‘He’s touched so many’: PGA Tour winner Ken Duke celebrates longtime coach, friend Bob Toski for 100th birthday

A life is measured by years, and within those years, by how that life uses the gifts it was given. Bob Toski turned 100 years old on Friday, and the five-time PGA Tour winner and PGA of America Hall of Fame member has lived to share his passion.

Born Sept. 18, 1926, in Haydenville, Massachusetts, Toski has been teaching professional and amateur golfers alike for the better part of 70 years. Outside of seeing him wearing his signature white hat, Toski’s students through the decades have counted on one thing: positivity.

This unconditional posture toward anyone and everyone has forever changed the careers of many touring pros – as Toski once was, and the Tour's leading money-winner in 1954 at that – and Ken Duke is among that company.

Duke first met Toski in January 2006 at a charity event his father-in-law invited him to at St. Andrews Country Club when he was living where Toski resides, Boca Raton, Florida. Following a bit of small talk and establishing that he had been a pro since 1994, Duke said Toski simply asked him to come pay a visit the next day. And it did not take long for the veteran teacher to alter Duke’s career trajectory.

“He changed the way I swing a golf club,” Duke said.

“I was born with scoliosis, so I still have a rod in my back. I told him that, and he understood why I was in an open stance and swung the golf club to the right. He wanted me to swing the golf club down the line of play. I never had any lessons, couldn’t afford it, whatever. But he just suggested that, then I won the Korn Ferry (Tour) money title that year 2006.”

At 44 years old, Duke had his breakthrough moment on the PGA Tour at the 2013 Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut, as he survived a two-hole playoff with Chris Stroud. And the stars aligned in more ways than one that Sunday in late June, as Duke’s first Tour victory came at the same tournament as Toski’s first 60 years earlier in 1953, when it was called the Insurance City Open.

Though Toski wasn’t able to be in attendance at TPC River Highlands, Duke said Toski called him the morning before the final round and boldly gave him something to aim for as he began the day trailing three co-leaders by three strokes, including 2010 Travelers champion Bubba Watson.

“I've been shooting in the high 60s, 67, 68 every day, and he said, ‘Can you shoot 66 today?’ I said, ‘Yes, sir, I can do that.’ He said, ‘Well, you'll win.’” Duke said. “Well, I shot 67 that day, and if I would have shot 66, I would have won outright.”

Toski’s ability to inspire self-belief has not been the fruit of using trendy teaching methods and fancy training aids but rather of simply equipping others with what they need to know. He treats pros like pros, Duke said, in that Toski expects them to be able to answer certain questions about the game and their individual games, in particular. But for every question a student does not have an answer for, Toski is there to provide one and convey it to be understood.

“The first thing he did, I had a strong grip, left hand. He did not want to change my grip. Same with Judy Rankin,” said Duke of the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame member and fellow Toski pupil. “She didn't know how to cut the ball. I didn't know how to cut the ball, either. So, he didn't change anything about our grip. He just explained to us how to do it because he’s been there and done it himself.

“One thing about his lessons, you don’t forget it.”

Sometimes he laid a two-by-four beside a golf ball and instructed Duke simply not to hit it on the through swing. Other times he debunked notions like big muscles are key factors in a swing, cementing rather that a golfer’s hands are the only connections they have to the club, and therefore the lifeblood of every swing.

The heart behind Toski’s craft has certainly driven his longevity in the game, and Duke said his mind is equally as potent at 100.

“He’s like the Energizer Bunny to be honest with you,” said Duke, who also won a PGA Tour Champions title at the 2023 Shaw Charity Classic. “I couldn't even start talking about or reciting all the awards that he's done and all the things that he's done.

“All I know is he’s touched so many professionals, teachers and so many amateur golfers. … I’ve had so many people come up to me and say, I took lessons from Bob back in ‘62 or ‘86 or whatever it was, and that's the thing. They remember him. They remember the white hat, the tam o’ shanter hat. They remember all that kind of stuff and his knowledge is unbelievable still.”

For everything he has given away and for every time he has redirected a player’s eyes to the positive, Toski is not someone who expects something in return. When Duke did ask if there was anything he could do for him, for a man who had “changed my life,” his coach had just one request: he wanted to play Augusta National Golf Club one more time.

Duke had qualified for his first of two career Masters after finishing in the top 30 on the 2008 PGA Tour Money List. However, as Duke recognized and any golfer knows, one cannot simply reserve a tee time at the famed course nestled within Georgia pines.

Hopeful of a trip being arranged, Duke said he called one of his friends, Danny Yates, a longtime member of the exclusive club who attended the first 78 playings of the Masters through 2014. Yates’ response? Yes, absolutely.

At 82 and in the lead-up to the 2009 Masters, Toski got his wish, and he got to enjoy it alongside one of his students and one of Augusta National co-founder Bobby Jones’ personal friends.

“Going down Magnolia Lane, Danny said, ‘Well, what do you think about Magnolia Lane?’ (Toski) said, ‘Well, I haven't been here since 1954. The trees have gotten a lot bigger,’” Duke said with a chuckle.

Of the many surreal moments of that round, Duke pointed out one in particular.

“We got to No. 10 at the top of the hill, Danny and I had already walked down to the bottom of the hill. (Toski) stopped,” Duke said. “I’m walking, you know, I’m just talking and soaking it in because that was the second time that I’ve been there, but he stopped and started looking up in the sky.

“(He) started talking to Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret, all those guys he used to play with. (He said), ‘Guys, I’m 82 years old. Look where I’m standing right now. I wish you were here with me.’

“I lost it. I just lost it. Finally, I ask what can I do for you. And that’s what he wanted.”

Toski is hosting his 100th birthday party Monday in Boca Raton, and Duke said he will be hopping on a red-eye flight after the PGA Tour Champions’ PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach to make sure he’s in attendance. Toski always has a theme, and this year his coach said he is going to tap-dance for his guests, Duke said.

“If he had room for a thousand (people), I guarantee it’d be a thousand there,” Duke said. “That’s just how many people he’s touched.”