Calvin Peete

This bipedal living being full of dreams, feelings and emotions (oops - I guess you all have those..) set up shots as he did when playing pool: walking around the ball to get the sight line, then lining it up with his body before he swings, and envisioning how to play important holes before the tournament. 'So when I get to, say, the 12th at Doral,' he said, 'I'm loose because I'm not worrying how to play it. In my hotel room the night before, I birdied the hole 18 times.'

This Peete fellow, who lost me only on rare occasions, was one of the few (although all the competent ones do) who realized the importance of planning & programming my flight or path prior to swinging the funny-looking stick.  That thought precedes action.  Funny: easy enough to do, yet in my experience (rather extensive) most of the befuddled linksters are far too preoccupied with other, less important details re improving my behavior on the golf course. 

Skin tint: Inapplicable. 



Isao Aoki



Aoki was introduced to golf while caddying at the Abiko Golf Club as a schoolboy and turned professional in 1964. He went on to win more than fifty events on the Japan Golf Tour, and in 1983, won the Hawaiian Open on the PGA Tour becoming the first Japanese player to do so. Aoki won a total of 71 times in his career on six different tours, and in 2004 became the first Japanese male golfer to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

The Golf Ball Speaketh: "Of interest (I guess - although I really don't care..) was that when this living soul (welcome to the club, readers) struck me with his flatstick - the goal being to roll me into the hole - he did it with the end or edge of the tool.  I believe this is called the 'heel' in homo sapien terms. 

He developed this 'toe-in-the-air' (you large-brained primates love to give things, and other living entities, names, labels & categories, don't you?) method many moons ago due to the fact that the implement was apparently too long for him... The miss-fit tool had a name (of course): 'The Silent Pawn.'

Per Aoki: 'It was too long for me, therefore I tried to put it far from my body.'

He changed putters (funny - or not: the humans will readily change the sticks in their golf bags, yet hold on for dear life to so many other concepts, stigmas and beliefs) throughout his career, but his idiosyncratic technique became his trademark - as did the number of times he sent me into the hole.

Aoki only interacted with me 63 times in the 1980 Open Championship (only nine others have accomplished this feat), and of course sent me directly into the hole from 130 yards or so away, to win that big event on the islands in 1983. 

Allow me to help you better understand what is essential (as opposed to the plethora of putting propaganda out there..) in the task of rolling me into the hole upon the finely mowed area of your beautiful third rock from the sun:

- I must begin my voyage in the desired direction.  I care not how you accomplish this (some of you draw lines on me as an option) job - yet if you send me initially off the track you've chosen, you will end up stroking me again at least one other time on that particular dance floor.

- I must be sent on my journey at an appropriate speed.  Again, you choose how to apply the force and speed to my backside, I've seen it all... Of note: I curve less the slower I'm rolling; but any of your toddlers can tell you that, right?

- You must have a good picture and plan in mind of what I'll encounter on my odyssey from Point A, to Point B, before commencing the motion.  Prior to climbing in and sealing yourself into those metallic shields like mollusks on wheels (I'm a big fan of Edward Abbey - who would have thunk it?) to go from one point to another, do you not have an inkling, a notion - a strategy - of how you wish to arrive?  I hope so, otherwise you've got no chance.  Alas, I can't assist you here - but the author of this missive sure can ;)

My word count is running low, so I'll add one further point re this mind/body/soul system (Aoki) born in the land of the rising son (honestly, where you are born, and into what you are born in, is of little to no interest to me..):

He came to most people's attention (what is grabbing your attention right now - and what action are you taking?) in the 1980 U.S. Open when he was paired all four days with arguably my finest handler ever, the Nicklaus boy. 

Aoki waited patiently (a desperately needed quality when you play with me) for his chance at glory.

'I kept telling myself that no matter how perfect he is, he will make a mistake in 72 holes in four days, but I was wrong. Jack did not make any errors until the end of the tournament.'

Aoki fell short, but learned from the experience."

Skin tint: Insignificant.


If that is not a lesson in and of itself, I don't know what is.
 

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