Those of you who have helped send my children to college by buying one of my books probably remember reading about my friend Bo Links in the acknowledgments. He’s the individual who made it possible for me to share my golf stories with the world, and as long as I’m around, I’ll be grateful to him.

Bo is an example of what is best about golf, and that’s the people in it. I’m not talking about the great players on Tour, either. While they’re fun to watch, they’re not my heroes. My heroes in golf are the people who really make the game great, regardless of how well they play it.

For the last fifteen years or so, it’s been my good fortune to serve as a Committee Member in the United States Golf Association. As such, I’m only one of several hundred people across the country who have been asked by the USGA to serve the organization on a volunteer basis, all for the good of the game we love.

During that time, I’ve met countless numbers of wonderful people who make the game of golf what it is for all of us. Not just other Committee Members, but also staff agronomists who visit 200 courses a year to make them better for their players, Rules Officials who teach seminars to keep all of us knowledgeable about the Rules of Golf, and staff members who promote the game with championships, conferences, and other functions — all of these people are great to be around and inspire me with their good cheer and high values.

Best of all, that’s how I came to meet Bo Links. The USGA put us together several years ago to speak at the National Golf Course Superintendents meeting in Anaheim, California. Like me, Bo’s a lawyer (hey, it beats honest work), and the idea was for us to do a point-counterpoint on various legal issues, such as the Casey Martin case that was so hot at the time.

We hit it off immediately, like twins separated at birth. Only I don’t flatter myself as being like Bo; he’s got too many good qualities for anyone to confuse the two of us. First of all, he’s got an infectious personality that crackles with positive energy.Simply put, Bo’s the kind of guy who begins each day knowing that we only go around once, so make the best of it. As a result, he lives life to the fullest, and he has the same effect on everyone around him.

I had heard of Bo before we ever met. He had written a wonderful golf novel entitled Follow the Wind, and I had read it. I really liked the book, and told him so, probably more than once, after we met.Typical Bo: He turned my compliment into a challenge for me to write my own golf story.For some reason, he saw something in me that I hadn’t yet seen in myself.

So, with his constant encouragement, I wrote The Greatest Player Who Never Lived.It was released in March of 2000, and the whirlwind reception it received changed my life.

All because of Bo Links, whom I never would have met if it weren’t for golf.