FROM THE FRINGE & ON THE GREEN HOLE OF THE WEEK.

El Cariso GC, Sylmar

Hole No. 12, par 4, 290 yards

One of the risk-reward tests on an excellent short course featuring many good holes, No. 12 is not the most difficult on the par-62 Sylmar layout, which plays 4,493 yards from the tips. But this hole offers plenty of challenge for big hitters who try to reach the raised, considerably sloped green with a tee shot to set up an eagle-putt opportunity. To do so, they must clear a wide green-fronting drainage pathway, requiring a ball flight of more than 260 yards to get past rocks that can bounce short shots into hazard right or out-oounds left and behind the green. A conservative, two-shot attack of the green also has its risk, since any approach hit to the back of the right-to-left sloped putting surface can bounce or roll out of bounds.

- Dave Shelburn

VIDEOTAPE REVIEW

``Swing the Handle''

By Eddie Merrins

There is no shortage of distinguished golfers willing to lend testimony to the teaching skills of former UCLA head coach and longtime teaching professional Eddie Merrins.

Current PGA Tour players and early 1980s UCLA teammates Duffy Waldorf, Corey Pavin and Steve Pate endorse the instructional ability of Merrins, who in 1988 directed the Bruins to their only NCAA men's golf title. So do major champions Fred Couples, Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Ben Crenshaw, Steve Elkington and Byron Nelson, who called Merrins ``one of the best instructors of anybody that I know.''

In ``Swing the Handle'' (www.swingthehandle.com), Merrins offers what he has learned during nearly 60 years as a player and teacher - the past 40 at Bel-Air Country Club. His eight-volume edition has segments on fundamentals, cause and effect, shotmaking, shotmaking procedure, short-game play and fine-tuning as well as sections on playing the game and makeup of a golfer.

Especially informative are Merrins' thoughts on fundamentals, and cause and effect, the beginning volumes in a $150 set that is accompanied by a separate tape on drills.

The collection of tapes includes demonstration assistance from playing professionals Helen Alfredsson, David Feherty, Bob May and Waldorf as well as celebrity golfers Craig T. Nelson, Robert Wagner, Mac Davis and Celebrity Tour winner Jack Wagner.

All appear to be especially attentive to the soft-spoken, nattily dressed man, who, at 5-foot-7 and perhaps 150 pounds has long been known as ``The Little Pro'' and who, as a junior, once defeated Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. What he has since learned about a game in which he has taught many of its best players seems a bargain at less than half the cost of the latest and soon enough to be yesterday's hottest driver.

- Dave Shelburne

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

(Competition open to the public)

--July 11-12-L.A. City Senior Women's Championship at Rancho Park GC

--July 12-14-Bakersfield Amateur Championship at The Limks at River Lakes Ranch

--July 12-14-SCGA Championship at El Caballero CC (entries closed May 15)

--July 16-Long Beach Open amateur qualifying at El Dorado Park GC

--July 20-Aliso Viejo City Championship at Aliso Viejo GC

--July 21-Oldsmobile Scramble at Lakewood GC

--July 22-Authentic Swing Charity Tournament at North Ranch CC (818-865-8067: benefits patients with ALS, Lou Gehrig's Disease)

--July 22-23-Oceanside Senior Championship at Oceanside GC

--July 23-24-SCGA Affiliate Team Championship at Robinson Ranch Valley Course.

--July 27-28-Moreno Valley City Championship at Moreno Valley Ranch

--July 29-NYPD & NYFD Family Relief Tournament at Robinson Ranch

--July 29-U.S. Amateur Sectional qualifiers at Goose Creek GC and La Cumbre CC (signups close July 10)

--July 30-U.S. Amateur Sectional qualifier at Rio Bravo (signups close July 10)

--July 31-U.S. Amateur Sectional qualifier at Landmark South (signups close July 10)

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

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Box:

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (see text)