19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

THINKING WITH ARMOUR
Sirs:
Your articles My Brains—and Your Muscles! by Tommy Armour (SI, March 30; April 6, 13 and 20) are the most logical and interesting golf series that I have ever read.
NICHOLAS M. BACCARI
Detroit

Sirs:
Hope all women golfers have been reading your series by Tommy Armour.

I am a 12-handicap golfer, whose only claim to fame was a hole-in-one. As a busy mother of three teen-agers, I now only have time to play about once a week. So far this year I have been averaging around 90. Then I read the first installment of Mr. Armour's series; the next time I played, I had an 84. After the second installment I shot an 81. I have just finished the third article and can scarcely wait to play again. I'm sure I will at least break 80, my dream for 20 years.
MRS. RAY MORRIS
San Mateo, Calif.

AH, WILDERNESS (CONT.)
Sirs:
The letter from Mr. Henry W. Wright of the Western Oil and Gas Association (19TH HOLE, April 13), like other products of the petroleum industry, produces heat without light and smogs up the issues.

Mr. Wright's position is based on the Western Oil and Gas Association's members not wanting to chance losing a single acre of land which they might exploit, no matter what its cost to future generations (which Mr. Wright probably thinks of as an insignificant minority).

Mr. Wright probably does not mind the petroleum industry's getting special write-off provisions for tax purposes. This is special treatment for a special group by the government. This industry may well need this treatment to survive.

The remaining wilderness is something very special, too. Wilderness demands help now or it may soon wither and die. If we "write it off," it is gone forever. Would the petroleum industry be willing to leave itself with as little protection as the wilderness now has?

The reason the wilderness bill is being opposed by several special-interest groups is that they realize how poorly protected the wilderness areas are at present and they do not want to see this changed.

I have had the pleasure of being the doctor on several Sierra Club pack trips in California, Montana and Wyoming. These trips are not for Mr. Wright's "Park Avenue conservationists." The total daily cost is about that of a motel room. What a wonderful surprise it is to find that I have no psychosomatic problems to treat. People undergo a wonderful transformation in unspoiled areas. They enjoy living again.

I hope and pray that I can walk through these same mountains very slowly and share these wonders of nature with my grandchildren. If the wilderness bill does pass, I may live to see this dream come true. If it does not pass, I may drive to the same spot with my grandchildren, let them hear, see and smell an oil well, and let them gaze on eroded, stump-covered mountains which once were covered with lush pines.
GILBERT H. LANG, M.D.
Harlingen, Texas