Just yell Fore!

Before we get too far from Thanksgiving . . . .

“It’s the only game I know that you can call penalty on yourself, if you’re honest, which most people are. There just ain’t no other game like it!” —the boy Hardy Greaves in The Legend of Bagger Vance

SOMEONE once said the best movie about golf was Caddyshack, and the worst movie about golf was Caddyshack II. Some of us, though, still can’t keep a dry eye through a whole screening of The Legend of Bagger Vance. It may be the perfect golf movie. From beginning to end. (Don’t get us started on that awful Kevin Costner flick.)

Golf lends itself to great stories, because there is so much to learn from it. As the man said, you can’t win at golf, you can only play it. While juiced-up pitchers are throwing oiled-up baseballs by corked bats, and wide receivers are catching deflated footballs with Stickum-covered hands, a golfer in a tournament will ask if moving a stick will improve his lie. And call a penalty on himself if his caddy packs too many clubs. This is a sport of ladies and gentlemen. It cannot be otherwise.

Better yet, it can also teach people to be ladies and gentlemen.

Back in the 1990s, The First Tee was all the rage nationally. And deservedly so. Its whole purpose was to teach character, values and healthy lifestyles to kids through the game of golf. And although not necessarily focused on any particular demographic, First Tee very much wanted to get kids involved in the sport who otherwise might never pick up a club—particularly girls and youngsters in certain minority groups. According to the paper, a couple of decades ago local philanthropist, finance expert and general all-around good guy Jack Stephens gave The First Tee of Central Arkansas $5 million in seed money to get that outfit up and running. Call it money well given.

And even that money wouldn’t be the end of it. The Stephenses and other private donors have had to give millions more over the years to keep the First Tee course open and available. Little Rock’s city government has contributed over the years as well. Which brings us, finally, to this week’s news: On Tuesday, the city’s board of directors approved the money to keep the course open the rest of the year—about 160K for the next few months.

“All of us want to try to make this city better,” said Dean Kumpuris, a city director. “And the only way to do it is through public-private partnerships.” Like this one.

The local course for First Tee of Central Arkansas is a nine-hole “championship” course, and its driving range is consistently mentioned as one of the top 100 for public courses. And for $250, a kid can get a year’s worth of golf there. (For our non-golfer readers, $250 for 12 months of golf is laughably inexpensive. You can spend more than that on an average putter.) And, on top of hints about how to get out of a sand bunker, the outfit teaches honesty, courtesy, respect, sportsmanship and judgment, among several others. We’ll bet these kids would never drive a cart on a green.

WE APPLAUD the many private donors to First Tee over the years, and the years to come. Also, many thanks to the city directors who continue to support First Tee with city money. We the People want our tax dollars to go to where they’re used best—and can anybody think of a better way to keep kids off the streets than by keeping them on the course? Where they not only learn about golf, but about life. How to handle it, how to handle adversity, how to handle success. How to avoid stepping into somebody’s line. How to let somebody play through. How to forget about a double bogey on the last hole. How to replace a divot. How to stay by the green to watch your opponent hole out. How to shake hands after the round. How to pursue the perfect shot.

Fix your eyes on Bobby Jones. Look at his practice swing. Almost like he’s searching for something. Then he finds it.

Watch how he settle this up, right into the middle. Feel that focus.

He’s got a lot of shots to choose from. Duffs and tops and skulls. There’s only one shot that’s in perfect harmony with the field. One shot that’s his . . . authentic shot.

That shot is gonna choose him. There’s a perfect shot trying to find every one of us. All we got to do is get ourselves out of its way … and let it choose us . . . .