By Clair Goodwin

Chip Shots

What would you think is the most pressure-packed situation?

Standing at the plate with two outs in the 9th inning and the winning run on third?

Walking to the line for a free throw to win a game?

Standing on the 18th tee with a one-shot lead?

If you chose the latter, Bob Turner would agree wholeheartedly with you.

"There is no greater pressure than having a one-shot lead going into the final hole of a tournament," Turner contends. "For one thing, there is no pressure on the guy behind you. He has nothing to lose. But when you stand on the last tee with a lead, you have everything to lose. It can be hard to get your breath."

Turner should know pressure. He played big-time college basketball and baseball at Baylor University, pro baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals organization and pro basketball in Battle Creek, Mich.

Twice Bob faced that dreaded one-shot lead on the 18th, both times in a club championship at Loma Linda.

"In 1982, Nolan Moore made the best putt I ever saw on the 18th," Turner said, smiling at the thought. "I was 6 or 7 feet from the hole and he made this putt from the back right to the left front of the green. He needed two putts to tie. Suddenly, I had to make my putt to tie. I didn't. It wasn't close. I choked."

Twelve years later, Turner found himself in a similar position on the final hole of the club championship and drained a 12-foot downhill putt to win the Loma Linda title.

That Loma Linda club championship is one of three he has won - all at different clubs. He won at Briarbrook in 1978 and took the senior championship at Twin Hills Golf and Country Club in 2001.

Still, Turner's biggest victory has to be the 1978 Briarbrook Invitational, which elevated him into the top echelon of amateurs in the area. But he also has been a member of the Joplin Horton Smith and Ky Laffoon teams 16 times since 1977. He was an eight-time member of the Loma Linda "Team of the Decade," which won the Joplin Globe City Championship from 1980 to 1990, and has been on the winning city team 10 times.

Turner's solid record as an amateur is being recognized with his induction into the Joplin Golf Hall of Fame during a banquet on Saturday, April 29, at Twin Hills. Also being taken into the local golf shrine is the late Ben Pell, long-time head pro at Loma Linda and a former assistant at Twin Hills.

The induction ceremony will be a highlight of the Joplin Golf Hall of Fame Classic, a two-person scramble that will be played April 29 and 30 at Twin Hills and Loma Linda.

Plaques containing information about the two players and their pictures will be placed on the Wall of Fame at Schifferdecker Municipal Golf Course.

"The fact I am going in when Ben is going in is a great honor," said Turner. "I'm just sad that Barry Franks isn't still around to see this. He was one of my mentors. He pushed me." Franks died earlier this year.

Even though he has compiled an enviable record, Turner is humble about his ball-striking ability. "I'm an overachiever," he said. "I play better than my game." He is what is known as a grinder, someone who simply refuses to give up - whether on a putt, a chip or a hole. And that determination to get the most out of every round has paid off.

Ed Spencer and Bob won the Missouri State 4-Ball Championship in 1997 at Millwood, coming from four shots behind the leaders to win by four shots. The duo also won the net division of the state 4-ball in 1999.

Turner credits a tip from friend and Joplin Golf Hall of Famer Gary Phillips with helping him deal with the final-round pressure in winning the Briarbrook club championship.

"We were on the practice putting green ... and he told me 'just remember, everybody birdies and bogies different holes.' It was be best advice I ever got. I bogeyed the first hole and then shot 68 to win."

Good golf is the result of hard work and practice on developing rhythm and timing, all of which leads to confidence. And Turner has always put in his hours of practice. For many years, he would take a week of vacation just to work on his game, daily hitting hundreds of sand shots, drives, long and short irons, chips and putts before playing nine or 18 holes.

As for the pressure of playing tournament golf, Turner says: "In my lifetime, I have always felt comfortable in my basketball and baseball talent and in other athletic endeavors. But I have never felt comfortable in my golf talent. You can have a bad at-bat in baseball and still be a hero. You can miss a free throw in basketball and still make a game-winner later. But you mess up one or two holes in a medal tournament, and you can shoot yourself right out of it."

Address correspondence to Clair Goodwin, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802.