In This Time Of Uncertainty, The Game Provides Sound Answers

You might not know Ian Finnis, the tall man who towers over Tommy Fleetwood as the pair of them walk the fairways of the world. Fleetwood does the playing, very successfully, and Finnis the bag carrying, equally successfully.

If you do know Finnis then you will know what is about to be revealed. If you don’t then you can guess. There is something about his wide smile and his open personality that suggests he is what is known in Britain as “sound.”

What does sound mean? Imagine a conversation between two Britons talking about a third. One says to the other:

“That Pierce chap who we met in the bar last night. Is he sound?”

“Oh yes,” the other replies. “Sound as a bell.”

If someone is sound, they are sound as in sensible, sound as in well-mannered, sound as in fair-minded.

You didn’t need to know Ian Finnis (above, left) to think that he is “sound.” It is unlikely he would be caddying for Fleetwood if he were not sound because Fleetwood, too, is as sound as a bell and one of the interesting truisms in golf is that caddi...