My Dear JT:
As it would happen, Mrs. Dr. Putt videotaped the film in question, and we watched it with all the little Putts as a family event over the holidays. Mrs. Dr. Putt would agree with your spouse as to its entertainment value, though she offered a number of other adjectives, several of which are unprintable in a family column. Her major criticism of the plot was that the basic conflict remained unresolved, would our hero find happiness on the senior golf tour or at home with his family. For those of you who missed this cinematic masterpiece, the plot revolved around a frustrated advertising executive who loses his job, finds his dad's old putter, (which miraculously enables him to see the line of the putt), reconnects with his deceased father, gets his card for the senior tour, wins a tournament, and nearly loses his family over his obsession with the tour. The movie ends without clearly resolving this last conflict--does he continue on the tour or having won and understood his dead pater's love for golf, does he find true happiness back home with his own son and family. The editors of the script must have run out of time, lest they lose a commercial slot for the true commercial meaning of the season.

So much for the artistic commentary. Let us dwell for a moment on the putting aspects. Our hero did not experience a miracle--he experienced many miracles, because he saw the line without reading the green in most instances. He walked up to the ball, placed the old hickory shafted blade putter behind it, and saw the correct line to the hole. Then the putter enabled this once hapless ball-stabber to actually propel the ball at the right speed along that line and into the cup. Indeed, one got the distinct impression that, except for the occasional lapse, he one-putted almost every green with this miraculous putter. His disasters were the occasional two-putt.

Setting aside mere quibbles such as the gallery cheering for a drive that clearly went into the rough, Dr. Putt will admit that he did find the movie more entertaining that did Mrs. Dr. Putt. However, the reader should know that in his youth Dr. Putt has been known to shed tears at the dramatic power of "Leave it to Beaver."

Here is wishing that you will find many one-putts of your own in the new year--without miracles!

Sincerely,
Dr. Putt