Vince Gill

By Angela Wibking

Back the early 1960s, a six-year-old boy picked up a golf club in Oklahoma and started swinging. At about the same time, the young boy also picked up a guitar and started singing. As fate would have it, the singing won out and eventually the kid from Oklahoma made his way to Nashville. Success in country music followed and today Vince Gill is at the top of his musical game, with dozens of platinum albums and Top Ten singles to his credit and more Grammy awards than anyone else in country music except Chet Atkins with whom Gill is currently tied with 14 honors.

But if you think Gill’s interest in golf got lost on the road to musical fame and fortune, think again.

Even as Gill paid his dues as a musician, touring with bands like Pure Prairie League throughout the mid-1970s and early 1980s, he was also honing his golf game at courses around the country. His passion for the game is so strong that even today when he tours, he often trades concert tickets for greens fees so he and fellow band members can squeeze in a round. "We’re probably the only group that shows up at a golf course in cabs," Gills says.

What the modest Gill won’t say is that he is arguably one of the top celebrity golf players in the country -- with a remarkable 1-handicap. Just last year he shot the best round of his career – a 62. "I’ve only waited 35 years to do that," Gill says with soft chuckle. His self-effacing humor aside, though, Gill takes his golf as seriously as he does his music – and a lot more seriously than he does his celebrity status. Indeed, Gill’s reputation as a nice guy may only be exceeded by his reputation as a consummate musician. It’s not for nothing that country legend George Jones once dubbed the silver-voiced tenor, who stands 6’4" tall, "Sweet Pea."

One example of Gill’s good nature is The Vince Gill Pro-Celebrity Invitational – affectionately and universally known as The Vinny. The annual golf tournament raises money for Tennessee junior golf programs – more than $2 million since the tournament’s inception in 1993. This year The Vinny is May 6 and 7 in Nashville, with the charity tournament kicking off a week of golf that includes the second annual Electrolux USA Championship, an LPGA 72-hole competition to be televised May 12 and 13 on CBS. Tournament director Clyde Russell, who oversees both The Vinny and Electrolux, has known Gill for 15 years. "Vince is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met," says Russell. "He really cares about people. He and Amy (Grant) could have put their names on a golf tournament anywhere in the country but this really shows the commitment they have to their hometown. "

Gill married Christian and pop recording star Amy Grant last March just prior to the Electrolux and Vinny tournaments. If the marriage was a match made in musical heaven, it was also a lifesaver for professional women’s golf in Nashville. For 12 years, the city had hosted the LPGA Sara Lee Golf Classic and when its corporate sponsor decided to discontinue the tournament after the 1999 event, it looked like professional women’s golf was over in Nashville. "I wanted to find a way to keep women’s golf going in Middle Tennessee," recalls Gill. "You know it was the first professional sport we’d ever had here – long before we had pro football and hockey."

Gill met with Russell, who had run the Sara Lee tournament, one day after the closing ceremonies in 1999 and proposed a unique idea. "Vince told me what we ought to do was find someone to pick up where the Sara Lee left off and put that tournament together with The Vinny to make it one big week of golf," says Russell. Russell took Gill’s idea to the LPGA, Electrolux stepped in as sponsor for the Nashville tournament, Gill and Grant agreed to serve as the official hosts and Gill’s "big week of golf" quickly became a reality. The home base for most of the events is the Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn., a picturesque community 20 miles south of Nashville.

Last year’s inaugural Electrolux and 7^th annual Vinny drew 50,000 spectators and raised a lot of money for junior golf and other charities. While the Electrolux tournament itself isn’t a charity event, its sponsor donates $300,000 a year to junior golf and another $100,000 to the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation. The cancer foundation is a favorite charity of Grant’s, who founded a pro-celebrity women’s golf tournament in honor of the late country comedian Minnie Pearl that has since been discontinued. This year Gill and Grant return as official (and unpaid) hosts for the Electrolux and Vinny – with Grant just back in golfing form after the birth of the couple’s first child in late March.

The roster of celebrity and professional golfers teeing off at The Vinny each year is impressive. Pro golfer Payne Stewart, Titans field goal kicker Al Del Greco and tight end Frank Wycheck, as well as George "Goober" Lindsey (of The Andy Griffith Show fame) and dozens of Gill’s music buddies have all swung a club in The Vinny. Meanwhile last year’s debut Electrolux attracted seven of the top ten money winners on the LPGA tour and expects more of the same this year. But attracting star names has never been Gill’s goal – he’s much more interested in having a good time with his friends and raising money to help more kids experience the game of golf. The money generated by The Vinny goes to fund everything from a much-needed mower for a small public junior golf course in rural East Tennessee to running golf clinics for inner city kids in Nashville and Memphis.

"From day one, I wanted this to be for grass roots and urban golf programs – not for the country club kids," Gill says. "The thing that playing golf teaches kids, in a good way, is humility. You can’t just pick up a club and play this game, you have to learn how to hit the ball and make it work. It’s a game that humbles you and teaches lessons about honesty and fairness."

If Gill is an old hand at golf, Grant first picked up a golf club just seven years ago. She already boasts a 21 handicap and her best round to date is 86. "We’ve played a lot over the years and Amy’s become a great bunker player," Gill says. "She tells me I’m a very encouraging coach." Grant in turn ranks Gill is the best celebrity golfer she’s ever played with, giving second place to actor Bill Murray.

With a new baby in the house, Gill’s latest MCA album "Lets Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye"in music stores and a new album by Grant due out this spring, the duo is more content than ever to stay home in Nashville. But while the couple is often seen at high-profile charity functions and concerts, they can be spotted just as often at down home restaurants around town. For an old-fashioned Southern breakfast Gill says he and Grant favor the Pancake Pantry or the Loveless Café. Many a local has also seen Gill savoring a cheeseburger at Brown’s Diner, a Nashville tradition. Gill is also a regular at Sportsman’s Grill, a casual sports bar and grill. A fan of the Southern-based Krispy Kreme donut chain, Gill even showed up last December to help Mayor Bill Purcell cut the ribbon at the grand reopening of the chain’s original Nashville location on Thompson Lane.

"On Friday and Saturday night, the Grand Ole Opry can’t be beat," offers Gill, when asked to recommend some musical nightlife to visitors. "You can also hear great music at the Bluebird Café and the Station Inn. For rock, there’s Exit/In, a club I played way back in 1976." Gill and Grant also have season tickets to the NFL Titans and the NHL Predators and it’s possible to catch a glimpse of them at home games in Adelphia Coliseum and the Gaylord Entertainment Center. "Basically, we’re a low-maintenance kind of couple," says Gill with a laugh. "A perfect day for me and Amy is to take a drive, stop at some antique shops and have lunch somewhere. I used to play golf every day, too. But I don’t play as much these days – I guess that’s because I’m a little happier inside."