The man behind the cover
Peter Beames, has been a friend of Linksoul, and a character around the Lab for a long time. With Winters spent with us in Oceanside, and Summer's in upstate New York, if you can catch 'The Professor', you'll want to sit down and grab a pint with him.
What's your name and where are you from?
My name is Peter Anothony Scott Beames. I'm originally from Ireland. Brought up in Britain. I had a great dad who was an attorney, a great mother who was an artist.
What do you do?
Wow. That's an amazing question. I wake up, and at 4 in the morning, me and my brother Geoffrey get the golf carts out. I go and get coffee at about 5 o'clock, come back, and my first lesson is about 6:30 or quarter to 7, generally play 9 holes, and then I'll play another 18 holes with the next gentleman that I teach and then maybe round it out with another 9. Very seldom give one lesson on the driving range because the thing about this game is it's a game of playing golf holes. It's not a game of hitting balls. Although if you go up to our driving range, you'll see people hitting golf balls all day long. The game is actually you against the golf course, so you're trying to do the best score you can and, at the same time, have a lot of fun in being able to hit the shots you want to hit.
Also, I'm an author. Currently, I have a bestselling book on Amazon called "The Order of Procedure." (Available at below) It sold a couple of thousand copies thanks to John, Lauren, and Linksoul. They put it out there. And also, a very good book that sold well was "Walk Thru to Par," which Gary Player helped me with, that was back in 1981. And my opus, which is still hovering, is "The Boy Who Rode Clouds," We look like we got the right animation company working on it. My son has done the editing, and we're just going along just one step at a time just like everything else in life, covering all the bases.
What was your introduction to golf?
I started golf… my father taught me when I was three years old. I had a little cut-down wood, real wood in those days, a wooden-headed club, and just fell in love with the game!
How did you meet John and Geoff?
I met John, I can't really tell you the date but I'm thinking it was back in the 80's. I'm not sure when he was born but I met John when he was 17 years old and he was one of the pickers at the driving range at La Costa. And I think that he heard that I was a reasonable teacher. Well, it must have been 1981 or '82 because I was working on a book, "Walk Thru to Par," that became a number-one bestseller. It was all about Gary Player's swing. John had heard about it and was interested in it, and I gave him a lesson. I'm not sure, but I think he became the number one on his team in Arizona if that's where he went, but I know he became a very good golfer because of that. And then I lost contact with him for a long time, and then I met him again at La Costa, and it was at that time that he told me he was going to make me famous. And it was at that time that I met Geoffrey. And Geoff and Barry Grimes and John we all went to Las Vegas to do a photoshoot, and that was just about 2007. It was just the beginning of Linksoul, and I remember going with John and Geoff to our current address and going in, and it was just totally white. There wasn't anything in there. There were no Laurens, there were no yous. There was nobody. Now we have thousands of people. So it was exciting.
As chief inspiration officer of Linksoul, what inspires YOU?
Working. Just going to work. Doing a good job. Knowing that nobody else is getting up at 4 o'clock to get the cart outs. I had a very famous person the other day who wanted me to stay with them for a week, and I go nope, I gotta get the carts out. Working is tremendous, and just seeing the smile on the faces of the people that play Goat Hill inspires you. The kids, Devo, Will, John, and Lauren, she doesn't come and play anymore. I tell people about Lauren she played this 4 hole, and she was pin high. People can't believe it. Farther than Xander Schaffle hit it. That was amazing. Yeah, so I mean the excitement. You never know what's going to happen up at Goat Hill. You never know what's going to happen at Linksoul. Something is always happening. You go up there the other day. They had the world free championship, I think. It was very exciting. It can be open to all these different kinds of things. Somebody will bring in 6 sets of golf clubs, and you get excited about going out and trying a new club.
When we saw you at Goat Hill when we were there to photograph Todd Desmey and the Linksoul persimmon woods he is making… You actually got to be the first to hit them. Tell us about that moment on the first tee box. How did it feel?
He's really quite extraordinary. I mean, this is 2023, and you've got a craftsman that can make Persimmon Woods as good if not better than the ones that I have. Extraordinary. When I hit it, it was nirvana. I think I said, it was so good he HAD to give me the club. Yeah, an amazing gentleman.
What brings you joy in life?
Wow, I mean, it's a list that goes on… hitting a great shot with my impossible irons. Because my irons are impossible, nobody can use them because they're so stiff, but I love overcoming that and hitting a fantastic shot. Speaking to my son on the telephone and being so proud of what he's done. He's one of the great musicians in the world. He's working at an incredible company now. His wife has quit her job at a big company and went back to Harvard. She's passed out of that, and she's going to go on to do amazing things. People who give. Meeting Bill Murray and finding out that he was nicer than you would ever expect. Going to LTH. Getting beaten by Gabe Hogan three times in a row, I taught him, I said "Oh no… three times in a row!" I told him, I said "I beat one of the greatest golfers in the world. I beat him; I shot 68 to his 69. He'd beaten Lou Tradino and Jack Nicholes," and here's Gabe Hogan beating me three times in a row, so that gave me joy. But there are too many things. Finding a rare book in a bookstore listening to Geoffry Cunningham find something in an antique store which related to something he was doing. There are so many amazing things in life. Getting ready to go back to my home in upstate New York. Seeing the dogs. Seeing Johnny Spizanos, who's now doing his own podcast, "Johnny on Fire." I mean, the list goes on.
These are the things that bring me joy in life; my son, working, attachment to Linksoul, and the fact that I can give something to it. That's amazing, isn't it? An old man you can still give some of your expertise to the company. It just grows and grows and grows.
Who's your favorite golfer you have had the chance to work with?
My favorite player of all time is obviously Gary Player for everything that he has done for me. But two other favorite golfers I haven't really worked with, Xander Schauffele. I know his dad, I love his dad, I love Xander, and I love everything they stand for. The other one that I did work with is Jordan Spieth.
Whenever Jordan was 14, the pro at Boulder, Colorado, said, "would you play with this young man?" I said, "sure, I'll play with him." He was 14, and he was a two-time Junior World Champion. I beat him with 7 clubs. I think it was, and I think at the end of that round, he didn't say it, but he wanted to go "Old man, be here tomorrow." and we played again tomorrow, I think we tied. The final hole, he won. But I was able to show him that low-drilled chip shot. Which Gary Player had shown me. He probably doesn't remember, but he got that low chip shot from me back in whenever it was in Boulder, Colorado, which was strange because it was the middle of winter. Isn't that weird? There should've been snow on the ground.
What's your favorite golf memory?
It's kind of a long story. Do we have time? My favorite memory in golf was the green jacket. So I'm in New Zealand, and I'm playing in the New Zealand Open, and Gary Player had already told me, "it's time Peter, you're not making any money." Which was hard to take but thank you Gary. Anyway, I'm playing the last 36 holes with a guy called Jack Newton. Now Jack Newton, for people that are listening but don't know him, he was second in the Masters, and he lost the playoff to Tom Watson. The awful thing about Jack is that he walked into an airplane propeller and lived. He lost his eye, he lost his left like me, he lost his arm, and his body was almost cut in two. Now, this is about a year before it. For whatever reason, he did not like Beames. In fact, it could've been at the level of hating Beames. But anyway, I played with him, and I played particularly well, and I shot 71, 71, 72, and 71. To me, that was conquering the game. I'd done it. I go into the locker room at the end, I'm sitting there, and suddenly the door opens. It's like that guy in Mozart, the guy with the hat and the light kind of shines in, and this voice goes, "Beames! Come and have a beer with me, mate." I couldn't believe it. It's Jack Newton. He's asked me to have a beer with him. He's a big guy, and I'm sitting there, and all the other competitors who know that he doesn't like me, their eyes are like this [opens his eyes wider with two hands], and I'm going Jack and me [points between him]. So that was my greatest ever thing in golf that I'd finally got acceptance from one of the great golfers of all time Jack Newton.
Any words for golfers out there?
A big one in my teaching is people are always telling me consistency, consistency. There is no consistency. A part of golf is a part of the ocean. The ocean comes in sometimes nicely settled; other times, it's storm-driven; other times, it's just crazy with will, but golf is just like the ocean. One day, it's good; one day, it's bad. You have to embrace it. Just enjoy it. You're not going to nail it every time. But you have to say, "hey, I'm going to enjoy it today, whatever is thrown my way."
Some of his favorite Linksoul pieces
