Bill Tindall: UW Golf Legend, Coach & Mentor | RADMOR
Every once in a while, you meet someone who changes the direction of your life.
For me, one of those people was Bill Tindall.
Bill was the person who brought me to the University of Washington in 1990.
I was 17 years old, growing up in Palm Springs, with some talent, a lot to learn, and a dream of playing D1 college golf. Bill saw enough in me to offer an opportunity that would ultimately change far more than where I went to school.
It changed my life.
He recruited me during my senior year of high school, and I was fortunate to play for him during my first two years at Washington.
We called him Coach T. Sometimes Billy T.
But he was much more than a golf coach.
MORE THAN A COACH
The best coaches have an ability to see something in you that you may not yet see in yourself.
Bill had that gift.
He understood that coaching wasn’t simply about teaching everyone the same lesson. It was about understanding the individual.
What motivated them.
Where they were strong.
Where they were vulnerable.
And, sometimes most importantly, where they needed to be pushed.
Bill challenged me.
He tested me constantly.
He expected more from me, mostly because I needed someone who did.
At 17 or 18 years old, you don’t always understand the significance of that.
Years later, you do.
There are lessons Bill taught me that had very little to do with a golf swing and everything to do with the life I would eventually build.
One of them was simple:
Prove it every day.
Talent might open a door.
Potential might earn you an opportunity.
But neither means very much without the willingness to show up, work, commit, and prove yourself again tomorrow.
I carried that lesson with me long after I stopped playing competitive golf.
I still carry it today.
THE PATH BEYOND GOLF
Bill also played an important role in helping me find my way after college.
When competitive golf was no longer going to be my path, he helped point me toward another one.
The clothing business.
I don’t know that either of us could have imagined where that suggestion would eventually lead.
New York.
Paper Denim & Cloth.
Earnest Sewn.
EVISU.
3x1.
And, decades later, back to golf with RADMOR.
Life has a funny way of connecting the dots when you look backward.
When I do, Bill is standing at more than one of those intersections.
He helped bring me to Washington.
He helped shape the way I thought about hard work and accountability.
And he helped me see another path when it was time to find one.
That is an extraordinary gift to give someone.
A LIFE IN THE GAME
Of course, my experience with Bill was only one small part of an extraordinary life in golf.
Bill was a Husky long before Bob or I ever arrived in Seattle.
He played for the University of Washington from 1963 to 1965 and was part of the 1963 conference championship team.
In 1960, before even arriving at Washington, he won the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.
He went on to compete professionally, including a season on the PGA Tour, and played in 10 USGA championships over the course of his career. His competitive résumé included the U.S. Open at Winged Foot and three made cuts in the U.S. Senior Open.
But Bill’s influence on golf extended far beyond the tournaments he played.
He returned to Washington as head coach of the men’s golf team from 1984 to 1992, becoming the first Husky men’s golf coach to earn Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors.
After coaching, he spent decades serving the game throughout the Pacific Northwest, including 22 years as Head Professional at Broadmoor Golf Club, followed by important roles at Aldarra Golf Club and Tumble Creek.
He was a player.
A coach.
A golf professional.
A mentor.
A Husky.
But if you ask the people fortunate enough to have known him, those titles only begin to explain who Bill was.
WHAT REMAINS
Our friend Alan Murray, who went on to lead the University of Washington men’s golf program himself, once described Bill as one of the most beloved people in Northwest golf.
He was right.
Bill had a warmth about him.
He was generous with his time. He was interested in people. He understood that how you treated someone mattered far more than whatever position you held or score you posted.
His influence lives in the people he coached, the players he mentored, the professionals who worked alongside him, and the countless golfers who were simply fortunate enough to share a round or a conversation with him.
Bob and I are among them.
When Bill passed away, golf lost one of its great ambassadors.
But those of us who knew him lost something more personal.
A coach.
A mentor.
A friend.
Someone who believed in us before we had fully learned to believe in ourselves.
I have often thought about how different my life might have been had Bill Tindall not seen something in a 17-year-old kid from Palm Springs all those years ago.
There is no way to know.
What I do know is that I am profoundly grateful he did.
Thank you, Coach T.
For the opportunity.
For the lessons.
For pushing me when I needed pushing.
For helping me find my way.
And for showing all of us, through the way you lived, that achievement matters, but character matters more.
You changed my life.
I know I’m not the only one.
Coach. Mentor. Husky. Friend.
Forever a Citizen of the Game.
Scott Morrison
Co-Founder, RADMOR