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Inside the world of golf’s break-out star of 2011, Ben Crane

 

Photo Caption : Ben Crane

Given his reputation as one of the slowest players on the PGA Tour, there’s a none-too-subtle irony in the fact it only took one minute and eleven seconds to elevate Ben Crane to super-stardom. 

That’s the length of his hilarious spoof work-out video which appeared on the video-sharing website YouTube late last year and which has since been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

Dressed in a tight red spandex gym suit, matched with pink ankle socks and a black luge helmet, the clip shows Crane demonstrating a host of off-beat exercises using self-made, self-named gym aids, including the ‘Snake Shaker’ and the ‘Sledge Wand’.

He deadpans his way though hilarious explanations of his routine – “I just experience the zone” – whilst, at different points, struggling to balance between three gym balls and sparring against himself.

Unusual? Yes. Unexpected? Most definitely. So what prompted the 35-year-old three-time PGA Tour winner to make the video? As with most sparks of genius, it happened almost by accident.

“One of my friends was turning 50 a couple of years ago and a few of us were asked to make a 90-second video about what being a friend means to us,” explains Crane, in an exclusive telephone call from his home in Oregon.

“So, I sat down in front of the camera and listed off all these great qualities that he had but, when I watched it back, I stopped it 30 seconds in because it was the most boring thing I’d ever seen in my life.

“I figured I’d have to come up with something else. I talked about it with another friend and we decided that, if I was going to do something, I’d have to cross the line and do something that no-one else was going to do.

“My friend, though, was skeptical as to whether or not I could be the guy that does something like that, so I told him to turn the camera on and I ended up making this really stupid dance video.

“We tidied it up a bit and showed it to a few people who couldn’t stop laughing when they saw it. I mean, full-on belly laughs. Because of that, we thought, ‘Hey, maybe we should start making some more of these videos’. My coach and trainer, Greg Rose, said, ‘You know, people are always asking how tour pros work-out’ and I was like, ‘Alright, let’s do it.’”

The largely ad-libbed clip was filmed at Crane’s home club in Dallas, Texas, and later shown to his biggest critic: his wife, Heather.

“Heather’s not the sort of person to give you a charity laugh,” he says. “So when she said it was genuinely funny, we knew we were onto something.”

The rest, of course, is history. The video was uploaded to YouTube and its massive popularity has spawned a further four clips, three of which have launched, with the remaining one due to go online in the next few months.

Crane says that he never expected to become a viral internet smash hit.

“I figured some people would find it funny,” he says, “but I never realised how many people actually use YouTube or stuff like that. Some of the other guys on tour have even quoted lines from my clips back to me when we’ve been paired together. It seems like, wherever I go, I get people coming up to me wanting to talk about the ‘Snake Shaker’ or the outfit or whatever. It’s nuts.”

It will also make a pleasant change from discussing his reputation as a slow player, an issue which spectacularly came to light after an unsavoury incident at the 2005 Booz Allen Classic.

Frustrated by the amount of time Crane was taking to play, his playing partner Rory Sabbatini snapped, played out of turn and marched to the back of the 17th green to wait for Crane – who was in contention for the tournament at that point – to play his approach.

Sabbatini, of course, came off worst from the incident. Commentating for

CBS at the time it happened, Paul Azinger described the South African as having “gone psycho” and he was subsequently voted “Least favourite player to be paired with” in a magazine poll of PGA Tour players later that year.

Still, the incident didn’t do Crane any favours either and, ever since, where his name has been mentioned, Rory Sabbatini’s hasn’t been far behind.

“I didn’t actually realise I was that slow until I got on tour and, all of a sudden, they were timing me,” he says.

“It kind of caught me by surprise and it’s been a tough road, for sure, but I’m trying hard to get better. It’s something that I not only need to do but want to do, too.

“Before, I used to watch my playing partners hit their shots but now I just get ready to play my shot when it’s my turn.

“And my routine, okay, so it’s not as fast as, say, Rory McIlroy’s, but that’s fine. It’s all about staying ‘on task’ and being ready to play when it’s your turn and I feel I’ve definitely improved in that area.”

Although he suspects he might not have been beaten with the slow play stick so often had he been a multiple major-winner – “Look at Jack Nicklaus; he was a slow player but you never hear that mentioned” – Crane accepts his reputation with good humour and, no surprise, one of his videos tackles the matter head-on. “I’m working on it, it’s just going to take a bit more time,” he deadpans in the clip, adding: “There are some things that are quick about me. Like, when someone insults me, I quickly feel bad about myself.”

Just like the work-out video, this particular clip was a massive hit. “One of the referees who has put me on the clock quite a few times came up to me at a tournament and said, ‘I have to say, I saw your slow play video and I

There’s much more to Ben Crane than just funny video clips and golf, however. He is also a devout Christian who credits his faith for the success that he has enjoyed on tour up to now.

“I feel like God has given me a gift and I want to use it to the best of my ability to glorify him,” he explains. “I feel like I’ve been put in this position where people like my job or my videos or whatever, and it’s really up to me to steward what God has given me.

“There’s no question in my mind that my faith has made me a better golfer. For example, when I missed the cut at the Masters this year, I didn’t look on it with regret. I used it as an opportunity to grow.

“I think it’s a big advantage for me to have peace in my heart when things don’t go that well, to have a higher calling, a bigger perspective on life.

“Put it this way, I wouldn’t be on the PGA Tour if I didn’t walk with Jesus.

It would mean too much to me. It would stifle or squash the gift I’ve been given.”

Crane bats away suggestions that a requirement to work on Sundays contradicts the teachings of Christianity – “I believe the Bible is all true and nowhere in there does it say you have to go to church every Sunday” – whilst he also suggests that American golfers are more forthcoming about their religious beliefs than their counterparts in Europe.

“In America, you find that the guys are a little more open with their faith,” he says. “They’re happy to talk about it, whereas in Europe, it’s more like ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’”

It’s a point that’s difficult to argue with. Zach Johnson gave thanks to God when he won the Masters in 2007, acknowledging that doing so on Easter Sunday made the win – his first major – all the more special. Rickie Fowler, meanwhile, has gone on record as saying his favourite book is the Bible. European examples are much harder to come by.

Crane also reveals that he attends a Tour Bible study group for an hour every Wednesday night.

“If we’re playing any good, it’s not always possible to go to church on Sunday, so it’s good to be able to get that time of fellowship,” he says.

“There’s generally anywhere between five and 25 of us who attend and there are two chaplains who take it in turns to travel with us throughout the year.

“We do different things but, right now, we’re going through the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and comparing and contrasting them.”

Crane and his caddie also have different daily devotionals for each new round but, not surprisingly, he does have a couple of favourite verses which he says have a particularly special meaning to him.

“I like Ephesians 3:20. ‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine’. And I also like 2 Corinthians 5:17. ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”

Amateur filmmaker. Budding comedian. Devout Christian. And to think the only thing you knew about Ben Crane before now was that he plays slow

 

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Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered

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