Too many golfers today think the game began when Earl Woods brought his son Eldrick to hit golf balls into a net on the nationally broadcast Mike Douglas Show in 1978.

In truth, there was a lot of golf played before that and it wasn’t just professional golf either. For more years than you can count amateur golf was at least the equal of the play-for-pay game. In Florida that meant Downing Gray.

His resume is world-class. In 1962, he was the runner-up to Labron Harris Jr. in the U.S. Amateur played at Pinehurst, and he played in 19 in all. While at Florida State University, he won seven consecutive NCAA tournaments. He played on three Walker Cup Teams (1963, ’65, ’67) and captained the 1995 and 1997 squads as well. He played in seven Masters, 1963 through 1968 as well as 1974 and was the low amateur in 1965 and 1967. He played on the U.S. side of the America’s Cup team in 1965 and 1967 and the U.S. World Cup team in 1966.

In addition to being the 2011 inductee into the Florida State Golf Association Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the FSU Hall of Fame in 1979 as well as that of the Southern Golf Association. He’s served as the director of the SGA and was named director emeritus of the association in 1996. In 1997 he was given a commendation from the city of Pensacola for Outstanding Contributions to the Pensacola Community, and the First Tee facility in Pensacola bears his name.

You’re extremely unlikely to ever read as strong an amateur resume again from this point forward.

“I think it would be surprising,” Gray admitted of the possibility. “I’d be delighted if more people would remain an amateur, but there’s so much economic pressure and I surely understand. I don’t think it would be smart not to turn pro. Look at Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald. I’d love to see great amateur golf again, but the odds are slim.”

It’s not as if Gray didn’t have a choice. He could have given it a shot, but back then, the numbers just didn’t compute.

“I remember when Arnie (Palmer), Jack (Nicklaus), Gary (Player), Billy Casper and those guys would play in the Pensacola Open,” he recalled. “Some weeks they might win $500 and have to pay for their rooms and everything. I figured that if I couldn’t do better than that, I’d wasted four years in college. Also, I was married and we had a baby. Remember diapers weren’t disposable back then. And you had to drive everywhere. I was better off staying amateur.

“Jay Sigel and John Harris remained amateurs until they were 50, then they turned pro just to be able to keep competing at a high level with players on the Senior Tour. If I’d had that opportunity, I think I would have done the same thing.”

Back in the ’60s, it was an easier call to make. Gray believes it would be an easy call today as well, but the answer would be different.

“Fast forward to today and I’m playing as well as I was in 1963-64 and confronted with the decision?” he asked, “I’d be foolish not to give it a shot. Today is the complete reverse. The 125th guy on the money list is making a bazillion dollars. The worst thing that could happen is you don’t make it, but at age 30, you have plenty of time to move on to something else.”

Back in the ’60s, those who moved to the pro ranks at least had a solid amateur background as a training ground. Today? Not so much. Or do they?

“In a sense the college golf is the stage of amateur golf,” said Gray. “Back when I played in my first U.S. Amateur in 1962, 90 percent of the field was north of (age) 25. Today the Top 25 amateurs are mostly college players.”

What competing at the high-end amateur level has given Gray has been a perspective of both life and definitely golf that today’s younger players don’t have.

“I think they have fun in their own way,” Gray offered, “but it’s not like we had. Golf is so much more than the four hours on the course. There were always dinners that we went to, the fun we had during the practice rounds and after the tournament we got to go home to a different life. The young amateurs today don’t have that.”

Golf was different 50 years ago, equipment-wise. Otherwise, the game remains pretty much the same. Which was better? The days of having an option to compete at a high level as an amateur or pro? Or, today’s money grab? It’s hard to say, but it’s always nice to have options.

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA l Bill Clinton came to Colombia to play golf this past week, in the pro-am for the Nationwide Tour’s season opening event, and the mere presence of the former U.S. president in this South American land of 45 million people says a lot about the state of affairs here.

If Clinton is indeed the Comeback Kid, an appellation hung on him years ago by pundits awed by his ability to snatch political victories from seemingly certain defeats, then Colombia is the Comeback Country, much safer and stronger than it has been in decades.

Clinton well remembers how bad things were in this South American land, recalling in a talk at a pre-tournament reception how narco-traffickers once controlled 35 percent of the country. Left unmentioned but completely understood by those in the audience who lived through those terrible times were the ways in which a left-wing guerilla group known by acronym FARC also threatened Colombia’s legitimacy through rampant killings and kidnappings, and how those two elements nearly destroyed what Clinton described as America’s “best ally in South America and the oldest democracy” on that continent.

There is no way an American president, sitting or retired, would have even considered traveling to this sprawling, traffic-choked metropolis some 8,300 feet above sea level a decade ago, for it was rightfully regarded then as one of the most dangerous places on earth. And the PGA Tour would have been labeled loco for even thinking of staging one of its events in this capital city.

But here they all were last week, in a resource-rich nation where the annual economic growth rate is approaching an impressive six percent and an enthusiasm for the future has replaced the abject anxiety of the past: Clinton playing golf with Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos and Nationwide Tour pro D.J. Brigman, and promoting the work of the Clinton Foundation through the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative (CGSGI), while a formidable field of Nationwide Tour players competed for the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship.

Don’t tell any of them that Colombia isn’t coming back.

Clinton arrived in Bogota early Tuesday morning of tournament week, direct from Lagos, Nigeria, where he had spoken at a Clinton Foundation event the night before. He professed to be tired after such a long, overnight haul as he walked unescorted into the hotel by the club where the tournament was being played. But he later spoke about being energized by returning to a country he first got to know as president in 1998, and which he tried to help through a U.S. Government initiative called Plan Colombia.

Now, Clinton’s assistance for a place he has visited several times centers on CGSGI, which he and philanthropist Frank Giustra have used to launch projects to develop sustainable, market-driven businesses and improve health care in Bogota and other areas in Colombia – and which is the selected charity for this week’s Nationwide Tour event.

Clinton came to the pro-am reception on Tuesday night and had his picture taken with each team. After making formal remarks to the group, in which he declared, to applause, “the country belongs to the people of Colombia again,” and added, “I love working here,” he retired for the night, reappearing the next day for his game. Dressed in white shirt and slacks and wearing a blue embroidered belt with American flags, he hit balls on the range of the Bogota Country Club, muttering to himself about posture and position and the ways in which he could improve each shot.

He pulled clubs out of a tour-size TaylorMade bag and chuckled about how he needed to thin out his stash of sticks before starting play, as he clearly had more than the legal limit of 14. The former president shook hands with well-wishers between swings and posed for the occasional photograph. Then, he strode to the first tee, where a gallery several deep had gathered all around. It was that way wherever Clinton went in Bogota, as locals returned his passion for Colombia with their enthusiasm for his presence and his support.

In spite of his hard work on the range, Clinton had trouble with his first drive, duck-hooking it into the trees on the left. But he took advantage of golf’s version of a presidential pardon – a mulligan – when it was offered. Then, he was off.

As was the case with many of the groups in the pro-am, the one that included a former U.S. president did not get in a full 18 holes, as play was halted after five hours – and players brought in. (Note to PGA Tour: perhaps this is one way to deal with your slow play issues; five hours, and you are done.) Clinton was only able to finish 16 holes, and shortly thereafter was headed home. But he didn’t go straight to New York, as he and his colleagues stopped in Cartagena to refuel first, and to have dinner at a favorite Clinton eatery there.

More evidence that Colombia is coming back. And you can be sure Bill Clinton will be coming back, too.

The big news behind this month’s introduction of Callaway Golf’s RAZR Fit driver is that it marks the first time the equipment maker has offered one with movable weights and an adjustable hosel.

Let’s begin with the OptiFit adjustability system employed in the hosel, so golfers can set their face angles at address three ways: open, square and closed. Then, there are the two movable weights in the clubhead, one weighing 12 grams and the other two, that can be used to manipulate Center of Gravity and help promote either a neutral or draw ball flight.

In addition, the RAZR Fit driver incorporates what company engineers describe as “an aerodynamic shaping innovation” called Streamlined Surface Technology that is designed to improve air flow and reduce the energy loss during a swing due to drag. Which helps to increase that all-important, distance-enhancing swing speed at impact. At the same time, Callaway combines hyperbolic shaping of the clubface with precision thickness control to create a larger sweet spot.

Not everything is new with the RAZR Fit, however, and Callaway has also employed some tried and true technologies in this driver, which has already found its way into the bags of touring pros such as Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Alvaro Quiros. Such as the forged composite material it uses in the RAZR Fit crown, to optimize Center of Gravity and improve MOI (for Moment of Inertia) for better forgiveness.

“Callaway is not just entering the adjustability race with the introduction of RAZR fit,” says Dr. Alan Hocknell, senior vice president of Research and Development at the California clubmaker. “We are taking the pole position, and the adjustable features combined with our proprietary technologies allow golfers to play a more meaningful role than ever before in their journey to optimized performance.”

The RAZR Fit driver comes standard with a 45.5-inch Aldila RIP’d NV shaft and a Golf Pride New Decade Multi-Compound grip.

CLINTON, SOUTH CAROLINA | It was not a matter of if, but when Musgrove Mill Golf Club would close its doors and put a lock on the gate, and to walk away would have been one of the great golf tragedies, particularly in this part of the world.

Musgrove Mill is a rare find, a near masterpiece unlike anything you’ve ever seen or experienced. It pitches and rolls, meanders, rises and falls and unlike others who claim this, it really and truly tests every part of your game and each club in your bag. You can leave the 18th green at Musgrove Mill having your hind parts severely kicked for four hours and ask the staff if there’s a time on the tee sheet for later that afternoon.

And it was about to die.

The club is owned by McConnell Golf, founded by John McConnell, who bought Raleigh Country Club – which was on the doorstep of bankruptcy – in 2003. McConnell was founder and CEO of Medic Computer, which sold in 1997 for $923 million, personally netting McConnell a reported $60 million. He then invested in and became CEO of A4 Health Systems, which was sold for $272 million in 2006, according to The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.

McConnell now owns eight private clubs in North and South Carolina and the roster is regionally impressive. The idea was to build a portfolio of high-rent properties that were financially challenged, make them operationally lean and mean, and give a full member of one club membership rights to all eight.

And when Musgrove Mill came into McConnell’s sights in 2007, it was going to be one of the jewels in the crown. But just as the ink was drying on the contract, the economic catastrophe of 2008 hit marginally profitable private clubs especially hard and Musgrove Mill took a full blow.

At its peak, Musgrove Mill had about 320 members and did 15,000 rounds annually. Last year, the club was down to 170 members – only about half locally – and rounds were down about a third. The club lost $650,000 in 2010 and about that much in 2011. McConnell had enough and told the staff last October that the club was going to be shuttered.

He still had some hope, however, as he was prepared to spend $200,000 annually to keep the course in condition so that if the economy improved substantially, the club could reopen without having to perform drastic maintenance measures.

Musgrove Mill opened in 1988, an Arnold Palmer design that wasn’t even close to anything that Palmer had ever done. According to Golf Club Atlas, Tom Fazio did some of the routing and Ken Tomlinson – of Tidewater Golf Club near Myrtle Beach – contributed some changes. But Palmer gets the design credit.

It is easily the best thing Palmer has ever done and it’s also easily the second-most difficult course in South Carolina – the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, site of this year’s PGA Championship, coming in first in that race. Two or three of the green complexes might be slightly over the top, but it has consistently ranked among the Top 100 Modern Courses in the U.S. by Golfweek.

When McConnell announced the closure, the response was overwhelming. “It was unbelievable the number of members or people who had been members in the past who contacted us,” said head golf professional Jeff Tallman. “It wasn’t like a facility closing, it was like someone’s funeral. There’s a spirit in this place that is pretty special.”

McConnell, his staff and the club members dodged a couple of deadlines and were finally given until Dec. 31 of last year to generate a plan to save the club. After some late nights, a new membership classification was developed. The staff is marketing 100 memberships to people already belonging to a private club in the Carolinas for $1,200 a year. And it is also trying to sell 150 memberships to private club members outside the Carolinas for $600 a year.

If those memberships become fully subscribed, it will only generate $210,000 a year. The rest of the shortfall is anticipated to be made up by cart fees, guest fees and other forms of revenue. New members are asked to bring three guests per quarter. As of Feb. 1, the club had sold 73 of the new memberships.

The problem Musgrove Mill faces is similar to many private clubs across the nation. The days of the initiation fee are all but gone to all but the most exclusive clubs. Most of the mid-level clubs are practically giving away memberships just to get people in the doors to pay the monthly dues, which are the lifeblood of the private club. And many private clubs are starting to allow limited public play, simply in an effort to generate revenue.

Still, the biggest thing we sell in golf is hope, and everyone associated with Musgrove Mill has high hopes.

“Mr. McConnell is a hero down here,” Tallman said. “Those people who stuck with Musgrove Mill, they are heroes, too. They understand that we’d rather be open and people use the facility as opposed to closing the doors.”

And, at the end of the reality-stricken day, the bottom line is, unfortunately, the bottom line.

Performance validation is key when it comes to creating new Titleist golf ball models, or tweaking ones already in existence. Which is why the ball maker enlisted thousands of Team Titleist members to help develop the latest additions to its line – NXT Tour, NXT Tour S, Velocity and DT SoLo.

Titleist began the process by asking team members what they liked most about models already in existence – and what they might do to improve them as well as fill potential gaps in the line. According to Matt Hogge, director of product implementation of golf balls, those who had been playing the three-piece NXT Tour, which is geared toward aspirational golfers, said they wanted longer distance without giving up anything around the green. So, Titleist engineered a new version with a higher energy outer core and a soft Fusablend cover boasting improved aerodynamics.

Research also revealed that some NXT Tour users wanted a softer version of that popular ball. Enter NXT Tour S, a two-piece product targeted to the same aspirational player and featuring the same cover formulation and aerodynamics as the new NXT Tour. But this offering came with a low compression/highly resilient core, and also in two colors – high optic yellow and white.

Next up was the all-new Velocity, another two-piecer that sells for slightly less than the NXTs. Its main attribute is distance, and its name comes from the distance-producing speed its LSX core technology is designed to generate as well as the NAZ2 cover formulation. But it is also geared to deliver “playable feel” in the short game. Another twist was its availability in orange play numbers, in the traditional 1-4, and also double digits, 00, 11, 22 and 33.

As for the venerable DT SoLo, which was priced lower than Velocity, this iteration is the softest yet, employing a large, soft core and an aerodynamically improved cover made of two soft Surlyn ionomers. It, too, comes in optic yellow and white.

PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA | The mirrors were taped to the sides of the car, a Ford Focus. “They fell off too much,” Keegan Bradley remembered.

Not what you want to make an impression at Augusta National. Or even at the Subway sandwich shop down the street.

Bradley’s mode of transportation is better now. It should be. He won the PGA Championship last August, as a rookie. Sunday he came within a whisker of winning at Riviera. The man can play.

He was tied with Phil Mickelson for first place three rounds into the Northern Trust Open. The man can impress.

“I really like Keegan,” was Mickelson’s observation. “He’s a great player, and I think a lot of him … I think he’s a tremendous talent.”

That is understood. Bradley won a major, then won PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. That will get you a lot of places.

Who knew? Not Bradley, back in 2009, or was it 2008, he parked that Ford Focus off Washington Road across from the inaccessible heaven of Augusta National.

Bradley was on the Hooters Tour, minor leagues, playing in McCormick, S.C, some 40 miles from Augusta. So close. So far.

“I had an early tee time,” said Bradley, “and I decided to drive up and see Augusta.”

He saw Augusta, not Augusta National, until a week- and-a-half ago when, eligible for the 2012 Masters, Keegan, along with his father, Mark, a teaching pro, made an official visit.

They played a few practice rounds and loaded up buying those shirts and hats with the logo that has an outline of the United States with a flagstick poking up from about where Augusta, Georgia is located.

Different than the first time when he had his Subway sandwich, his view of the Augusta National gate and his unfulfilled dreams.

“I was just eating and staring down Magnolia Lane,” he said of the historic entranceway, which leads to the clubhouse, “and ready to rip my hair out of my head.

“I remember people watching people go up to the gate and talk to the guard and drive in, and I was imagining what that feeling must be like to be allowed into Augusta.”

The approval was almost as satisfying as the arrival.

“Getting to the gate,’’ Bradley offered, “and having the officer look and say, ‘Yep, you guys can go,’ was the coolest.”

It’s been a fantastic, bewildering, rewarding, gratifying few months for Bradley. A year ago, in the second round of the Northern Trust, he three-putted the 18th green at Riviera and missed the cut by a shot.

“I was so devastated,” he recalled. “I specifically remember missing this cut because I love this course so much, and how bummed out I was. I have come a long way. It doesn’t seem like a year ago. It seems like five years ago.

“I had the next week off, and I sulked the whole week. Much better feeling this time.”

Bradley and Mickelson, head to head, the kid, if the kid with style, class and élan – along with that major – against Phil the Mick, who days earlier won at Pebble, his 40th title, beating Tiger, beating everyone else.

“You have to try your best not to watch Phil,” said Bradley. He was determined to stay competitor, not spectator, although it’s never easy to ignore the great ones, and Mickelson has in the opening weeks of 2012 reaffirmed his status as great.

“I promise you,” Bradley said before they teed off, “I do want to beat Phil, and he wants to beat me. He could shoot really low. I’ve played with him. I’ve hung out with him, and I feel more comfortable this year playing in the final group than last year.”

Bradley is one of the bright, young individuals in golf, the American who slashed through the stretch of six straight major victories by the South Africans and Brits and Germans and Irish. Just when it didn’t seem anyone from the U.S. would ever again find room at the top, here came this unflappable young man from New England.

“You can be very relaxed around him,” Mickelson said of Bradley, with whom he shares agent representation. “You can rough him up a little bit, and he’ll give it right back. I enjoy being around him.”

Bradley grew up as a ski racer before switching to golf full time. He has a sense of humor and a sense of purpose. As is well known, he went to St. John’s University in Queens, and nobody thinks of playing golf in New York City. Well, Keegan Bradley does.

There’s a statue of Ben Hogan alongside the upper practice green at Riviera, where Hogan won two L.A. Opens and one U.S. Open. This time Bradley lost on the second hole of a three-man playoff with Mickelson, won by Bill Haas.

“My dad kind of beat that history of Hogan into me,” said Bradley. “(Riviera) is one of those courses that even though you haven’t played you can feel the history, see the (pictures of) the past champions in the locker room.”

Not all that different from Augusta National, except at Riviera there’s no Subway across the road, just multi-million dollar mansions.