Dealt A Bad Hand

And exactly nobody went.

But Jim McGannon wasn't going to give up. He was bent on helping these guys, and he hounded them until a few went to eye doctors. Lo and behold, they came back with glasses. Eventually a few more went, and then more, and then more than 20. Fully a third of the Pinehurst caddies now wear glasses. And not just glasses, but the same gray state-approved, low-cost frames.

"It's the team frame," says McGannon with a grin. "It's Team Pinehurst. All of a sudden everybody can see the ball."

Not only that, but somebody must have finally seen what the electric frying pan looked like and taken it home to clean. McGannon even found a clinic that would give the caddies cheap physicals. Things have started to look up for everybody.

Well, almost everybody. Gillis, whose eyes seem to be among the worst at Pinehurst, refuses to go to a doctor. Big John Allbrook was told he had glaucoma, but he won't go for the treatment.

And the man who once had the sharpest eyes in the whole caddie yard won't go, either. "Ol' Fletch is just too proud, I guess," says McGannon.

Lord a'mighty, Fletch, you ought to think about it. You might just like what you see.