News
The Eye of the Beholder
"Some men see things as they are and ask 'why'? I dream things that never were and ask, 'why not?'"
-- George Bernard Shaw
We caught a little grief, and rightly so I think, for The Golf Guru's comments about playing colored golf balls in the April issue (page 78):
*"Is it ever okay for a man to use a colored golf ball?" asked Hugh Hencken of Orlando.
"Sure, when you play miniature golf with your kids," said the Guru. *
Which did not sit well with several readers, including Marshall Taylor of Mebane, N.C.: __"I am approaching 77 years of age and am enduring the trials, tribulations, aches and pains of old age. Yet I am still trying to enjoy the game of golf. My eyesight is failing, I can no longer follow the flight of a Pro V-1 into the gray winter sky or locate it on the light tan color of the dormant grass in the fairway. Heaven forbid trying to spot that little white sphere in the white sand of a bunker. My solution: hunt down a ball that I can see! After visiting several stores, I was able to locate and purchase a box of 15 optic yellow Top Flite XL balls. Problem solved!! Then I read in the April Golf Digest Grillroom column that the answer given to when 'can a man use a colored golf ball' is 'when you play miniature golf with your kids.' Wow! Poor me!
"If that's not bad enough, in the Golf World magazine of March 16th, the Equipment article states '...because golf balls are the most indecipherable piece of equipment in golf. They're round, dimpled and white (unless you're Paula Creamer, who on occasion, goes pink.)' I ask you: Of what value, at any price, is a round, highly researched, heavily marketed, white ball if I can not hit it, follow it, find it and hit it again??" __
Right on, Marshall. If you find your golf ball faster because it's optic yellow, more power to you, slow play being the cancer that's eating our game. You should know you have an ally in Lou Shapiro of Rumson, N.J., who wrote this comment about his dad's preference for yellow balls: "__ I feel like this is a letter I have to write, since I know my dad would have. My father was killed in an auto accident in October of last year on his way to visiting me in N.J. from Florida. He loved the game, was colorblind, and used a yellow ball. For him the yellow ball against the green of the course offered the best contrast allowing him to follow his shot and never slow down play."
__Guys, I have to agree with you. Who cares what color the ball is? "What'd you make?" is the only question that matters on the golf course, or maybe "How come it took you so long?" I guess it all depends on how you look at it.
--Bob Carney