FOUNTAIN SPRINGS Golf Course manager Brian Chleborad tries to put a positive spin on the hazards that showed up one Saturday near the third hole. "How many courses in South Dakota have a used-car lot on a green?" he asks.

"Used" car is a euphemism. Two battered pickup trucks, a Chevrolet and a Ford, and an equally trashed Firebird guard the back of the green at Fountain Springs in Rapid City. A dilapidated Subaru station wagon greets golfers at the nearby fourth tee.

The junkers arrived Oct. 7, as the result of a land dispute turned weird, while two small tournaments were in progress. "If it wasn't so bizarre, I'd be mad," says Mark Simpson, whose family owns the course. "It's absolutely amazing. I go to town and people say, 'Aren't you the guy with the trucks on the green?'"

The Simpsons opened Fountain Springs three years ago on 40 acres of a 200-acre industrial park they also own. They hoped the course would attract office complexes to the light-industrial area. Fountain Springs is a regulation par-35, nine-hole course in the bottom of a broad valley at the edge of the Black Hills. A stream runs through it, and the Simpsons planted more than 1,000 trees to complement the natural wetlands.

Every neighbor welcomed the course -- except one. Part of the third green spilled onto adjoining property. Simpson negotiated an agreement with its owner to use the parcel. However, when Rapid City businessman Bruce Jacob bought the property, both landowners discovered the agreement was void. Simpson offered $5,000 for the 2,000 square feet of course that encroached on Jacob's land. Jacob wanted to sell a bigger parcel for $15,000. After a year and a half, negotiations stalled. Finally, Jacob deposited the junkers next to the property line, which ran through the rear of the green. "I thought this would probably bring the thing to a head," Jacob said.

It did. The wrecks attracted attention, but Jacob's strategy backfired. Local media picked up the story, and play at Fountain Springs increased 25 percent in a small town with six other golf courses. "People were curious," Chleborad says. They also were amused. "They want to know when we're adding windmills and a clown." And, yes, people have suggested filling the pickup beds with sand.

Clowning aside, there are no local rules for playing the wrecks. "Technically, they're out of bounds," Chleborad says. Simpson redesigned the green to reflect that. He installed a collar between the pickup trucks and the hole, then put a wooden fence along the property line, next to the junkers. He also complained to city officials, who ordered Jacob to move the vehicles. They aren't licensed, so they violate city ordinances. But as of early November, the pickups and cars were still in place.

Jacob says he is frustrated that Simpson won't negotiate. "I don't like to be a horse's butt about it, but I want to get it settled," he says.

Simpson says the issue is already settled. He spent $1,500 reworking the green, so now he doesn't even want to pay $5,000. He has other plans. "I've been getting some good publicity, so we're going to put a twist on it," Simpson says. "We're going to have a grand reopening of the third hole. It'll be a food drive. Bring a couple cans of food and play all day."

-- Bill Harlan

PERFECT FORE-CAST IN ANY WEATHER

EARLY evening sunlight streamed across the practice green; about three holes' worth of daylight remained, but the players milled around unconcerned about the dwindling playing time. They would not begin their rounds for another 30 minutes; it was no surprise the first tee of Pinehurst Country Club's No. 2 Course stayed wide open. When they finally started, seven players hit their opening drives simultaneously.

Trespassers bumping through the night? Hardly. These men weren't within a 12-hour drive of the Sandhills of North Carolina, yet they plundered the Donald Ross masterpiece with several sub-par rounds. And won cash for their efforts.

Welcome to the Greater Cleveland Professional Indoor Golf Championship, one of the few tournaments played anywhere in the world on video golf simulators. The third-year event is the brainchild of Charles Tremont, manager of Indoor Fairways Golf Club, nestled in a cluster of shops just a 3-wood from Interstate 271 on the city's east side.

The 10,000-square-foot facility houses nine simulators and is, according to Tremont, the country's largest simulator facility. Each machine offers the choice of 14 courses, including Bay Hill, The Belfry, Castle Pines, Firestone (South), Harbour Town, Mauna Kea and Troon North. When the weather is nasty outside, the 2,200-some rounds Indoor Fairways logs monthly are played in 72-degree conditions.

"You always have a good lie, that's number one," Tremont said, ticking off advantages simulator players enjoy. There are no lost balls -- even when one splashes into a pond -- or scuff marks from cart paths or trees. On the other hand, there's no way to feel the breeze and depth perception is tough -- especially if you haven't played the course.

Most of the Greater Cleveland Indoor's competitors had never seen No. 2, site of the 1999 U.S. Open and last year's Senior Open. Jim Wise, an assistant pro at Shaker Heights Country Club, spends his winters giving lessons at Indoor Fairways and has toured No. 2 about a dozen times on the simulator's 10-foot-by-12-foot screen. That may explain how he could bogey the first hole, then play the next four holes in six under par with back-to-back eagles at the 335-yard third (sand wedge from 60 yards) and 547-yard fourth.

"The thing about [simulators] is that you're here to have fun," said Wise, whose 65 was three strokes off Indoor Golf's course record for No. 2. "It's not here to substitute for outside golf, but to have fun in the winter. It almost makes it easier when you go back outside, in that you have a definite point on the screen you want to hit with every shot."

Today's simulators cost more than $40,000. First-generation simulators were crude by today's standards, lacking sophistication in telemetry, scenery and accuracy now possible with advancements in computer chips and mega memory.

The screen projects the view from the first tee onto a screen, hanging about seven feet from the pad of artificial turf players use for full swings. Sensors calibrate the shot's speed, trajectory and rotation; the computer displays the flight path as a floating white dot, then shows the scene for the next shot. Graphics display remaining yardage, wind direction and velocity and elevation changes, with grids superimposed on greens to show slopes. Putts over 12 feet are putted to a hole on the screen, inside 12 feet to a cup at the end of a small strip of artificial turf next to the screen.

Stronger players seem to have an advantage when it comes to calculations taken from the infrared tracking sensors. Reading a shot's velocity as it thumps into the screen, some players eliminated touch shots and ripped every swing. That's how one player was able to hit a 140-yard sand wedge, another a 278-yard driver from heavy rough.

With its calculating power, the simulator does everything but swing the club. It replaces caddies (computing yardage), scoreboards (offering a shot-by-shot tally) and Rules officials (moving to the proper spot for a drop when a ball lands in a hazard). Not only is the round played in shirt-sleeve comfort during raging snowstorms, but the halfway house and restrooms are never more than 20 yards away.

Wise and teammate Perry Savetsky took advantage of a format change to win the Greater Cleveland Indoor by a shot. Mitch Camp, the head pro at Walden Golf Club, had won the first two years in an individual, 18-hole event. This year it was a two-man better-ball, and Wise dropped a 36-foot putt at the last green for his fifth birdie of the night.

"My best round outdoors is a 67 at Deer Run Country Club in Orlando," Wise admitted. "You can score a little easier on a simulator."

His partner, Savetsky, said it bluntly while they were shooting 29 on the front nine: "They should put up a big sign that says 'ego,' because this is great for your ego."

-- Brett Avery

MAYBE YOU CAN WAIT . . . AND MAYBE NOT

BASED on history, the 1996 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., will in all likelihood represent the championship's 10th straight sellout.

Both daily tickets and week-long packages are still available, although ticket availability is usually impacted by the busy holiday buying season.

A limited number of daily tickets are available at $25 for each of the practice rounds and $50 for each day of championship play. Tickets good for admission to each day -- the three practice rounds, four days of play and an 18-hole playoff, if required -- are available at $200 each. Daily tickets for juniors (15 and under) are also available at a discounted price.

Open tickets can be ordered by calling the USGA at (800) 336-4446.

DELIVERIES MADE

WE'RE PLEASED to hear Sarah Ingram and Dawn Coe-Jones, both of whom played so well in the U.S. Women's Open while in the latter stages of pregnancy, should be back in the swing of things soon.

Ingram, who had to pass on the Women's Amateur, a shot at a fourth Women's Mid-Amateur title and the Women's State Team Tournament, delivered 8-pound, 6-ounce Henry on Sept. 28, almost a week after her scheduled due date.

On Oct. 20 Coe-Jones gave birth -- also a son and also 8 pounds, 6 ounces. With newborn James doing just fine, she's apparently ready to begin hitting the practice range to prepare for defense of her Tournament of Champions title in January.

STORY OF THE CENTURY (PART IX)

OF ALL the hole-in-one stories ever recorded, and they're as numerous as clouds in the sky, the one that unfolded on June 10, 1951, at Los Angeles Country Club remains to this day a remarkable feat.

Playing the North Course's 15th hole, a par-3 measuring 120 yards, a group of four completed play of the hole in six strokes.

In a match featuring Mortimer Kline and C. John Lloyd against Charles Peckham and Elbert S. Hartwick, Kline was first on the tee and proceeded to hole his shot, an 8-iron. His partner was next to play, and Lloyd duplicated the feat, also with an 8-iron.

Stunned, Peckham and Hartwick nevertheless put their tee shots close to the flag and holed their birdie putts.

USGA EXPANDS MEMBERSHIP ROLLS

IN RECOGNITION of the contributions golf instructors make to the game, the USGA recently approved golf training facilities to be included as USGA Member Clubs and Courses.

The first to join was the Golf Digest Sea Island (Ga.) Golf Center.

"This is an additional step we are taking to further our outreach program in public golf," said Reg Murphy, president of the USGA. "We want to share with all golfers in helping them enjoy the game."

The list of USGA Member Clubs and Courses now numbers more than 8,600. For additional information, call (800) 246-7967.

NEWPORT ON VIDEO

A HIGHLIGHT VIDEO of the 1995 U.S. Amateur, featuring the 36-hole finale between defending champion Eldrick (Tiger) Woods and George (Buddy) Marucci Jr., is now available from the USGA.

The video, Tiger's Twin Win, includes footage from the final three days of play from Newport (R.I.) Country Club, site of the first and Centennial Amateur Championships.

The video is $5 for USGA Members and $7.50 for non-Members. It can be ordered by phoning the USGA at (800) 336-4446, or by sending a check, made payable to USGA, to: P.O. Box 2000, Far Hills, N.J. 07931.

Still available is Tiger's Tale, The Comeback, the story of Woods' 1994 Amateur victory. The 1994 video is $3.45 for Members and $7.50 for non-Members.

If both tapes are ordered, the prices are $8.45 (Members) and $14.50 (non-Members).

FREE WALKING BOOKLET AVAILABLE

THE USGA's suggestion earlier this year for golfers without a legitimate health concern to walk more attracted a great deal of response.

To date, some 6,500 USGA Members have enrolled as Walking Members, and to further encourage the movement the USGA, in conjunction with Golf Digest, has published a booklet, A Call to Feet: Golf is a Walking Game.

The booklet, which explores the merits of walking as well as many myths of golf carts, is available free of charge by writing to: Walking Program, USGA, P.O. Box 708, Far Hills, N.J. 07931.

RICH HISTORY

DURING the 1936 U.S. Open, some 18 years before restraining ropes were employed for gallery control, there occurred an untoward incident at Baltusrol Golf Club believed to be unique in the annals of the championship. It involved Leslie Madison, a pro from California's Hollywood Golf Club. He was playing in a group with temporary frontrunner Harry Cooper with hundreds of spectators trooping in their immediate wake. Madison and Cooper were engulfed by spectators when they were held up preparatory to playing their second shots from the middle of the fairway to the final green.

They completed the tournament with Cooper posting a 284 total to surpass the tournament record of 286 established by amateur Charles (Chick) Evans, which had stood for 20 years; Madison had shot 303.

The immediate aftermath of their performances was anything but gratifying. Tony Manero, finishing an hour later with a 67, beat Cooper by two to win the championship. Madison, who tied for 55th, didn't earn a dime; to add to his misery, he discovered his pocket had been picked by someone in the milling crowd during the delay.

The long-forgotten theft was revived in Baltusrol, 100 Years published by Baltusrol to mark its 100th anniversary celebration which it shares with the USGA. It is a beautiful chronology of the first century of existence of the club which, in 1993, was first to host a record seven U.S. Opens. Each of its three different host courses, tournament by tournament and hole by hole, are illustrated with photographs and diagrams of the "Original" and present Lower and Upper Courses of the club in Springfield, N.J.

Baltusrol, 100 Years is available through the club's golf shop.

-- Red Hoffman

NECROLOGY

CHARLEY BOSWELL of Birmingham, Ala., was one of the world's great blind golfers. Blinded in World War II when a German artillery shell exploded after he pulled a crewmember from a tank, he won 17 national blind titles during his career and 11 international tournaments.