OUR REGULAR GAME NO. 1

My father was an eternal optimist.  How else would you describe a 12-handicapper who carried a one-iron in his bag?  But that’s the way he was.  Even after spending over twenty years first as a state judge and then as a federal judge — and seeing the very worst in people who lied, cheated, and stole from one another and from the government, he somehow continued to see the sunny side of life.

          Golf can do that to people.  How else would you explain the incredible attraction of a game that disappoints you far more often than it rewards you?  This is a game in which one good shot, coming after a hundred bad ones, can put a smile on your face and give you a “can’t wait” attitude about your next round.

          So I’m proud and pleased to be able to make golf an important ingredient of the sports gumbo that Jon and Tommy bring you.  In the weeks to come, we’ll explore every angle of this wonderful game, from its important events to its mystical qualities.  We’ll even bring you a tip or two about how to lower your scores, whether from improving your putting or getting the right equipment that’s best suited to your swing.

          To get back to my point, my father’s one-iron was not unique.  More than any other sport, golf inspires us to reach beyond our capabilities.  That’s both a strength and a weakness.  The strength comes from pulling off that remarkably improbable one-iron over water to a tight pin tucked behind a bunker from 220 yards out.  A shot like that, which for most of us exists only in our dreams, brings a memory good for a lifetime of lockerroom conversations when it’s pulled off.  Of course, the bad part is that we’ll spend the rest of our lives trying to hit that shot again, only to put it in the water or the bunker.

          So which is it?  Do we try to pull off another miracle that is really beyond our abilities?  Or do we get smart and play within our limits, using course management to our advantage to take the easy par when birdie is really out of reach?  You know the answer for most of us: Laying up is for sissies.  As Roy McAvoy said in Tin Cup, “I didn’t come here to lay up.”

          So what is it about golf anyway?  How does it avoid the logical processes that our brains apply to every other endeavor?  What makes a really smart man like my dad, as well as millions of other smart men and women who can be logical and successful in every other aspect of their lives, think they’re Arnold Palmer when it comes to golf?  I don’t think we’ll ever really know.

          Maybe it’s as simple as Beau Stedman, the central character in The Greatest Player Who Never Lived, said.  “There just ain’t no feelin’ like hittin’ the ball in the middle of the clubface.”  Or, as one friend of mine says, “Hittin’ it solid is the second best feelin’ in the world — and gainin’ on the first one the older I get.”

          So I’ll be doing these features for those of you who live for that great feeling of the solidly-struck shot — no matter how rarely it occurs.  Those of us who’ve been there — even if just once — know that it’s our drug of choice, and a damned addictive one at that.

          I’ll also be doing this feature for those of you who haven’t played the game yet and so haven’t been hooked.  By sharing this wonderful sport with you, it’s my hope you’ll eventually get someone to take you out on a course.  Believe me, it won’t take you long to see why we love it so.  In fact, I’m willing to bet that, unless your IQ is lower than Tiger Woods’s Sunday scoring average, you’ll be on your way to your first set of lessons and that first set of golf clubs in a matter of days.

          So we’ll see you next time for our “regular game.”  Until then, may you answer every bogey with a birdie.

About the Author

J. Michael Veron is the acclaimed author of The Greatest Player Who Never Lived and The Greatest Course That Never Was. His third novel, tentatively titled The Caddie, is scheduled for release in the spring of 2002.

Mike's work has earned him the title of "master of fiction" from USA Today, and Travel and Leisure Golf Magazine has called him "The John Grisham of Golf." In addition, the New York Times hailed The Greatest Player as "Golf's Literary Rookie of the Year," and the Seattle Times ranked The Greatest Player as second on its all-time list of "Five Wonderful Golf Books." At one time, The Greatest Player and The Greatest Course were the first and third best-selling sports fiction in the country.

Please contact us for more information on Mike and his work.