I had always suspected that trying to play golf in the company of big-time pros and a gallery would be something like walking naked into choir practice.

Until Sammy Baugh - pro football in Texas was a one-paragraph story on the third page of the Monday sports section.

Baseball would be a better game if more third basemen got hit in the mouth by line drivers.

Much of the fire with him [Ben Hogan] was lit by Byron Nelson, who came from the same town - the same caddie yard - and achieved fame and fortune several years ahead of Ben and who, as a kid, had always been popular and better liked than Ben. No puzzle at all.

Regardless of what the tour pros think, golf is a rich and varied game, and what all of us awkward fools do on weekends is what golf is truly all about.

In a story, you have to have a theme and an angle, you have to have a beginning, middle and an end. You have to have a defining moment and kick it to death. You gotta be able to recognize that, by the way. It probably takes experience.

If a caddie can help you, you don't know how to play golf.