From the hearth - Three subjects and three differences of learned opinion.

1. Split the Difference

"There's a vast difference in trying to win a tournament and making the cut.' Ben Crenshaw, quoted in The Dallas Morning News, March 3, 2001

"The margin between winning by fifteen and missing the cut is not as big as people think." Jesper Parnevik, remarks during press conference, February 8, 2001

Who's right? Both are; eye of the beholder stuff, merely a matter of interpretation. Ben is fast approaching elder statesman status. He can afford to be reflective or if you prefer, honest. Having crossed the chasm he can look back with relief knowing he won't have to do it again.

Jesper, on the other hand, is in a very different place and cannot afford the luxury. As long as he has to tee it up with Tiger, even a triumphant win like Pebble Beach must necessarily go into the books - and stay there. Done. Over with. Move along. On to the next stop and the next shot.

Even the amateur recognizes the danger of intimidation and idolatry, and it did seem players sounded like they were talking themselves out of cracking Tiger. No stranger to the mental game, Jesper knows the value of positive perception. Expressing it openly just lays the groundwork, buttressing the private ruse of ego necessary to succeed. Anything less would be an admission of defeat. Maybe the margin is not as big as people think. Maybe, it's bigger. Look down and the footing suddenly gets very slippery.

"Who's the best?" the media can ask (was it in "The Right Stuff") The answer had always better be (with just the right blend of modesty and sincerity - at least in golf): "You're looking at him." Joe Durant only demonstrates just how far the leap of faith can take you. Whether recent events dent Tiger's perceptive armor will be addressed at The Masters.
2. Ball Buster

"I suppose every generation says new stuff ruins the game. But the one thing we don't really change is the golf courses we play unless you are trying to build new courses to suit the golfer's game. "How are we going to go back and rebuild St. Andrews? How are we going to rebuilt Carnoustie? Muirfield? How are we going to rebuild the Pebble Beaches? Oak Hills? Oakmonts? You don't go rebuilding those golf courses just to suit the equipment. You really have to keep the equipment so the golf course plays. And I think that's very sad." Jack Nicklaus, quoted in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, March 2, 2001

"The discovery of a ball that flies considerably further would be a menace to the game of golf. It would immediately make all our holes the wrong length." The Manchester Guardian, 1901. From The Hole is More than the Sum of the Putts.

What are we to say of progress? As if it were listening. Club designer Tom Wishon contends modern equipment is very, very close to reaching the ceiling, that technology has taken us nearly as far with respect to a club hitting a ball as we can go. The above testimony adds perspective to the discussion, and perhaps even refutes the current limits. In other words, the sky remains the limit, the rules notwithstanding.

After all, once train travel was cutting edge and it was a long time before Man got around to inventing the second, let alone to needing the nano-second. Old Tom Morris and Alan Robertson nearly came to blows over the evolution of the ball. We have to accept that controversy is an ancient and ever-present force in golf. The bigger question is whether the game we play today bears any resemblance to the game played with the featherie. [I hope the answer is yes. So should it always be.]

The fact is golf could not have flourished without a cheaper and better ball. The skilled player has always led the charge. After watching his opponent play a practice round with the new Haskell ball, Sandy Herd, one of the game's best, tried one. "That was the end of the guttie for me," he said later. Will the game be the same 100 years from now? In the face of near constant change that seems unrealistic. Anyway, the genie is long out of the bottle. With any luck, Jack's dire forecast will be resolved long after we're gone. I agree, though. It is sad.

Again both men are right and if anything at all, the new Titleist V1 only goes to show that the slope is perhaps now slipperier than ever before - even with rubber spikes. As long as humans are involved, however, golf will remain as illusive as a boy chasing a butterfly. This should be some consolation.
3. Video Clips

"My key to my students once they get the three-wood and driver in their hands is to leave the peg in the ground. . . .I suggest very strongly that you try to leave the peg in the ground because for every degree you strike down you lose ten yards, two degrees twenty yards." Bob Toski, quoted in his 1999 video Hall of Fame Golf Fundamentals.

"Here's another of Harvey's great mental images. When you hit your driver, don't think about hitting the ball. Instead, merely think about clipping the tee. Try it. Don't hit the ball, just clip the tee. This will take the club straight through and you'll be pleased with the results." Dave Marr, quoted in Harvey Penick's Little Red Video, 1993.

Another variation on the theme of perception, this time from two eminent professors; again both cannot be refuted. Let the record reflect that the absolutes of the golf swing have not changed since Mr. Kincaid's journal of the 1680s, and surely efforts to internalize the swing predate his written attempts to explain it. All that's changed is the means of trying to divine the scientific truth - and high technology or not, would anyone contend that we're any closer to eradicating the slice as we are to eradicating the coca plant?

Here again the ironies, the incongruities, the differences of opinion and perception, all help make golf compelling. Frankly, with respect to instruction, sometimes the less said the better, which if you ask me was Harvey's true genius. An old concept it is too, and one that ideally remains golf's distinguishing mark, simplicity. -0-

A Dream Deferred

Richard Violette apparently did not receive enough entries to justify giving away his 18-hole Capital City Golf course in Augusta, Maine. (winamainegolfcourse.com) Golfweek reported that only about 1,000 people contributed essays; they came from "nearly" every state and Canada. The money is to be returned. Shoot.

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