Young Man, Old Hat Ideas

He also worked long and hard on increasing his distance off the tee. When he returned to the tour this past January, he was startled to find that his short game, the bulwark of his success, was suffering from neglect. He missed cuts in his first two tournaments, and by the time he got to Hawaii , he says, he was praying to the "golf god." "I told him I was sorry I hadn't practiced my chipping and putting, that I had committed the cardinal golf sin and that I was repenting, and since I'd done the penance would he please give me a few putts."

Did he? "No."

Things got so bad that the afternoon before he left home for the L.A. Open, Chet, Jane, Jim and Jack Renner had a family conference on the south course of the Canyon Country Club, in the middle of the desert near Palm Springs , to consider what was wrong with Jack's putting.

"Nobody could figure out what it was," said Jack. "As it was getting dark, I lined up six balls about 20 feet from the hole. I hit one after another and the fifth one missed by two feet. When I got to the last, I sort of flicked my wrist and the ball went maybe 30 yards over the green. That was when I blew my stack, literally. Nobody ever thinks he is a good putter, but I had been told my whole life I was a good putter, and to get to a point where for six weeks I couldn't make a putt...I just let out a howl. I had reached the boiling point. Nobody said anything at first. Then, out in the dark a coyote answered me. It was pretty funny. I calmed down right away, opened my stance drastically, and suddenly I began to see my line again."

Renner shot 75-71-71-70—287 and finished tied for 27th at L.A. His putts had begun to drop again. After two weeks at home, he resurfaced in Florida , where he tied for 40th at Doral and then took that splendid third in the TPC. The golf god had taken pity on the young penitent at last.