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Top players pick their shots
in stirring new golf book
By DAVID ZINMAN
of TheColumnists.com
"What's the greatest golf shot you ever made?"
That question was posed to the top players and recorded in an
intriguing new book called "My Greatest Shot" (HarperResource,
$19.95).
With the Masters teeing off Thursday (April 8), I thought this
was a good time to read the book by Ron Cherney, a golfing
dentist, and Michael Arkush, a sports writer.
Cherney wrote to the world's foremost players over a five-year-period
and collected
their replies. Arkush added career highlights and quotes from
the 80 whose responses were selected (out of the 130 who replied).
Some stories come from well-known figures familiar to the general
public. But the majorty of the tales are from lower profile
golfers. So this is a book of most interest to fans and people
who play the game. I think they will find it as fascinating as
I did.
Arnold Palmer, who compiled 62 career victories, said his best
shot was a three-wood that he left 20 feet from the pin on the
13th green in the final round of the 1958 Masters. He sank the
putt for an eagle.
"I needed that eagle," said Palmer. "I wound up
winning my first Masters by a single stroke over Doug Ford, the
defending champion, and Fred Hawkins." Palmer, now 74, will
play in his 50th straight Masters this week.
Jack Nicklaus, considered by many to be the 20th century's greatest
golfer, said it was too hard to pick one career shot. Among several
he mentioned was a four-iron and eagle putt on the 15th hole
of the last round of the 1986 Masters.
He went on to win the tournament at age 46, with his son, Jack,
caddying. Those were two reasons, Nicklaus said, that it remained
an "unforgettable moment in what I consider my most memorable
tournament victory."
Byron Nelson, who won a record 18 tour victories in 1945, talked
about the greatest shot he ever "saw." It came on the
final day of the 1935 Masters. Nelson, now 92, had pushed his
drive from the 17th tee toward the adjacent 15th fairway. Gene
Sarazen was playing there. So he waited for Sarazen and his gallery
to go by.
Trailing Craig Wood by three strokes and lying 220 yards from
the flagstick, Sarazen hit a perfect four wood and made his legendary
double eagle--called "the shot heard round the world."
Sarazen's two on the par five hole enabled him to tie Wood and
win in a playoff.
"I had a perfect view of his shot," Nelson said,"
and actually saw the ball go in the
hole."
The tales are wide-ranging in their dramatic impact. But they
are all worth reading to see what the players--especially veterans
like Gary Player, Greg Norman, and Sam Snead--singled out to
recapture a moment they remembered all their lives.
For me, the best stories came from a woman golfer and a lesser-known
male pro whose golden memory came when he was playing alone.
Donna Caponi, an outstanding LPGA player for two decades, recalled
a tricky five-foot downhill putt on the final hole of the 1969
U.S. Women's Open. She needed it to win and make this major tourney
her first pro victory.
Thousands lined the green
at the Scenic Hills Country Club n Pensacola, Fla. High up in
a tower Nelson described the hushed scene to millions watching
on television.
"If Donna makes this putt, it would win her the U.S. Open."
Nelson said. "It breaks right to left."
Caponi heard Nelson's whispered words as she stood over the ball.
She stepped back. She had read it left to right. How could Nelson,
probably the greatest golfer of his day, be wrong? Then, she
remembered her father's advice. "Go with your first instinct."
She got over the ball again and stroked it the way she had read
it. It rolled toward the hole and fell in.
Later, reporters asked her why she had stepped back. She told
them about hearing Nelson's commentary.
Someone pointed out that the TV camera was on the other side
of the hole. "Byron was reading the putt from the camera
angle the viewers were seeing at home," Caponi said. "Normally,
when a man like Byron Nelson speaks, you listen. Thank goodness
on this occasion, I went with my gut."
Notah Begay III, the most successful native American golfer,
described a shot he made far from the TV cameras. He was the
only one there when it happened.
Late one summer evening in New Mexico when he was 11 years old,
Begay decided to play nine holes. With the sun dipping below
the horizon, he hit a clean shot on a 160-yard, par three hole.
He lost its flight in the gathering darkness.
The ball wasn't on the green. Nor was it in sight anywhere nearby.
Finally, he went to the hole. There it was. He looked to see
if anyone was around who witnessed his ace. He was alone.
"In the long run, it didn't really matter," Begay said.
"That one shot is when the game of golf really captured
me for life. I realized its perfection, a perfection and purity
which I strive for to this day."
Begay's story sums up a theme running through the memories of
the golfers whose stories were published. They shared, the authors
said, a "deep unconditional love for the game and a realization
that, for one moment at least, these tremendous players had achieved
a perfection they chased for years."
©2004 by David Zinman. The Zinman caricature is ©2001
by Jim Hummel. The book cover illustration is courtesy of HarperResource.