The USGA's recent announcement of a commitment to spend $50 million over the next 10 years means an increased involvement with programs that promote "the good of the game" and advance the game's access.

"This financial commitment . . . represents a historic investment in the future of the sport," said USGA president Judy Bell. "We believe it will expand the rich tradition and enjoyment of the game for more Americans. We've seen what seed money can do and we intend to fund programs and projects that deliver on this commitment."

Since 1991, the USGA's total financial assistance toward youth and education grants has surpassed $4.4 million. The recipients of these funds are junior golf learning programs, golf learning centers, caddie programs and programs for the physically challenged.

The USGA's newest grant program, to be administered by the USGA Foundation, centers upon two focal points: participation opportunities (those programs for minorities, youths and disabled players), and local education, access and support (programs aimed at increasing access and affordability of golf and those that promote a greater understanding of "the spirit of the game"). This includes a contribution of $3 million over the next three years to the World Golf Foundation's First Tee program, a recently announced partnership of organizations that hopes to construct and operate golf learning facilities for youth and minorities.

USGA grants have assisted programs in every corner of the country. In Atlanta, a $300,000 grant allocated in 1997 helped fund the East Lake Junior Golf Academy, which will not only assist in the revitalization of a neighborhood but also introduce the game to children through educational programs and instruction. Among the benefits offered by the Fore Hope program in Columbus, Ohio, supported in part with a 1997 grant of $20,000, are lessons to individuals with disabilities or inactive lifestyles.

Not to be overlooked is the USGA's continued assistance of state and regional associations and its longstanding commitment to turfgrass research.

Last year the USGA awarded approximately $3 million in assistance to 142 associations in the form of computer and/or tournament administration equipment and P.J. Boatwright interns. The USGA initiated the P.J. Boatwright Jr. Internship Program in 1992 to help provide the financial support of part-time personnel interested in learning about golf administration through work with state and regional golf associations.

In support of its continued efforts to fund turfgrass and environmental research, the USGA has allocated more than $25 million since 1983.

Information on the USGA's financial assistance grants is available by calling (719) 471-4810.

This Computes For Associations

The proliferation of computer software has tamed everything from accounting spreadsheets to form letters. But the ease with which a club can compute its own handicaps can come with a price: the fiscal undermining of a local, state or regional golf association.

Take, for example, the South Texas Golf Association, founded three years ago. The STGA does not have geographic boundaries, sending its assistance for amateur golfers to an ever wider base. The STGA's tournaments, course rating services and educational programs on the Rules of Golf come at a price, underwritten by revenue from handicapping services that account for 80-85 percent of the STGA's budget.

In-house handicapping "has been a battle we've been fighting in south Texas since Moses was a corporal," says Eric Frederickson, executive director of the Houston G.A., which is supporting the STGA startup.

When a club considers in-house handicapping it is often at the direction of its golf professional as supplemental compensation. It also can be viewed as a "savings" for members, who generally are charged a lower amount than an association. But taking money from the association can have disastrous effects on its fiscal health.

"If we lost most of our handicapping revenue, it would mean taking dollars away from the HGA's charities, and we would not want to do that," Frederickson says. The HGA donated $2.1 million from the 1997 Houston Open; that would have been seriously reduced had the STGA not risen from 6,000 to 17,000 people in its handicap system since 1995.

Recent publicity about having a club pro provide handicaps has not yet had an impact on the STGA, but when the association learns a club is thinking of going that route, STGA and HGA officials visit with club officials. Among the ramifications of such a move is the possibility for a conflict of interest in giving a pro sole discretion in applying handicapping policies, as well as problems with verifying Handicap Indexes for member-guests and posting scores at "away" clubs.

"We have worked with the Southern Texas PGA on this, and they have been very helpful," Frederickson says. "We find out that when we sit down with the pro and club manager and representatives of the men's golf club, and explain how important this revenue is, they remain with the [regional] association.

"If everybody took a step back and looked at the situation, they would see how important this revenue is to the health of amateur golf."

A Major Find in Tokeland

Steve Nelson is a fisherman and farmer by trade and not an archeologist, but he understands the excitement of a dig and a find as well as anyone. Nelson's find didn't involve bones, arrowheads or primitive tools. Instead, he found something much larger -- a golf course.

"I now know how archeologists get so hooked," Nelson said. "I can't wait to come home from fishing and get back to this project. It has consumed me."

He was talking about his portion of a long-forgotten course, the Tokeland Golf and Duck Club, on Nelson family property in Tokeland, Wash., not far from the coastline and about 110 miles south of Seattle. It is in the restoration process after being buried under long grass and brush for 50 years.

Last summer, the 46-year-old Nelson and his wife, Kathleen, operated four holes of the course, using a basement room of their house as a temporary clubhouse. The four holes were played in a variety of ways and with some temporary greens to make nine holes.

The property where the other five holes are located is owned by Nelson's sister and her husband, who want the facility in a further state of development before opening to the public. But that's getting ahead of the story, which began when Nelson and his wife decided to expand their lawn in 1989.

"Some grass was three or four feet tall, and there was a lot of Scotch Broom," he said. Nelson came upon a mound and was fascinated by its symmetry. He kept clearing and realized he had uncovered a teeing ground. "We knew there had been a course on the property but didn't know exactly where the holes were located," said brother-in-law Terry Larson.

Nelson and Larson carried on an archeological-like search and unearthed Tokeland Golf Links, in operation from about 1910 to 1936. Nelson and Larson uncovered all nine original holes, located on land the Nelson family purchased in 1943.

Sketchy history indicates the course was an offshoot of the Tokeland Hotel, built in 1885 and now sited at the edge of the Nelson property. The hotel was originally called the Kindred Inn and was operated by the family of William and Lizzie Kindred; their daughter, Maude, is credited with laying out the course on land that had been used for cattle grazing.

The course was opened when speculators were trying to turn the community into a Coney Island-like resort. And though the scheme ended in bankruptcy, the golf course did fine, along with other hotel recreational activities including a duck club, until the Depression.

Nelson's interest in restoring the course grew when he uncovered a sand bunker and found several golf balls of 1920s vintage. Included was one with Walter Hagen's name on it and a few others from England.

In 1994, Nelson and the Larsons were ready to apply for a course permit from Pacific County. In these environmentally sensitive times, a permit to construct a course on the land might have been unattainable or taken years to get. With the course already there, all that was needed was a restoration permit. That was granted. Larson solicited help from Kevin Van, a superintendent near Tacoma, to restructure some of the greens. Nelson opened his four holes in 1996, with that portion being combined and replayed to provide nine holes covering 2,295 yards.

There were times when no one was available to operate the clubhouse. So a sign and box were put up: "On course mowing. Pay when you are finished." Nelson said he doesn't recall an instance when golfers didn't settle up.

Despite not advertising that the abbreviated course even was open, Nelson estimates some 2,000 people played it during the four months it was open in 1997.

Visitors sign a guest book as if they were attending a wedding. Among those visiting was Victor Vaughn of Falls Church, Va., who played the original while on the University of Washington golf team in the 1930s. Now 84, Vaughn told the Larsons that the refurbished holes are almost an exact replica of the way he remembered them.

"What they need to do is realize that what they have is a historic links, a unique little course that residents and visitors could enjoy playing casually," said Doug McArthur, a golf consultant from Tacoma. "This is not going to be a championship resort course and I think trying to make it one would be a mistake."

In the meantime, the temporary clubhouse in the Nelsons' house displays a golf club from the 1920s, found on the property, and a couple of large Japanese floats, pulled out of the bay. The suggestion of a reincarnation is unmistakable.

-- Bob Robinson That Indomitable Spirit

William Rockwell of San Diego didn't win the $250,000 first prize in the World Putting Championship, but there's no question he emerged the big winner from the Florida competition, which drew 288 contestants from around the globe.

Rockwell, 27, knew that the minute he spotted Paul Azinger and Lee Janzen on the putting green. They couldn't have been nicer to the Santee, Calif., amputee who held his own by beating more than half the contestants.

"They treated me like a king," Rockwell said. "I walked up to Azinger to introduce myself and he said, ÔI know who you are.' It was totally cool. I never thought I'd get a chance to meet them."

In 1989, Rockwell was nearly killed in a motorcycle accident. He still isn't sure how fast he was going -- he says it was "between 90 and 120 miles per hour" -- when he collided with a Cadillac at an El Cajon intersection. Rockwell lost the use of his right arm and his left was amputated above the elbow.

"I was just being really stupid," said Rockwell, 19 at the time. "It was definitely all my fault. It was just total teenage ignorance."

Despite his physical limitations, Rockwell loved golf. One day, two buddies coerced him to visit a local K-Mart, where he picked a putter off the rack. It was love at first touch, and the putter has barely left his side.

Through hundreds of hours of practice, Rockwell developed his own unique style, which consists of gripping the shaft with the toes of his right foot. He secures the shaft under his right shoulder and it extends across his thigh and underneath his knee. Essentially, he putts on one foot.

"He has a great heart," said Nick Spiropoulous, executive director of the event. "Someone with spirit like that is an example for all of us." Organizer Dave Pelz was so impressed, he extended an exemption to Rockwell.

Rockwell, who is on disability, had no way of paying for the trip. Enter friend Mike Strode, owner of Stadium Golf Center in San Diego, where Rockwell practices. Strode paid for the 12-day adventure, something Rockwell will never forget. "It was the most awesome time I've ever had in my life," Rockwell said.

Surprisingly, Rockwell wasn't nervous during the competition. Wet and cold, but not uptight. He practiced for hours in the rain, so much, in fact, that his toes bled. Midway through his round, the skies opened up, causing a delay. Rockwell didn't mind.

"I was more pumped up," he said. "I kept telling myself that the sun was shining. It was so cold that I was shivering. I got drenched."

Not only did Rockwell make friends for life, Pelz invited him back next year. "I don't want to get cocky," said Rockwell, more determined to improve. "I know I can still get beat. Next year, I'm going for first place."

-- Mark Soltau

Help is Nearby

One of the most common causes of death in the U.S., sudden cardiac arrest, claims approximately 325,000 lives each year.

Until relatively recently, treatment for SCA -- an electrical shock known as defibrillation -- was usually administered either in a hospital or by emergency medical personnel. The problem is that in many cases, the time to treatment is too long; it is estimated that only five percent of sufferers in the U.S. survive.

Now the use of portable, user-friendly defibrillators is expanding, and one of the places where their availability is increasing is the golf course. Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Fla., has trained 40 staff members in the use of automated external defibrillators. Clubs where AEDs have been placed include Reynolds Plantation in Lake Oconee, Ga.; Rockrimmon C.C. in Stamford, Conn.; and the Polo Club of Boca Raton, Fla.

Necrology

ED HOPKINS, 73, of Lake Whitney, Texas, was medalist and runner-up at the 1985 Senior Amateur at Wild Dunes Beach and Racquet Club in Isle of Palms, S.C. After leading the match-play qualifiers with a total that was just one stroke off the record, Hopkins advanced to the final but lost to Lewis Oehmig at the 20th hole. He was also a quarterfinalist at the 1981 Senior Amateur. He had attended the University of Texas, where he won the 1947 Southwest Conference title.

RALPH MOORE, 72, of Denver, was a sportswriter for The Denver Post for 35 years. For most of that time he was the paper's primary golf writer; he covered more than 20 U.S. Opens and Masters Tournaments, 10 PGA Championships and four U.S. Amateurs, including the one in 1959 at The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs. His dedication to golf went beyond the course as he helped create the Eisenhower-Evans Caddie Scholarship program that still exists.

J. WILLIAM PIERCE of West Palm Beach, Fla., was an accomplished player, having won the California Junior at age 14, as well as New Jersey's amateur and senior titles. He also served as Somerset County (N.J.) parks commissioner, where he was instrumental in the acquisition and development of three public courses.

TOM TUCKER, 51, of Ormond Beach, Fla., worked in the fields of public relations and sports journalism. Since 1992 he worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, primarily covering auto racing and golf, and in 1997 he was elected the first president of the Florida Golf Writers Association.

Joyce Wethered, Lady Heathcoat-Amory, the stylish English player of the 1920s who was regarded as one of the greatest women golfers of her time, died Nov. 18 -- one day after her 96th birthday.

Shy and extremely modest, the four-time British Ladies Open Amateur champion was nevertheless a celebrity, attracting huge galleries and receiving the highest praise from, among others, Robert T. Jones Jr. After playing a round with Wethered over the Old Course at St. Andrews in 1930, Jones wrote, " . . . when we finished, I could not help saying that I had never played with anyone, man or woman, amateur or professional, who made me feel so utterly outclassed."

Wethered, a five-time English Ladies champion, routinely shot in the low and mid 70s when good women players were scoring in the 80s over tough, competitive venues. She won the British title in 1922, '24 and '25 before retiring from competition. In '29, however, a large contingent of foreign amateur stars, including three-time U.S. champion Glenna Collett, entered at St. Andrews. At the urging of friends, Wethered entered and marched to the final, where her match with Collett was heralded by Bernard Darwin as "The Match of the Century."

Five down after 11 holes, Wethered, unrattled by the boisterous gallery, "holed several cruel putts," Darwin wrote, and won the 36-hole match, 3 and 1.

In 1988, Collett (now Vare), recalled the extreme confidence with which British fans regarded their star. "Why, they'd have a car waiting for her on the 16th hole," she remarked.

After her '29 victory, Wethered again retired. She was captain of the Great Britain and Ireland team in the inaugural Curtis Cup in '32. In '35, she turned professional to receive $20,000 for an American exhibition tour with the likes of Jones, Gene Sarazen, and a young Babe Didrikson.

In 1937, Wethered married Sir John Heathcoat-Amory and they led a quiet life at Knightshayes Court, their estate. As a part of England's National Trust and something of a horticultural wonder, Knightshayes Court in recent years attracted many visitors, most of whom were unaware that one of the great ladies of golf lived in a small apartment on the grounds.

She was a partner in one of golf's legendary tales. Once, while she was preparing to stroke a crucial putt, the moment of quiet was interrupted by a train rumbling by on tracks virtually adjacent to the green. She made the putt, and when asked afterward if the train interfered with her concentration, she replied, "What train?"-- Rhonda Glenn