THE USGA has announced the sites of two championships -- the 1998 U.S. Mid-Amateur and the '99 Senior Amateur.

The 18th Mid-Amateur will be played Oct. 3-8, 1998, at NCR Country Club in the Dayton, Ohio, suburb of Kettering. The 45th Senior Amateur is scheduled for Sept. 13-18, 1999, at The Oregon Golf Club in West Linn, Ore.

Jane Geddes won the only USGA championship played at NCR. That was the 1986 U.S. Women's Open when she won for the first time as a professional, defeating Sally Little in an 18-hole playoff.

Since then, NCR has embarked on a five-year program to fine tune both of its Dick Wilson-designed courses. Most of the bunkers on both courses have been resculpted, greens have been recontoured and some fairways have been remolded as well. In addition, the clubhouse was virtually razed and rebuilt.

In addition to the Women's Open, the 1969 PGA Championship was played at NCR with Raymond Floyd edging Gary Player by one stroke.

This year's Mid-Amateur will be played at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md., followed by Hartford (Conn.) Golf Club in 1996 and Dallas Athletic Club in '97.

The Oregon G.C., opened just 2 1/2 years ago, was designed by Peter Jacobsen and Ken Kavanaugh. Located in the Portland suburbs south of downtown, the club was the site of the 1994 NCAA Women's Championships; Arizona State's Emilee Klein won the individual title and ASU took the team title.

The Pacific Northwest Amateur will be played at The Oregon G.C. in mid-July, with defending champion Eldrick (Tiger) Woods headlining the field.

Preceding The Oregon G.C. as sites of the Senior Amateur are Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., in 1995, followed by Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, Mass., in '96, Shadow Creek Golf Club in North Las Vegas, Nev., in '97, and Skokie Country Club in Glencoe, Ill., in '98.

STATE TEAM EVENT GETS THE OKAY

THE USGA has decided to put a competitive edge on its Centennial celebration.

This fall, the USGA will conduct men's and women's State Team Tournaments as part of the USGA Centennial. The tournaments will be held Oct. 26-28 in Orlando, Fla., with the men playing at Lake Nona Golf Club and the women at the Lake Buena Vista Club.

State and regional golf associations will select the three-player teams, and the format will follow that of the Women's World Amateur Team Championship. Each player will play 18 holes on each of the three days, and the two best scores daily will count toward the team total. In the event of a tie for first place, the teams involved will play off hole-by-hole, with the team's two best scores counting, until a winner is determined.

Under the Rules of Amateur Status, expenses for the players may be paid by the state and regional golf associations.

NOW THIS IS A HAZARD

YOU'VE SEEN IT in all the ads -- vacationers having the time of their lives on a cruise ship, sunning themselves, feasting on countless buffets, hitting golf balls off the back end of the ship into the ocean blue.

Golf and cruising will take a slightly different tack this month when Royal Caribbean Cruise Line sends its newest vessel, the 1,808-passenger Legend of the Seas, on its maiden voyage. The cruise line plans to take some 6,000 square feet on one of its outdoor decks to build a miniature course to be named Legend of the Links.

Unlike most miniature courses, this one will not be bordered by wooden bumpers. Instead, each hole will be surrounded by rough in an attempt to duplicate the actual golf experience as much as possible. "We've literally shrunk the proportions and topography of a normal golf course and created grasses . . . foliage and other features unique to the terrain in famous golf countries," said Rod McLeod, an executive with the cruise line. "About the only thing we don't have room for are caddies."

Every golfer has, at one time or another, played in inclement weather, and that'll be possible at Legend of the Links as well. Or, a glass dome over one of the ship's swimming pools can also slide over and cover the course.

They plan to make it like no other miniature course, complete with sand bunkers and water hazards. Water hazards? On a course that moves? Where -- hurry up and putt before that wave hits! -- one really bad putt that rolls right off the deck might force you to drop in . . . where? . . . San Juan?

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER

HASN'T every golfer stood on a tee, looked over the hole and mumbled to the other players in the group, "Who designed this monstrosity?" or words to that effect?

Well, if you think you can do better, Harvard University's Graduate School of Design has the summer school for you. It's offering five courses related to the planning and design of golf courses and resorts. The two-day programs are scheduled between July 31 and Aug. 10, and instructors include Geoffrey S. Cornish and Robert M. Graves, along with architects, environmentalists, and golf development consultants. Information is available from (617) 495-4731.

Now, how do I start this bulldozer?

TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT

IF HANK KETCHUM modeled his Dennis the Menace cartoon after a real-life kid, we saw him this spring at a PGA Tour event. He stationed himself behind the scorer's tent at the 18th green, and it didn't take long to see he was going to be a security guard's worst nightmare.

First he positioned himself directly in the exit gate, which gave him a prime position for player autographs. He also took care of some of the competition; during lulls between groups, he'd carefully look into the knapsacks of the other kids, quickly grab a pen and then toss it under the grandstands.

Twice he was carried from the scoring tent, already well armed with fruit and soda from the player's hospitality area. When he wasn't sneaking under the ropes, trying to finagle a better view nearer the green, you felt certain he was at least thinking about yanking the wire from behind the hand-held television cameras as crews did player interviews.

During one quiet moment, a well-behaved and slightly older boy noticed the frustration and futility of the security guard and spoke rather candidly. "I don't feel sorry for you," he remarked. "He's my brother, and you only have to put up with him for four hours a day. I have to live with him."

STORY OF THE CENTURY (PART III)

I'M REMINDED of countless humorous incidents from my days working at the Milwaukee Country Club, where I was the bag room supervisor and caddiemaster back in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

One Wednesday, which was Ladies Day at the club, there was an interesting closest-to-the-hole event at No. 8, a rather short par 3. Manuel de la Torre and John Skemp, the head pro and teaching assistant, respectively, were stationed at the eighth hole that day.

As each woman approached the tee, she could place a bet as to whether she could get her shot closer to the hole than the pros. But to make things interesting, the pros would have to use her club.

Midway through the morning, one of the members approached the tee and placed a bet with John. She used her 3-wood, and hit a fine shot onto the green about 20 feet from the cup. John then teed his ball much higher than he usually would. He took the 3-wood, opened the face as much as he could, opened his stance and took an effortless three-quarters swing. The ball popped high into the air, landed softly on the green and disappeared into the hole.

When we in the bag room heard the news, we knew exactly what to do. The next morning, in the Milwaukee Sentinel sports pages, appeared the following listing:

Hole-In-One, John Skemp, Milwaukee Country Club, hole 8, 98 yards, 3-wood.

-- Steve Trattner

Chicago, Ill.

USGA WELCOMES NEW CLUB MEMBERS

THE USGA is offering enriched benefits to new member clubs, courses and qualified leagues and associations of 10 or more players during its Centennial celebration.

In addition to the standard benefits, new enrollees will also receive a Handicap Survival Kit, USGA Pace Rating System Manual, Fast Play Tape, and a Centennial Celebration Package for the annual dues of $100.

For additional information, or to join, call (800) 246-7967, or write to USGA Club Membership, P.O. Box 5000, Far Hills, N.J. 07931.

PROVISIONALS

WE INCORRECTLY reported in the March/April Journal that Roberto de Vicenzo was disqualified from the 1968 Masters when he signed an incorrect scorecard; he was not. Under the Rules of Golf, de Vicenzo was required to keep the score he signed for, a 4, instead of the 3 he actually made. That one stroke kept him out of a playoff.

Also, the "Great Amateur" article on Gene Littler in the January/February issue stated that Littler was the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Freddie Haas in 1945. Actually, Frank Stranahan did it a few years earlier.

NECROLOGY

JAMES D. STANDISH III, 64, a golf administrator in the 1960s and '70s, died earlier this spring. He was president of the International Association of Golf Administrators in 1974, and served as executive director of the Golf Association of Michigan from 1966 to '79. His father, James D. Standish Jr., served as president of the USGA in 1950-51.

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HARVEY PENICK, 90, was a legendary instructor who worked with many of the game's finest players, among them Masters champion Ben Crenshaw and former U.S. Open champion Tom Kite.

Penick, former head coach of the men's team at the University of Texas, taught at Austin (Texas) Country Club for nearly 70 years. After he and Bud Shrake authored the Little Red Book, in 1992, it sold more than 1 million copies to become the best-selling sports book of all time. In '93 they wrote another million seller, And If You Play Golf, You're My Friend, and a third book, For All Who Love the Game, was released last month.

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LAWRENCE LEVY, 47, was one of the world's best-known and well-respected golf photographers.

He lived in London, where he owned a stock photo agency, Yours In Sport. He shot, catalogued and supplied photos of players, courses and championships and, at one time or another, his work appeared in virtually every major golf publication.

Since the mid-1980s Levy was the primary photographer for the U.S. and British Open annuals. Along with photographer Brian Morgan he published Tours and Detours in 1987.

Before his involvement in photography, Levy studied course architecture under Desmond Muirhead and worked on the construction of Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.

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JOHN R. (JACK) McDERMOTT, 66, enjoyed a diverse career in publishing, both as an editor and writer. A longtime member of Winged Foot Golf Club, he produced successful journals for the club's 1974 and '84 U.S. Opens, and the first U.S. Senior Open in 1980. As the director of the special services division of Golf Digest/Tennis, Inc., he headed the team that produced the first Masters Journal for Augusta National Golf Club, in 1990. McDermott had joined Golf Digest in 1982 as its executive editor after working at Sport, Signature and Life.

DECLARE YOURSELF A WALKER!

THERE'S no doubt we're a more mobile society than we were 20 years ago. Roads leading to more and more of our major cities are clogged before 7 a.m. We can do a morning full of errands -- pick up the dry cleaning, buy groceries, do the banking -- without leaving the car. We won't even walk into the joint to buy a hamburger.

In this country, golf courses, one after another, have jumped on the bandwagon of trying to conserve human energy. But now, in an attempt to return the game back to its traditional nature, the USGA has initiated a campaign to increase the number of golfers who walk.

"We strongly believe that walking is the most enjoyable way to play golf and that the use of carts is detrimental to the game," said David B. Fay, executive director of the USGA. "This negative trend needs to be stopped now before it becomes accepted that riding in a cart is the way to play golf."

In conjunction with Golf Digest magazine, the USGA has published a free booklet, A Call to Feet: Golf is a Walking Game. In it the merits of walking, as well as the myths of golf carts, are explored in detail. (The booklet is free by calling (908) 234-2300.)

Many clubs throughout the country have a walking-first policy, or one that makes it optional, and they've recently been joined by another prominent addition, Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort & Country Club. In early March, walking and carrying your own bag became optional on four of the property's seven courses -- Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5. (Walking is still permitted on the famed No. 2 course, but only with a caddie.)

"It's doing great," said a member of the golf shop staff. "It's not slowing down play at all, and the courses are still packed. Thursday through Sunday it's non-stop all day long. Granted, the policy hasn't been in effect all that long, but I haven't heard one negative comment yet."

Although the majority of U.S. clubs and courses have no policy regarding the mandatory use of a cart, more than 1,000 do.

The USGA is providing its Members with the first opportunity to support the program. For no additional charge, a USGA Member may upgrade his membership to that of a USGA Walking Member. Members electing to do so should sign the declaration on this page and return it to the USGA, whereupon the USGA will issue an additional bagtag that identifies the person as a Walking Member.

Additional information is available by calling (800) 223-0041.