There was a time when Mike Mays was that young kid launching drives past the wily veterans on the golf course.
Now, almost 40 years later, the roles have flipped for the six-time champion of the BNI Golf Tournament, now known as the Mountain State Golf Classic.
Presented in large part by Little General, The Mountain State Golf Classic is a three-day golf tournament that serves as a local charity event. This year’s proceeds will benefit the Senior Friends of Raleigh General.
The tournament starts Saturday at Grandview Country Club before moving to Glade Springs. Sunday’s round will be played at Stonehaven and the championship round will be contested on the Cobb Course Monday.
Although he is now the wily veteran himself, Mays still has a little fight left in him.
“I would like to think so, but I don’t know,” Mays said when asked if he had a seventh title in him. “I play good some days and play bad others. Golf is not the priority it once was for me. The hardest thing sometimes is you get caught up in the moment of watching the young ones play instead of playing your own game. I know I can’t keep up with them these days, so my iron game has got to be on for me to play well.”
The first of Mays’ six wins came in 1984. At that time the tournament had a slightly different look.
“I can remember that time quite well,” Mays said. “First of all, the tournament was 36-hole event and both rounds were played at Grandview Country Club. I was playing with Chris Ward, who was a teenager at that time. I was 2-under par walking down the 18th fairway.”
“We were walking and carrying our bags and Chris said, ‘wouldn’t it be funny if you were leading the tournament.’ I said yeah, but I really hadn’t thought about it,” Mays went on to say. “Sure enough I was leading and I wound up shooting right at even par for both days. When I got that trophy I remember thinking I couldn’t believe I had just won a golf tournament.”
The win came against an incredible field of former and future champions.
“You had guys like Greg (McGraw) and (Bob) “Wheel” (Thomas) and some others that people may have forgotten about like Jeff Davis, Jimmy Jones, Andy Holland and Tom Broyles. I think Beckley has flown under the radar when it comes to the ability of the golfers that have come from this area. You had a bunch of really good players.”
Working his way through school, Mays did not play collegiate golf, but the initial win inspired him to work harder on his game.
“After I won for the first time and earned some success, I really started working on my golf game. I was working on my golf game in my 20’s like the kids are today in their early teens,” Mays said. “I took a great liking to golf. I knew I was going to get older and at the same time I wanted to be sure I had the fundamentals that would allow me to continue to play for a long time.”
That learning period helped Mays develop an incredibly smooth and easy looking swing, similar to former Masters champion, Fred Couples.
“People would tell me all the time that I could hit the ball so far to swing so easy,” Mays said. “I am going at it more than they realize, but it was those fundamentals that were in place that allowed me to look like I was just barely popping it out there.
“When I was younger my hair was a little bit longer and I was a little bit more slender. I would have a hat on and people would say I looked like Freddie.”
While all his wins were special in their own way, the sixth win in 2005 was very memorable for several reasons.
“The last year that I won it, I went into a playoff on the final day with Brandon Reece. I went into the day seven shots behind and beat him on the first playoff hole,” Mays recalled. “That same day, I made a hole-in-one on No. 13 on the Cobb Course which helped me shoot 67 that day.”
However, the memories made over the years go far beyond the links for Mays.
“There are a bunch of memories from the friends I have made along the way and the friends that I made that are no longer with us. That has been important to me,” Mays said. “I get excited for this tournament. I would be lying if I said I didn’t. Just like most people, this tournament is like a family reunion. Nick (my son) will be in from Columbus, Ohio. He is spending the weekend with me and he will be trying to beat dad.
“Every year we get these young kids that have such great talent. It is exciting to see these young players keeping the game going in West Virginia.”