I tried to raise my two sons right. Honestly, I did everything I could, but to no avail. It was Michael Jordan’s heyday, and they both wanted to play basketball instead of golf. Liking Michael Jordan was cool. Liking David Toms wasn’t. So they played the sport of their cultural hero instead of listening to their Dad. (Sigh …).

They both play golf now, but it’s the game of someone who took it up when they were 30. I think the best golf tip I could give anybody is to take up golf when you’re ten years old. They didn’t, but that’s what grandkids are for.

So I’m taking my grandson, who just turned eleven, to the range tomorrow for his second series of lessons. We’ve been playing an executive course for about three summers now, and two years ago he had his first series of lessons.

He does everything right-handed except play golf. When he was four, we had this set of plastic golf clubs with big heads and a big golf ball and he just couldn’t get it. So one day in a moment of inspiration I turned him around to the port side and there it all was.

He lives a long way out of town, so its about a half-hour drive to get him and another half hour to get back in town to the course, but I don’t mind. He’s only going to be eleven once, and it’s not like I have more important things to do than to put golf into someone’s childhood.

We all want to leave something behind, a world that’s different because we were in it. I’m going to do for him what my father did for me. And my two sons? Well, now we have something we can always talk about, and there’s no better family outing than a day on the course. Maybe I did have some influence after all.

Well, my favorite tournament just ended. I love the British. All year we see guys play lawn darts, but on links golf, we get to see them roll the ball up to the hole as often as not. It’s a completely different kind of golf, one I love to play.

The way no one made a run at Louis Oosthuizen (WUHST-hay-zen), they might as well have called it good after the third round. But it was good to see him close the deal by hitting one good shot after another. No limping home and barely winning. This was a win, and I was glad to see it.

I changed my grip recently. I read Hogan’s Five Lessons quite a bit, and always find something in it I had previously overlooked or misunderstood. This time it was where the club lies in the right hand. I was not holding it quite enough in the fingers. When I made the adjustment, and it was a tiny one, my feel for the club changed dramatically, especially when coming through the ball. The next round I had consistently good impact, long shots, and short shots. Just goes to show you, a little change can make a big difference.

The Golf Channel’s Big Break series has lost its way. The early shows had personalities that came through the TV set. You tuned in to see what they would say or do next. Remember the Pam/Danielle thing on BB III? Remember Donatello from BB II — love him or hate him, you had to watch! BB IV — great competition, on a great golf course, Carnoustie. BB V — the last good one. Lots of players you could get behind, including Kristina Tucker, the Swedish dish whose behind they kept filming, and Julie Wells baiting Ashley Prange at every turn. Nikki DiSanto, who had an epiphany when she made an eight-foot putt and the rest of the golfers are trying so hard not to laugh, like the legionnaire in Life of Brian during the Incontinentia Buttocks scene, as she goes on and on about it. You just can’t make up people like this.

Now, Big Break Sandals is just resort golf, bikinis, and lip gloss. Booorring. I love BB, but I can’t come up with a reason to watch this edition. And I’m sure all the contestants are nice people, but they have the personalities of a dishrag.

Oh, well, at least there’s Golf Fix. That’s something you can count on.