4 for Fore

It is January in Yorkton, where a golf season of five months is considered a good year. We're still at least three months from teeing it up, but talk about the game seldom takes a break for golfers; it's a form of self-preservation to make it to the next season.

We talked with four golfers at various stages of their game: one who played pro golf on the PGA and other tours in the 1990s, one who turned down a chance to play pro on the ladies tour, one who is now entering his third full year as a young pro, and one who is off to college in the US in the fall on a golf scholarship. All learned their golf at Deer Park in Yorkton.

Apologies for the homonymous episode title. For one who loves to play with words, it was just too good to pass up.

For those not familiar with "Fore!" it's what golfers shout when their ball strays from its intended path and is headed for spectators or other golfers. The word is most likely of Scottish origin, a shortened version of the word "before" or "afore". It essentially means "look out ahead," and may have originated with the military, where it was used by artillery men as a warning to troops in forward positions. At one time golf courses employed forecaddies, whose job it was to watch where balls went, and mark them so the players could find them. That is still done at professional tournaments, although they are now generally referred to as ball spotters.

4 for Fore!

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