by Carmen Tassone and Crystal Brookover
10-23-2001

     Some people feel bound by their limitations, while others set their sights beyond the boundaries placed upon them.  Some people follow the rules, while others defy them.  Some people fail to question, while others seek answers.  Some people dare not realize their talents, while others exploit them to their advantage.  These are people who live life with an aim -- to do or create the unimagined, to turn a dream into reality, and to accomplish greatness within their lifetimes.  And in the process they inspire others to reach heights never before thought possible . . .

     Tama Hills Golf Course Supervising Instructor, Makoto "Hiro" Fujii, recently fulfilled a lifelong dream of playing the Old Course at St. Andrews.  Think golf and the Old Course has to be one of the first places to come to mind.  It predates all other courses and is where the game of golf breathed its first breaths of life.
     On a frosty Scottish morn, just before daybreak, Hiro walked out of his hotel into the icy black pre-dawn and started a journey he will long remember.  Through the darkness he made his way to the clubhouse and he faithfully took his assigned place in line along with the other eager golfers waiting for their chance to play the Old Course.
     Seventh in line, Hiro thought the wait wouldn't be long, but as the seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours, his anxiousness grew as long as the line that stretched far behind him.  The human chain was formed by people from all walks of life, men and women of different nationalities, and ages that varied from mid-teens to mid-eighties.  A white bearded Scotsman, a fidgeting teen from Indonesia with his father, a doctor from Quebec, a retired Navy Seal officer from America, and an excited boy from Japan all gathered in one place for a single purpose.  They were all pilgrims on the same quest: To play the "world's oldest surviving golf course."
     The bristling winds from the west carried the morning fog across the old course, and its chill lifted collars and tucked hands under arms for warmth.  As the wait drew long, scarlet cheeks and bone-white ears were common amongst the dedicated few as they huddled and endured the bitter cold.  Hiro and his fellow golfers passed the time away with pleasant conversation.   They spoke of their backgrounds, their homes, their love of golf, and the ancient course they were about to challenge.
     The bearded Scotsman boasted, "Did ja know the Old Course has 112 bunkers?  Aye and many have their own names.  Like Strath on the eleventh hole should be avoided, but Hell on fourteen is probably the most deadly on the entire course.  It's nearly twice your height.  You'd best stay clear of dat bunker if you know what's good for ya.  But if you get trapped, don't go straight.  Attack it from the side, or even better, come out the way you came in.  Probably the most celebrated of all is the Road Bunker on the Road Hole.  And the Road Hole is probably the most famous hole in all of golf.  Remember, the road is in play; so play that hole wisely."
     The doctor from Quebec added, "I heard there are only 11 greens on the entire course.  Fourteen holes share seven big greens.  The guide says to keep your approach close to the pin, otherwise you may have a hundred yard putt."
     The American said this was his sixth time at St. Andrews.  "I've played many courses around the world, but the Old Course is the only one I've not broke par.  She's truly a dream, but she can also become your worst nightmare."
     When Hiro was called from the line, an empty space remained in tribute to him and his undertaking.  The emptiness was filled only when he tipped his hat back to his newfound friends, who gave him a round of encouragement.  The Navy Seal slapped Hiro on the back and said, "Hit 'em long and straight kid."  The white bearded Scotsman said, "Luck to ya laddie and heed the advice of ye bagger."
     Even as a professional golfer with thirty plus years of practical experience, Hiro had never known the amount of pressure he felt when he first walked onto the number one tee.  It was as though he was carrying a fifty-pound sack of potatoes on his shoulders.  His arms hung heavy at his side.  And as he looked down the fairway, out over the course, he was taken aback.  The Old Course's history alone is awe-inspiring, but the view made him feel as though he had never played the game of golf before now.
     Hiro could feel his knees weaken as he walked on the same ground as that of his golfing heroes.  Bobby Jones once said, "I could take out of my life everything except my experiences at St. Andrews and still have a rich full life."  Hiro was about to enrich his life with play on the Old Course.  And he was humbled knowing almost six hundred years had led to this moment when he would play the same course as monarchs, ambassadors, bishops, presidents, prime ministers and great golfers of the past.  He was about to play the Old Course--the "Home of Golf."
     Standing on the tee box, Hiro was no longer just a face in the crowd.  He was a player others watched enthusiastically with a hint of envy.  His heart pound quickly as he waited for his turn.  He'd go fourth, and the third player was addressing his ball.  Hiro relaxed a little when his wife, Hiroko, surprised him with some hot tea.  She too anxiously waited.  The metal cup of hot tea thawed Hiro's fingers and the tea warmed him from within.  The taste of the tea reminded him of home and put him at ease.
     The number one is called "Burn."  Its fairway is wide and has no rough or bunkers.  The only hazard on the hole is the tiny stream, known as the "Swilcan Burn," which runs in front of the wide but shallow green.  Hiro's caddie gave precise instructions on where to aim his shot, but Hiro was unsure of the suggestion because it was not how he thought to play the hole.  Hiro would soon learn the Old Course was deceiving; things were not as they seemed.
     Nevertheless, Hiro was up.  And with the onlookers' support and his wife watching from the gallery, Hiro began his pre-shot routine.  He knew this would help take his mind off the course and put his mind on the shot.
     "Short par four; get it within an approach wedge."  Because of the stream guarding the front edge of the green, he would lay up.  He pulled out a four-iron, remembering great players like Palmer, Watson and Nicklaus did the same during the British Open.
     He placed his ball atop the tee, which he pushed completely into the neatly trimmed ground, save a quarter inch.  Stepping back two paces behind his ball, he found his target as instructed by his caddie.  Hiro also picked a blade of grass on the target line just a few feet in front of his ball to keep his swing on line.  He checked his grip.  "Neutral; that it'll keep it straight."  One practice swing and he stepped up to his ball.  He made sure the club was square with the blade of grass he picked on the target line.  Calm.  Two waggles, a last look down the target line, and one final thought, "Swing easy."
     Silence.  Hiro heard nothing as he focused on the ball label.  And with a smooth one-piece take away and a slight pause at the top, Hiro effortlessly swung downward through the ball and up to a perfect upright position.  The whistling of the club head and the crisp familiar click told Hiro he picked the ball cleanly off the tee.  A slight smile formed and the pressure was lifted.  He watched the ball fly down the middle of the fairway.  Cheers and ovation from the gallery reached levels that could rival any Open tee shot.  Hiro had launched his ball 200 yards with a perfect swing.
     Claps and cheers continued from the gallery.  "Nice shot."  "Good ball."  "Great hit."  Hiro looked back to find Hiroko in a sea of people.  She smiled her approval, and even though he could not hear her voice, he knew she whispered "Gambatte."  So, with a wink and a smile, he turned and walked off the tee box a foot taller than when he had first stepped onto the tee box.  Hiro waved to the appreciative crowd and to his new friends.  He now understood how the great golfers felt as they played this grand old course.
     Hiro's second shot to the green was 65 feet left of the pin.  But with two putts, he had holed his first of many pars on the Old Course.   By the third hole the fog had lifted, and Hiro had recorded his third straight par.  On the fourth hole, also known as the Ginger Beer, the sun struggled to keep the players warm as westerly gusts blew across the course.  The winds also challenged the players to stay in the fairways and avoid the heavy rough and the deep bunkers.
     Ginger Beer is the hardest par four of the outbound holes, and Hiro attacked it from the left.  Although he drove safely into the fairway, this route left him with a long and blind approach to the green, which was about 155 yards away guarded by a large mound.  Hiro had the yardage exact, but he pulled his eight-iron into the green side bunker.  Although he got out of the sand in one, the greens were slippery and he three-putted for a double bogey.
     The tumbling dunes and heather pepper the links adding to the course's difficulty.  Holes on the Old Course look no different than any other field in Scotland's Southern Uplands.  The course is basically the same as it was when golf was first played on this stretch of ancient linksland six centuries ago.
     When Hiro sunk his par putt on number ten, the Bobby Jones hole, he had six straight pars and was only two over.  Before heading back towards the clubhouse, Hiro's foursome came upon a small wooden shack with an overhang and a wooden bench beneath.  Hiro's caddie explained this was the "Old Course Restaurant" and it was where the maintenance men and other course workers "ate their home brought lunches."  The scene was humbling and painted a modest and unassuming atmosphere of the Old Course and the people who dedicate their lives to service it.
     The name of the number eleven hole is High and it is 172 yards long.  It is the second par three on the course and also one of the toughest to play.  Two deep greenside bunkers, the Strath and the Hill, guard the left and right sides of the green and invite errant tee shots entry.  It is also common for a downhill putt to roll into Strath.  Hiro used an eight iron but pulled his tee shot.  He was safely on the green but on the backside of this most dangerous green.  The speed of the green had its way with Hiro, and he was happy to leave it with a bogey.  At this point, Hiro was only three over par after eleven holes, and he would remain three over for the next five holes.
     That brought Hiro to the seventeenth hole.  "The Road Hole is probably the most famous hole in all of golf . . . play that hole wisely"  Many championships have been won and lost on this hole.  While standing on the Road Hole tee box, the feeling Hiro felt on the first tee returned and it affected his play.  He knew his drive had to clear the railway sheds to the right to a narrow fairway, but his drive drew too much and rolled into the left side rough.
     Still out 235 yards, Hiro went with a five-wood in an attempt to get near the green, but a flyer was the result and his shot left the rough with a lot of topspin.  His ball rolled into the famous Road Hole bunker.  This bunker is also known as "The Sands of Nakajima."  During the 1978 Open, on the last day, Tommy Nakajima was leading the field but took five strokes in the Road Hole bunker.  He eventually scored a nine on the hole.  Hiro had only two tries to get out and onto the green.  And even though the Road Hole did take its toll on Hiro, he finished with a two-putt double bogey six.
     The eighteenth's wide fairway was a welcomed change after the Road Hole.  Hiro's nerves were tattered, but not shaken.  He sent his tee shot down the middle of the fairway into the wind past the road that cuts across the fairway.  Hiro had 110 yards left with a good lie.  He pulled his wedge out and pitched his approach over the Valley of Sin onto the middle of the green.  Even though the greens were hard and most were unable to stop the ball on the green, Hiro had enough spin on his ball to stop it after one bounce.  That put him ten feet from the pin, which was in the back left.  The green sloped to the back, and Hiro had to be careful with the downhill putt.  He stroked the ball firmly but missed the hole high.  The four-foot come backer was very important to Hiro.  A part of his dream was to at least par the first and last holes, and to complete his dream he relaxed and drained the par putt.
     Hiro went out with a 38 and came in with 39 for an overall score of 77.  Hiro was very pleased with his round.  He said, "I shot pretty good.  I thank my caddie for all his help, I thank my wife for giving me such a great opportunity, and I thank St. Andrews for allowing me to play on the Old Course."  Undoubtedly, Hiro will remember this day for a long time to come.
     Hiro's dream to play the Old Course at St. Andrews became reality because he set his goal, planned for it, and carried it through.  No matter our aspirations, Hiro proved we too can obtain our dreams.
     For those interested in the Old Course at St. Andrews visit their official website at www.standrews.org.uk and learn more about how you too can play the Old Course--the "Home of Golf."