Tim Moss helped keep \u27Bagger Vance\u27 on cours

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Furman MagazineVolume 43Issue 4 Winter 2001 Article 1071-1-2001Behind the scenesFurman UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazineThis Regular Feature is made available online by Journals, part of the Furman University Scholar Exchange (FUSE). It has been accepted for inclusionin Furman Magazine by an authorized FUSE administrator. For terms of use, please refer to the FUSE Institutional Repository Guidelines. For moreinformation, please contact scholarexchange@furman.edu.Recommended CitationUniversity, Furman (2001) "Behind the scenes," Furman Magazine: Vol. 43 : Iss. 4 , Article 107.Available at: https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazine/vol43/iss4/10738 Furmanalumni news CLASS NOTES WINTER 01, cont. was the subject of a feature in the Florida Times- Union newspaper. • B I RTH: Chip and Virgin ia  Casey ' 85 Brookhart, a son, Stewart Arthur, January 6, 2000, Atlanta, Ga. 85 Next reunion in 2005 Hol ly Holcombe-Gorrell  of Taylors, S.C. ,  is a branch manager with U.S.  Engineering Technical Services. • Dave Hudgens, a pathologist with Intermountain Pathology Associates, has become medical director of the lab at Johnston Memorial Hospital in Abindgon, Va. • Kent lg leheart has been named to Georgia Trend magazine's "40 Under 40" l ist of rising Georgia entrepreneurs. The Roswell  resident, who drives an electric vehicle, started his  own company in 1 996 to create and manage alternative fuel vehicle projects and has expanded to water protection and other quality-of- l ife issues. He chairs the Fuel Fleet Task Force for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce as wel l as the board of advisors of Clean Cities, Inc. • David and Vicki Aronson Sm ith l ive in Aiken, S.C. She teaches at Aiken Preparatory School and he is director of Community Care & Counseling of Aiken, which he founded. He is completing his certification as a traumatic stress specialist .  • Libby Smith is chaplain with Chi ldren's Healthcare of Atlanta (Ga.) at Scottish Ri te Hospital .  B I RTHS: Kevin and Sherri Cothran Bishop, a son, Zachary, February 4, 2000, l rmo, S.C. • Robin Kowalski and her hus­band, Tom Britt, twins, Noah and Jordan, May 1 5 , Waynesvil le, N.C. • Roger and Elaine Roark '92 Thomas, a daughter, Sara Katherine, December 2 1 ,  1 999, McConnel ls, S.C. Elaine works part t ime as a pharmacist, and Roger is pastor of Lowrys Baptist Church in Chester, S.C. 86 This year is reunion! Carol Posey Adams is the chorus and computer teacher at Powdersv i l le (S.C. ) Middle School. • LeeAnne Hal lman Apple has become behavior consultant for the Sumner County School System in Gallatin, Tenn. She is co-author of a behavior manual for the school system. Georgia Trend magazine has named Lee Hughes to its "40 Under 40" list of rising Georgia entrepreneurs. He is regional public affairs manager at Fort James Corporat ion. • lan and Christie Knott l ive in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he i s  marketing director for Giant Eagle, Inc. • Michelle Meekins ( M .A . )  of the School District of Greenvi l le County has been appointed to the Community Advisory Board of New Commerce Bank of Mauldin, S.C. • Lisa Wheeler, a music instructor with the American Independent Music Association, teaches mi l i tary band at Benedictine High School in Richmond, Va. ,  and serves in the 80th Division Army Band in the U.S.  Army Reserve. • Behind the scenes Tim Moss helped keep 'Bagger Vance ' on course By the time the cast and crew were ready to wrap f i lming for Robert Redford's movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance," Tim Moss '71 was comfortable playing golf with stars Matt Damon and Wil l  Smith, shooting pool with Charlize Theron,  and cal l ing Redford "Bob." But even though Moss, a teaching pro from H i lton Head Island, S .C. ,  served as the technical advisor for the movie, he could never get used to informing the Academy Award-winning Redford there was some­thing wrong with the way he was preparing to film a scene. "I  grew up idolizing this guy, going to all his movies, and now I'm supposed to tap him on the shoulder and tell him I disagree with something in the script," Moss says. "That always made me a little nervous." Take, for i nstance, the movie's f inal ,  cl imactic scene. The script cal led for the f i lm's three golfing protagonists - the legendary Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, and the fictitious Rannalph Junnah (Damon) - to arrive on the 1 8th green to face putts that would decide the outcome of the match. Jones and Hagen were to putt f irst, even though their approach shots had f inished i nside of J unnah's. Any golfer knows that the person farthest from the hole putts first. For Junnah to putt last, Moss pointed out that Jones and Hagen needed to arrive at the green differently and have lengthier putts. Anything else, he argued, and the movie would lose credibi l ity with its golf ing audience. The scriptwriters weren't too happy with his suggestion, but Redford was persuaded and the scene was rewritten. "Early i n  the production,  one of the assistant directors told me if I saw something technically wrong I had better speak up,"  Moss said. "Because that's what they were paying me to do." "The Legend of Bagger Vance" approaches the game of golf in the same sort of mystical way that another Redford movie, "The Natural," did basebal l .  Based on Steven Pressfield's novel about a mythical match between Junnah, Jones and Hagen, the f i lm is set in Depression-era Savannah, Ga. , complete with period costumes and hickory-shafted clubs. Wil l  Smith plays Junnah's mysterious caddie, Bagger Vance. In addition to his duties as technical advisor, Moss was also responsible for teaching Damon, who had never played golf, how to swing a club with enough grace to suggest that his character could compete with Jones and Hagen, two of the greatest golfers in history. And he had exactly four weeks to do it. Prior to shooting, Moss and Damon worked five hours a day, six days a week at Belfair Golf Club,  where Moss is head teaching professional. Moss says that Damon was a wonderful pupil who practiced until his hands bled. It was also a relatively normal four weeks - with the exception of the female members who crowded the club's gri l l  room when Damon and Moss broke for lunch and the spate of teen-age g i rls who developed a renewed interest i n  taking lessons with Moss. All in  all , watching a movie evolve from concept to f in ished product was one of the best experiences of Moss' life - although he actually considered not doing it. He agreed to meet with the producers about the job, but as the meeting went on he didn't hear much to change his in itial incl ination. Then, during a break, he was standing in the hallway when he heard a familiar voice behind him say, "Hey, are you the golf guy?" " I  turned around and it was Redford,"  Moss says. " I  almost fe l l  backwards into the elevator. I d idn't even know he was MARRIAGE: Kel ley El l ison and Stewart Pitts, August 26, Greenv i l le .  He is an account representative at NetSetGo, Inc., and she is in corporate marketing and design at Stevens Aviation. • BIRTHS: Chuck and Flora Hall Davis, a daughter, Marthanne Campbel l ,  August 20, Farmvi l le, N.C. Chuck is director of development for Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. • Jeff and Janet Ledbetter Fosse I I ,  a daughter, Caroline Leigh, July 30,  West Des Moines, Iowa.  • James R. ,  Jr., and Beth Kennedy Lisk, a son, Joshua Renwick,  August 1 9, Suwanee, Ga.  • Clark and Emi ly Bu rry Phi l l i ps, a daughter, Rachel Grace, May 1 7, Hartsv i l le, S.C. • Corynne El izabeth Romine and Michelle Marcaro, a son, David, December 1 4, 1 999, Chicago, I l l .  • Eric and Heidi Vinje, a daughter, Hailey icole, October 1 5, 1 999, Bozeman, Mont. Eric owns Sparkyboy Enterprises. 87 Next reunion in 2002 Laura Roberts Adair i s  a chi ldren's l i brarian with the Richland County Public Library in Columbia, S .C.  • Dottie Pepper earned her 1 7th career title November 1 9  when she won the Ladies Professional Golf Association's Arch Wireless Championship in Daytona Beach, Fla. • Michael  and Andrea Dandridge U lmer  have moved to Abbevil le, S .C., where she manages the State Farm Insurance Agency. He is a project engineer with Dav is & Floyd, Inc . • MARRIAGES: Mary El iza beth Calvert and Robert Peter DiFrancesco, J une I 0, Cumming, Ga. • Ji l l  Rankin and Thom Koenigs, March 25, there. It only took a few minutes of talking to him to decide that it was something I definitely wanted to do . "  Whi le  it might  have been difficult to predict that Moss would play an integral part in the production of a Hollywood movie, it was much easier to predict that his future would involve golf. He grew up in Forest City, N .C . ,  and walked on to the Furman golf team in 1 967 as a freshman. After Furman, he went to Harbour Town Golf L inks in H i lton Head as an assistant professional and has been in the area ever since. He was the Carol i nas Section Teacher of the Year and a nominee for PGA of America Teacher of the Year in 1 997. Since "Bagger Vance" opened last fal l ,  Moss has become something of a celebrity. He has been featured in major national golf magazines, and he and Damon appeared together twice on The Golf Channel's "Golf Academy - Live." He might be even more famous, but some of h is best work ended up on the cutting-room floor. " I  had done the voiceover for an old newsreel and then I was one of the golfers who walks behind Jack Lemmon in  the opening sequence, but they both got chopped from the f i lm,"  Moss says. 2000, Columbia, S.C.  B IRTHS: Gary and Beth Harrell Abel, a daughter, Kathryn Anne, August 22,  Pearisburg, Va. Thomas '88 and Karen Patterson Boyd, a son, Wi l l iam B arksdale, October 1 6, Columbus, Ga. Carl and Anne Gue Jones, a son, Turner Nathaniel,  September 6, Orangeburg, S.C. • Martin and Susan Conway Maag,  a daughter, Sophia El izabeth, July 28, Norman, Okla. • Craig and Catherine Varn Stamey, a son, Tate Ransom, August 2, Charleston, S.C. Jackson and Mel issa Hedden Roper, a daughter, Georgia, April 5, 2000, Charlotte, N .C. Jackson is sales and marketing manager for Controls Southeast, Inc. ,  in Charlotte. • Mike and Amy Readl ing Shaffer, a daughter, Melody Jo, August 6, Greensboro, N.C. 88 Next reunion in 2003 Kelley Batson Addison of Chapel Hi l l ,  N .C., teaches private piano lessons and s ings with various choral and vocal groups. Patrick and Terri Fry '90 Burnette l ive in Charleston, S.C. Patrick i s  a systems analyst in the Army National Guard and also works in  the Adjutant General's office in Columbia, S.C. After working in Scotland and teaching English in Japan, Norman Lambert now operates his own business in Charleston, S .C. ,  designing and making novelty clocks. • David and Sally Mclean l ive in Greensboro, N.C., where he is an attorney with Booth Harrington Johns & Toman and she is a social worker for Gui lford County Schools. MARRIAGES: Daniel  Beatty He may have lost his chance for a future acting career, but that's OK. It looks l ike this golf instruction thing could work out for a whi le longer. - Vince Moore Will Smith (left) and a throng of "Bagger Vance" extras check out Matt Damon 's short game, developed under the patient tutelage of Tim Moss (in sunglasses). 39 

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