12/15/98

A young man, an avid golfer found himself with a few hours 
to spare one afternoon. He figured if he hurried and played 
very fast, he could get in 9 holes before he had to head home. 

Just as he was about to tee off an old gentleman shuffled 
onto the tee and asked if he could accompany the young 
man as he too was golfing alone. Not having any reason to 
say no, he invited the old fellow to join him. To his surprise 
the old man played fairly quickly. He didn't hit the ball far, 
but moved along quite consistently and didn't waste time. 

Finally, they reached the 9th fairway and the young man found 
himself with a tough shot. There was a large pine tree right in 
front of his ball, directly between the ball and the green. After 
several minutes of debating how to hit the shot the old man 
finally said, "You know, when I was your age I played this 
course many, many times. Even had a lie similar to yours. 
Back then, I hit the ball right over that tree." 

With that challenge placed before him, the younger man 
gave it his best. He took a mighty swing, hit the ball up, and 
right back down. He'd hit it directly into the top of the tree trunk 
and it thudded back to the ground, not more than a foot from 
where it had originally been. Taking a deep breath, he tried 
again. Same result. Another deep breath, another try, same
result. "Damn," he exclaimed, "How did you ever get the ball 
over this freaking tree?" The old man replied, 

"Well, when I was your age that pine tree was only about 
3 feet tall."