The sly golfer sometimes chooses a landing strip, but in other recountings he heads for a frozen lake. He laughed and said yes, it was that over the years he’d heard it a number of different ways. In January 2005, while conversing with Ried Holien, a freelance writer in South Dakota whose articles appear in Golf News magazine, I brought up this yarn to ask if it was one he’d encountered.

I had always wondered about his anecdote because something about it didn’t ring right to me, but prior to my having had the chance to discuss the tale with someone knowledgeable about the stories golfers tell amongst themselves, I’d had no valid reason to dismiss it. Origins: In 1983, in Ottawa, Canada, an older gentleman who had been a golf pro told me the story recounted above.

Those three lads looked at one another, then at me, and said, “You win.” It flew straight down that runway, and when it came down it just bounced and kept going, and might even still be going to this day. There at the far end of one of the runways that wasn’t being used, I teed up and whomped that ball. I put them in my car and drove to Uplands Airport. You didn’t say anything about where we’d hold this contest, so I’m going to pick my spot. Then they looked at me and said, “What are you waiting for?” I said, “Well, I’m not doing it here. We walked over to the first hole, where one after the other the guys teed up and drove their balls for all they were worth. Now these three beefy younger guys who had arms as thick as tree trunks all thought I’d take a pass on this one, seeing as how I was at least 20 years older than any of them and as scrawny as an old rooster, but I said, “Sure, sure include me in.” They looked me up and down like I’d lost my mind, but then exchanged that “We’ll just humor him” look among themselves as we all headed out to the course. When I was the golf pro at, me and the pros from three other clubs were at the clubhouse bar one evening shooting the breeze, and at one point one of them suggested we should have ourselves a little contest to see who was the best golfer, or at least who could drive a ball the farthest.

Jack hamm golf driver