that person. ~I, ~I've seen him before. Seve Tiger Woods.

James: There's a few people throughout the decades. Jack Nicklaus Arnold Palmer, Arnie Palmer had, ~um, ~car yards all across America and people were buying a car from Arnie Palmer.

~Mm. ~You know, so there were a few people dotted through the golfing history that had that Yeah. Presence. Yeah. And he definitely had it. And then Tiger, who would you say now has that sort of presence? Is there anyone that, that sort of presence?

Paul: No, I don't. ~There not really. No, ~not really. Nobody that jumps out at you ~is being, he goes, oh.~

~Yeah. ~You know, ~while with, ~while we're talking about se and obviously we've all got stories and, , based on the fact that I just mentioned the Kenya Open, ~it, it ~at that same time, during that Kenya Open, I was obviously keen on golf and I managed to score myself , a pass to the MAGA Golf Club, to get into the actual clubhouse.

And I remember going into the clubhouse, with my mom to get some food. And we sat at this table, and on this table there was Manuel Pinero. ~Yeah. ~Hees. . And a couple of other young Spanish golfers, one of whom was Seve. Okay. And we're sitting at this long table and my mum starts talking to these guys.

Oh, how are you enjoying Kenya? Do you like it here? You know, have you been here before? And a couple of the guys have got quite good command of English. SE at the time had none. ~Okay. ~And my mom. she turns to Severiano Ballesteros and says, oh, you must be the caddy. How is it going? Are you enjoying yourself? I was mortified.

To this day, I still remember that conversation, thinking, oh my God, oh my Lord. How embarrassing that was. You know, that's just a small, tiny, little story. I just remember it very well, unsurprising that that is still such a vivid memory. Okay,

tommy: james, as a youngster learning the game. I idolized Seve did you feel the same?

James: I. He's definitely someone you looked at and you'd go, yeah, I wanna be him. Like when we were kids that we'd be going around the putting green, and wed be like, who's first pick?

Are you gonna be Seve? Tom Watson. 'cause he was a good putter back then. It was Seve, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus say, no, I'm, it's my turn to be Seve and I'm gonna be Seve. And then you'd play 18 on the putting green and you'd be talking with your Spanish accent as a 12-year-old. Have a look at this putt. I think he's going in, you know, and you just, and then, and you'd hole it and you'd give it the Seve pump fist pump and you go, yeah.

tommy: All right, James. That leads us perfectly into talking about what made SEVE truly great. His short game. He just operated on a different level to his peers, his imagination, his pure artistry, and that sheer ability to execute his vision. They were unmatched, weren't they? I mean, the thrill of watching Seve around the greens I think was the not knowing we'd all see a shot, but in his mind's eye, he had numerous ways to play it.

We were just glued to him waiting to see just what sort of escape he was gonna conjure up. Was there a part of his short game that stood out to you? I mean, it was also good, wasn't it? What do you think made him so exceptional?

James:
I Saw him do a short game clinic once, but he did it with a three iron. So he's standing facing the green front on with the three iron lay flat In those days, you know, your three iron were that thin, you could do this, and he was playing these little chip shots over bunkers and spinning it.

And then he'd go, and then he went in the bunker and he played a bunker shot with a three iron, popped up over a lip, you know, three foot high lip, little pop like this. And it was his feel and imagination and he turned around and said they should ban anything with any more loft than 56. If you can't play it with a 56 degree, you shouldn't be playing it 60 degrees, 64 degrees.

Said they're too easy, they make the game too easy, make you have to play a shot under pressure. Yeah, so I looked at that. After, you think? Yeah, I mean, the shots he could play. And it it wasn't just, he could play it and it would land there. He had the, and you used the word artistry. It would land there, but the spin that he's put on it would be side spin, back spin.

Almost like someone with a cue ball. Yeah. Into position. Moving that ball, using a slope, hitting it in places where people just wouldn't do it. And again, I saw him hit a, low right to left hooking wedge, 56 degree. And he spun it right to left about 30 feet. Yeah. He just goes, he goes, sometimes you go, you need to move it right to left.

And he goes, like this. And thing comes up, lands, and I'm going, well, the flag's 30 feet over there. What? Oh, and next thing, zip gone. And he saw it. Yeah. He saw the shot, played the shot, and he had the courage then. Oh. And now probably the trust in his game to do that. That's, that's the thing for me. Is he?

Yeah. It was just, you wanted to see it, right? Yeah. Because you wanted to go, I'm gonna try that. And then you try it and you just couldn't do it. No. Yeah.

Tommy: Blade it through the back of the green,

James: blade it through the back of the green. So yeah. Mastery was, yeah. The thing for me

tommy: paul, I know you are sitting on some gold here. Yeah. I know that you've had some personal interactions with him. I believe there was a time in Dubai where he asked you to have a look at him on the range, hitting a few drivers. that must have been, that must have been pretty surreal.

And there must have been a bit of pressure on you there to kind of not mess around. You didn't wanna put him wrong, but tell us about that.

Paul: Look, I think surreal sums everything up, the actual moment was totally surreal, but I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

there were sort of many other things going on around that allowed that to happen, but, to go on to what you're alluding to there. I was on the driving range, , just finished teaching. I was closing up and se rocks up. He was staying in the hotel Jebal Ali hotel, and, he's rocked up.

He's wearing a white t-shirt, board shorts and a pair of, what looked like dancing shoes. They were like patent black proper, proper shoes, not golf shoes, but proper shoes. And he walks up, he says, and he said, ah, can I hit some balls? Of course, Seve, of course you can hit some balls so he's gone out and he's hit some balls and then he is come back and he said, have you got any golf shoes?

And I'm like, well, the only golf shoes I've got are the ones on my feet, and you're very, very welcome to wear them. Um, but you know, I haven't got any others. He says, oh, what size are you? I said, oh, 10 and a half. He says, perfect. He says, do you mind if I wear your shoes? Which was a worry because he hadn't got socks on.

So I slipped off my shoes and he basically puts his Spanish feet right into my foot. Just goes out, start hitting a few more shots. He then realized that we had this, machine at the time on this driving range called an A Star machine. Which was a primitive, game improvement sort of machine.

He just wanted to check one position. So I watched him, I'm standing there again in disbelief, total disbelief, just pushing buttons, and he's, oh, can I look at that? Yeah, look at that. Okay. And then eventually, I dunno why, but I had the courage to say, sorry, Seve, what are you looking for?

Because I couldn't see any different, a difference in the images. And then he told me about the position that he was looking for at the top of his back for. And he was talking about the fact that he felt that his wrist was always too cupped and that he was trying to get his wrist into a, a flatter bow position, slightly bowed position, because he felt that that would give him more control through the ball.

So I watched this with him, and then he said, oh, that's fine. Good. Would you come out and sit on the driving range and watch me hit shots and just say yes or no? Yes or no. In relation to the position of his wrist. So I went out there and I stood there for about an hour and a half watching him hit shots.

And again, I can't tell you how surreal.

Tommy:What year was this?

Paul: This was 1999. 1999. So I sat there just watching him , but questioning, who the hell am I? Who the hell am I to turn round to this?

Absolute legend. And say Yes, no. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay. Do you know what I'm saying? ~Yeah. ~And so eventually ~he, he, he, ~he finished seeing some shots and he went, he only had three clubs with him. He had a wedge, six iron and a driver. Mm-hmm. And afterwards he said, okay, thank you very much.

And we talked a little bit about Kenya 'cause obviously there was a little bit of a connection there. And of course I told him about the fact that I saw him in Kenya. He said, I remember the tournament and I won that tournament.

Tommy: Your mom asked me if I was a caddy.

Paul: I told him the story about that.

Yeah. Uh, he didn't remember that of course, but ~um, ~he then said, oh, you still playing golf? I said, nah, little bit. He said hit's some shots of how, how Chunk Shank. Well, but he gave Snap, but he gave me the driver. Right. So what's the first thing you're thinking? Don't sky it, don't sky it, don't sky it.

So I literally hit a couple of shots with this driver. It was a ping uh, one of the early ping drivers. I-S-I-I-S-I ping, ISI, and I've hit a couple of shots with this driver and I've said, okay, that's enough. So, yeah, I said, I've, I've got it somewhere on the clubface. I'm happy. He says,, okay, thank you very much. And that was it. ~He, he, ~he gave me back my shoes and he went off. Now ~the, the, ~the other thing I should have mentioned was that ~my, ~my wife was babysitting for his three kids. ~Mm-hmm. ~Two boys ~and, ~and his little daughter called Carmen and his wife was called Carmen as well. Anyway, the next day I got a message from my wife saying, look, Seve’s having lunch, would you like to come and join us? Whole family's there. I went up and I sat down again in a surreal moment. ~Mm-hmm. ~With Severiano Ballesteros and his family having lunch, talking about Ryder Cup, talking about things. And what was interesting was he said to me, ~um, ~he went to see Leadbetter, and not a lot of people know this, but he went ~to, ~to see David Leadbetter.

~And, ~and I said, well, why did you do that? He. It got to me. I said, what do you mean what got to you? He said, every single time I saw anybody or spoke to anybody, they referred to a car park or a shot where it was a miraculous shot through a little gap in the trees.

He said, I questioned myself. Can I hit the ball straight? And that's why I had to go and try and fix it. And I personally believe that that's what led to his downfall. 'cause he was such a natural golfer, self-taught, , visual, you know, everything was visualized. Feel to then go and actually have things put into your head to then try and actually do them.

Changed everything, as far as I'm concerned. But moving on from that, the next day , is leaving, he's going off to Qatar. And I get a phone call ~from the, ~from the hotel saying, look, Seve’s asked if you wouldn't mind just coming to say goodbye or coming up to see him. And I walk up there and there he is, and he's about to go with his family.

And, I go up and shake his hand and he gives me this driver, this ping ISI, and he says, I want you to have this. Thank you so much for your time and thank you for, ~you know, ~your hospitality and all that sort of stuff. And it was one of those moments where I held onto the driver and ~I, ~I said to him, Seve

~I can't take it. ~I can't take it. But as I was saying, I can't take it.

Tommy: You wanted you to

Paul : I've felt myself pulling the driver away closer and closer to me. ~Yeah. ~Because ~I, ~I just realized how this was gold.

tommy: I saw the wear on the middle of the face from Seve and I actually saw your sky mark on the top edge as well.that's a pretty amazing story.

Paul:But ~nobody, ~nobody, apart from Seve, and I think that might've been the one that I hit. Have hit that driver. That's amazing. And that to me that's pretty cool, is just, ~yeah. ~Special. Phenomenal. It's very special. Alright. I'll never, ever forget it.

tommy: It's unbelievable to have had that interaction with him. Yeah. I mean that's just incredible. It's difficult to follow that really. But I'm gonna try, i'm actually gonna kick this off. One shot that you remember. From Seve that stands out.

And I know I haven't given you time to prep for this or there are so many that you can think of or you'll forget one, but I remember him playing in the Ryder Cup against Tom Lehman going out. I think he went out first. He was leading Team Europe. He was out first in the singles , and I remember him playing this shot where he had shortsided himself on a par four

He was short the bunker. I think Tom Lehman had chucked it into about eight to 10 feet. And Seve was faced with this Impossible looking shot over the trap with about two feet of green to work with. And I dunno, whenever I watched him Chip, it looked like the club was part of him. It wasn't like he was holding the club, it was like, it was, it was morphed into his being.

Like he was standing there and he played this shot and it just, ~it ~was never anywhere else. It just landed perfect. Just ran out and dropped in Center cup. And he didn't even get that emotional, I mean, I think his fist pump was almost just a, it was just, I knew I was gonna hold it and he was gonna hold it.

And you looked at Tom Lehman's face and Lehman's going. What's going on here, ~you know, ~and ~it, I, I, ~I'm pretty sure Lehman actually beat him, in that match. But it was almost like he knew that he wasn't going to win, but he wanted to go out, lead team Europe and sort of, you know, get some cheers going and that was the shot that I remember.

people should YouTube it and have a look 'cause it was just an unbelievable golf shot. But James, any spring to mind any shot that Seve played ?

James: I do. I love the way he birded the 18th to win the open at St. Andrews. Yeah. That putt that, the missing putt. The missing putt. The, yeah. That went in it almost like he got, so you will go in and it, it just fell in off the right.

And then I can remember, 'cause I was living in and working in London at the time and there was a picture of him there with his Slazenger jersey on giving it the fist pump. And their tagline was, you'd be happy if you were given a jumper like this to wear. You know, and it was just like brilliant. 'cause it was always his navy and his white

The other one for me was at the Belfry on the 10th and you just don't pull out driver there. And he was hitting it off the planet. Sideways. Pulls out driver four foot from the flag. and you're just like, oh my God.

'cause the Americans had gone first and they've gone for it. They stuck it on the green to 15 feet and you're going, oh, Seve just lay it up, wedge it on. And he just goes, bang. Yeah. Amazing. Four feet. Amazing. Thanks for coming.

tommy: Pauley.

Paul: So I'm gonna go for a particular shot that you won't find on YouTube, but it was a shot that actually forced me into playing golf.

And it was on the 10th at Muthaiga golf club in Kenya. It's a par five dog leg and all the players of those days, your Sam Torrance's, your Ken Browns, all those boys, hit it down to the corner. A good drive took you down to the corner. And I just remember standing on the back of the tee looking at Seve, and ~I'm, ~I'm thinking as was everybody else.

Where are you aiming? Where are you going? And he ended up hitting this shot over the corner. I'd never seen anything like it. And a lot of people thought, oh, that's, that's lost. That's bad. Ball's gone. You know, there's trees and rubbish and places where monkeys hang out. And it was just like, no, covered the whole lot.

He saw it, he saw it, he saw that shot, and he knew he could execute it. And I think that sums everything up is that he knew what his capabilities were

James: We used the word legend all the time now, but look him up, it's, he is. Oh, unbelievable legend. Unbelievable. Mm-hmm.

tommy: Alright. Well boys, we could talk about Seve for hours.

But, the game misses him every day. The impact he made will never, ever fade. So that was Severiano Ballesteros Thanks very much.

James :Yeah. Brilliant.

Paul: Awesome. May you rest in peace.

Tommy: If you've made it this far, we hope it's because you've enjoyed listening to Tommy Does Golf. To make sure you never miss our podcast, please hit Follow. For more of our content and to get in touch, visit Tommy does golf.com. So until next time, read it, roll it, hole it.