Pained By His Passing

Golf Needs More Players Like Payne Stewart Who Enjoy a Good Time

By NiceBallz.com

You're going to start hearing more about Payne Stewart in the coming weeks and months. The 10-year anniversary of his untimely passing will be marked this October and the PGA Championship will be played next month at Hazeltine National Golf Club where Stewart won his first U.S. Open. His memory will be justly covered in many articles noting his impact on the game, and the legacy he's left behind.

Payne Stewart represented a great deal of what we love about golf. He was a character, and had character. Just as importantly he had the game to back it all up with one of the prettiest swings of all time.

Before there were big belt buckles, outrageous colored pants (aside from those in the '70s) and players who paired great fashion with a great game - there was Payne.

He was someone who took the game seriously, but not himself.

When he died, NiceBallz co-founder Hack was living in South Dakota. While at work he heard the news about Payne's plane flying like a ghost ship through the sky. The hours passed and sadly it was obvious that the outcome was inevitable. Stewart's plane crashed just a few hours from where Hack sat at work.

He was one of our favorite golfers. A man who liked to have a good time. A family man. A champion. And a man who had style to go with his game was gone.

We're not ones for huge servings of sentimentality - but we are planning to sport some headgear that we think Payne would approve of when we play in October in some small tribute to the man. We'd wear the knickers but we don't have the game to back it up.

-NiceBallz The guys at NiceBallz appreciate a good character and golfers who don't take themselves too seriously. Follow more of their style advice and antics at http://blog.niceballz.com or on Twitter or Facebook.