I love golf.  In 2004 I played 111 rounds – the most ever in one year.  I belong to the Occoneechee Golf Club in Hillsborough, North Carolina.

 

My current USGA handicap index is 18.7.

 

My best scores lifetime have been 71 right-handed (in 1974) and 76 left-handed (on August 21, 2006).

 

Lifetime eagles that I’ve made:

 

Type of Hole	#
Par 3 (hole-in-one)	0	I’m still looking for my first ace!
Par 4	3	Each time by holing out a 7 iron.
Par 5	5

 

I switched to playing left-handed to cure a chronic “over-the-top” move that I had as a right-handed player.  I throw and write right-handed, but played baseball left-handed as a youth.  Interestingly, there are many famous golfers who are (or were) left-handed and play (or played) with right-handed clubs or vice versa.  Here are a few:

 

Golfer	Throws	Golf Clubs used
Ben Hogan	Left	Right
Johnny Miller	Left	Right
Nick Price	Left	Right
Bob Charles	Right	Left
Phil Mickelson	Right	Left
Mike Weir	Right	Left

 

I think it would be beneficial if golf instruction books addressed this issue of handedness as I harbor a visceral belief that “opposite-handed golfers” ideally need different drills than “same-handed golfers”.  Additionally, the PGA and LPGA should update their web site player bios to identify the “handedness” of each tour player.  That would make it easy to answer questions like:  “Does opposite-handedness contribute to driving accuracy, driving distance, position on the world ranking, etc.?”

 

My favorite golf instruction books are:

 

·          Swing like a Pro by Dr. Ralph Mann and Fred Griffin, copyright 1998 and its companion web site, http://www.modelgolf.com/

·          The Eight-Step Swing by Jim McLean, copyright 1994

·          David Leadbetter’s Faults and Fixes, copyright 1993

·          Dave Peltz’s Short Game Bible, copyright 1999

·          Dave Peltz’s Putting Bible, copyright 2000

 

During the years 1975-1987 I directed the IBM Watson Trophy Golf Tournament for employees at the Raleigh site.  The 1975 tournament had 108 participants; the last three had 300, 304, and 308 golfers and was played out over two weekends.  It became hugely popular after I began publishing results for all players in 1978 and recruited numerous volunteers to serve as spotters on various golf holes.  I was also assiduous in publishing rules and details of volunteer assignments.  This attention to detail began as a youth when I ran a neighborhood baseball team for eight years and kept copious statistics.

 

My son, Kevin, shares my love of golf.  Unfortunately, he lives 600 miles away and is busy pursuing college and has a job, so I seldom get to see him.  When he does visit, we cram a lot of activity into the time he’s with me.  Golf is no exception.  In 2004 we played 12 rounds of golf during his 11 day visit.  Here are our golf results for 2004:

 

2004 Larsen vs. Larsen Challenge

 

NA = Not applicable, no individual score.  We played on the same team in a super ball tournament.

 

2006 Larsen vs. Larsen Challenge

 

2007 Larsen vs. Larsen Challenge

 

2008 Larsen vs. Larsen Challenge

 

Ken Larsen’s home page