Stanford Golf
Dear Friends of Hooked on Golf,
As some of you know, my roots are deep into the Stanford golf scene. My dad was a professor who loved the game an urged me on when I was in high school. I graduated from Stanford in 1954. I played on the golf team which won the NCAA Championship in 1953. I still play that glorious course to this day. For some reason, it seems to get tougher and tougher!
My golf team experience was special. In part it was competing in the shadow of the enormous achievements that preceded us. Lawson Little, Amateur Champion twice in the US and Britain, and winner of the US Open; Charlie Seaver who lost in the semi-finals of the Amateur or otherwise would have played Bob Jones at Merion in the finals of the grand slam year amateur, 1932; Bud Brownell, Warren Berl, Sandy Tatum, Bud Moe, Bob Rosburg and countless others that seemed to give a special aura to the pro shop, the course - the whole environment, particularly when Stanford was dominant just before World War II. We were trying to match their performances. We inherited the obligation to perform.
Later on, after we had our time, came some absolutely marvelous players, headed, of course, by Tom Watson and Tiger Woods. But Casey, Notah, Will, Winton, Magnussen, and many others that I wish I had space to include.
What has swept me off my feet recently is the ranking of the Stanford Golf Team as #1 in the country. Rankings are obviously suspect, as we learn in all other sports, except when one team is obviously dominant. Stanford is not there yet, so alumni from other schools will make their cases, no doubt with power and persuasiveness. But Stanford is at the top says the press, and most of the coaches.
And why not? In eight outings, five firsts, three seconds, and one fifth. That is dominating and thrilling.
I would invite you to decide for yourselves at the Stanford course on April 14th and 15th, a weekend, where this team will compete for the United States Intercollegiate Championship. Watch them play. See whether they can hold up in this impressive congregation of truly wonderful players. Admission is free. You can get up close and make your own assessment.
The team and Coaching Staff can be found at: http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-golf/mtt/stan-m-golf-mtt.html. Study this and then come out and introduce yourself. Or search me out and we shall walk with the best players at the event.
The Stanford team will obviously have a “home court” advantage. And with that edge, and a corresponding increase in pressure on each and every player, let’s see how they hold up.
See you there.
