My Shot: Samuel L. Jackson

I move it out there pretty good, 270 to 280. Not super long, but definitely longer than average. I was in the group ahead of Corey Pavin at the Hope one year and looked back to where he hit his drive. I was longer. As long as Corey is around, when someone asks if I hit it as far as a tour player, I can honestly say, "Yeah, no problem."

I'm privileged to get to play a lot of outstanding courses. This year I played Winged Foot and then Merion before the U.S. Amateur. I'd heard that it's too short to have a U.S. Open, so I thought I'd cruise around there pretty good. But Merion was maybe the hardest course I've ever played. The rough was brutal, the greens were firm, and those wicker baskets they have instead of flags don't tell you which way the wind is blowing. A couple of weeks later I played at Glen Abbey outside Toronto, the same course where Tiger hit that beautiful 6-iron from a fairway bunker to beat Grant Waite in the Canadian Open. "What do you think of the rough?" they asked. "What rough?" I said. "I just came from Merion." The course seemed easy. I shot 81 from the tips.

I tried to re-create that 6-iron Tiger hit. Unfortunately my ball didn't even reach the water, let alone get over it. So I went with a 4-iron, and this time, splash. I was making progress. Eventually I got a club I could reach the green with. I don't mind telling you, it took a 5-wood. That dude is unreal.

I love to sign autographs for kids but insist they say "please." At the AT&T this year, I found myself near the ropes by a large group of kids, all of them waving their programs for me to sign. But I don't hear "please," so I figure it's time to enforce the rules. I announce loudly, so the whole gallery can hear, "What are you supposed to say?" The kids don't answer, they just continue waving the programs. I repeat myself, this time more sternly: "What's the magic word?" Still no answer. I'm ready to walk away when one of the bigger kids, with a look of total frustration on his face, starts mumbling loudly. Then it hits me: These kids were from a local school for the deaf. They're on their annual field trip. As the adults shot me looks, I started signing and didn't stop until our group fell a hole behind.

Five years ago, a family asked if they could take a picture of me next to their small child. The next year the same family asked me to do it again. We've done this every year for five years now, and I hope they plan to keep going. It's nice to know I look better than a height chart on a doorway.

'The rules are fair. All except one: Rule 13-4 won't let me move a rock from behind my ball in a bunker. That stinks, being penalized twice for hitting your ball into a hazard.'

Given the opportunity, I could have been as successful at golf as I am at acting. I might not have become Tiger Woods, but you'd recognize my name. See, I've always been athletic. I was an only child and became accustomed to doing things alone — golf is a great game for those who enjoy being alone. I've always been able to concentrate. The thing is, it wasn't my destiny. I grew up poor in Tennessee. In our neighborhood we used a Quaker Oats box for a football and a rock wrapped in newspaper for a baseball. There was no way a kid could play golf, even though a golf course was a couple of blocks from my house. When I took up the game, I fell in love with it immediately and improved quickly. I was almost 50 years old. What if I'd started 40 years earlier? Who's to say?

There are some very basic reasons we aren't seeing more minorities excel at this game. Reason No. 1: Slam dunks and end-zone celebrations are first up on the highlight reels on ESPN. No. 2: There are more basketball hoops on urban playgrounds than there are holes in the ground. No. 3: Golf balls cost $50 a dozen, and that's just for starters. No. 4: It's easier to get a golf scholarship to Jackson State than it is to Oklahoma State, and it's obvious which school is going to produce a better higher education in golf. No. 5: The caddie yard is just about gone, and if it's a black caddie yard, that might be a good thing.

I hear of people having these golf dreams that are very frustrating. They keep swinging at the ball and missing, stuff like that. My golf dreams are fantastic. My favorite — and I might have it tonight because I'm talking about it now — is where I play the most incredible individual holes from different courses in succession within the same setting. The 18th at Pebble Beach is followed by the 10th at Winged Foot, followed by the 14th at Shinnecock. But it's all the same golf course. It's like heaven.

Best golf movie ever: "Dead Solid Perfect." It got me started playing golf. I can't say much for the rest of them. The irony of the bad golf movie is, the directors usually understand what real golf is about. Ron Shelton, who directed "Tin Cup," is a good golfer and knowledgeable. But the directors tend to view golf as secondary to the plot, which has to appeal to people who don't play golf. They assume the serious golfers in the audience will forgive the golf stuff and focus on the plot.