Reader Gary McCormick of San Jose, California, writes lovingly of Dan Jenkins.

Dear Mr. Jenkins, I just learned that you have a new book coming out. I have pre-ordered "The Franchise Babe" and am counting the days 'til it hits my doorstep.

Not that I get tired of re-reading "Dead Solid Perfect", "The Money-Whipped Steer-Job Three-Jack Give-Up Artist" (could you have made that title any longer?) or "Slim and None" mind you, but new words from your geezer-codger typewriter are always welcome, whether the subject is golf, football, sportswriting (I love Jim Tom Pinch), or just plain people.

I have to tell you (without taking through all 18 holes, so to speak) that you shaped my entry into the world of golf and have influenced my views and outlook on the game for over two decades....

Through your work I have come to know Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Bobby Jones and the rest of the varied panoply of the world of golf. I have especially come to admire and respect the life and career of Ben Hogan, whose dedication to the purity of the game is, I believe, second to none in the history of sport. The more I read your work, the more I regret my grandfather ever moved the family out of Texas!

Thanks for being there to educate and entertain us.

Gary, that move to California has nurtured your family. You've learned to share, to express your emotions and that's a good thing. But please don't call Dan a geezer-codger.

--Bob Carney

Like Bill Nicholson yesterday, Scott Houston didn't love the Dan Jenkins column, The Frank Lickliter Show, in the April issue:

Welcome to the Golf Digest show, where every month we review the pages to see if anything new has been discovered in the world of golf. I'm Sclaff McDivot, your host and today we'll start on page 98 because excluding the talented David Owen column, we have five pages of instruction that could appear in any volume of Golf Digest since it's inception, one useless Q and A etiquette page and 93 pages of advertising. So let's begin today's show with a review of The Frank Lickliter Show, which is not to be confused with this show, even though the writer of the Lickliter show is accomplished and will undoubtedly contribute another boring piece AFTER the Master's about stirring a martini with Gene Sarazen's famous four wood or how he watched the last hole in 1962 from the porch of Mamie's cabin while eatin' a bowl of chili he had flown in from Texas or better still, the day the great Hogan let him wear his hat for one hole in 1973 or anything equally boring.

So today's column is about...wait a second folks, I thought I underlined something funny or relevant or interesting in the column...well, I'll be, can't find a single line that captures the imagination or really makes sense.

Well, that's it for today's show, hope you'll tune in next month for another rousing time as we review this famous writer's next story..."How I turned a million dollars worth of golf stories, into twenty-five cents of nonsense."

Very clever, Scott, but so mean. Are you by any chance a member of the media?

--Bob Carney

Reader Mike Fiechtner writes to give thanks, for, among things, Dan Jenkins' "The First Masters I Covered" piece.

I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciated reading your article on golfdigest.com and hearing about your first experience of the Masters. I'm still waiting for my first and I'm not sure I'll get to experience it but it was nice to hear your impressions and descriptions. I can't even imagine how beautiful it is there. It definitely looks amazing on TV and I'm sure it's even more beautiful in person. How long do you plan on covering the tournament? Seems like you should have some sort of record like Arnold Palmer's 50 Masters. You got him beat by 6! Thanks again for the nice article! Have a great day and God bless, Mike

Mike, Dan says thanks, that he'll cover the Masters until they tell him he can't, and maybe a couple after that.

For more on the Masters (we're sure we're not the only ones already looking forward to the first major) check out our Masters countdown area, prepared in conjunction with Masters.org and ESPN.com, where we're bringing back stories like Dan's.

Happy New Year! And good luck getting to Augusta in April!

--Bob Carney