GUNN SHOOTS INTO CYBERSPACE.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Golf

Roger Gunn has glimpsed the future and he wonders if it might be him - for a while, at least.

Given the warp speed of technological advances in the computer age, breakthroughs have a way of being broken through and run past quickly. But Gunn, longtime head of instruction at Agoura Hills' Lindero Country Club and a two-time U.S. Open participant, is at least currently on the leading edge of the wave.

He calls it cyber golf, a way of giving lessons on the Internet, and says his product has had a lot of positive response since he put it on the cyber shelf recently after a year of fine-tuning.

``It's a way to learn to play the game of golf on-line,'' said Gunn, whose instruction can be obtained in two ways: by subscribing to his service and being able to download a new lesson every two weeks for a year, or by purchasing his entire instruction package in CD-ROM form.

``It's really blossoming,'' said Gunn, who said the difficult part of the project was ``to get the technology where we wanted . . . compatibility of access was the big issue. But the bugs are out now and we're ready to go.''

Lessons, based on stop-action photographs of Gunn executing trouble shots at area courses, can be accessed at www.cybergolfpro.com.

Robinson update: Rick Smith, former head pro at Valencia Country Club, and Larry Atlas, who held the same position at Woodley Lakes, are now working at Robinson Ranch, the 36-hole Canyon Country complex that will open its Mountain course perhaps as soon as this month. Robinson Ranch is scheduled to open its Valley course next summer.

The Mountain layout, which offers four sets of tees and plays to a par-71 and 6,508 yards from the back tees, has been rated 72.1 and awarded a slope of 133. Middle handicappers will find it user-friendly, especially from the white tees, and particularly scenic, nestled as it is in rustic, oak-dotted Sand Canyon, about a mile east of Highway 14.

But Mountain also has some bite for golfers who stray too far off its sloped and relatively narrow bermuda fairways or fail to pay attention to the subtle uphill, downhill or sidehill lies that characterize the landscape.

The rewards include greens that are exceptional for a new course (just be sure to be putting from below the cup) and a great view from virtually every hole, some of which have fairly dramatic drops and rises in elevation.

At $70 weekdays and $95 weekends (that cost including cart and range balls), Robinson Ranch is pricey but not overly so during the week, and the conditions, greens and visual surroundings make it a worthwhile treat. Maybe more so in the winter, when dormant burmuda rewards even off-target shots with fair lies.

Road trip: Another reason to visit the World Golf Village and Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla., will occur next year with the debut of the King and the Bear course, co-designed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

The course, scheduled to open late in 2000, will be the handiwork of two men becoming as well-known for their design work as for their combined 25 professional major titles.

The layout is expected to be a combination of the design styles of both men - Nicklaus' more-challenging courses generally better-suited for the better player and Palmer's user-friendly layouts.

``Arnold and I have varying styles on how we do golf courses,'' Nicklaus told the Orlando Sentinel. Said Palmer: ``Jack and I are similar in that we both have two arms and two legs.''

The two men have separately designed more than 350 courses worldwide. Two of Nicklaus' works - Alabama's Shoal Creek and Kentucky's Valhalla - have hosted PGA Championships, while the Palmer-designed K-Club in Kildare, Ireland, will be the site of the Ryder Cup in 2005.

On top: Palmer was honored last week as Golf World magazine's Newsmaker of the Century.

``Arnold Palmer stands out for his contributions to golf, both on and off the course,'' Golf World editor Terry Galvin said. ``Few athletes in the 20th century have proven more popular with fans, colleagues and corporate America.''

Golf World also honored top newsmakers for each decade, selecting Harry Vardon ('00s), Francis Ouimet ('10s), Bobby Jones ('20s), Gene Sarazen ('30s), Byron Nelson ('40s), Ben Hogan ('50s), Palmer ('60s), Jack Nicklaus ('70s), Seve Ballesteros ('80s) and Tiger Woods ('90s).