Time-Tested : Experience Allows Baker to Survive a Youth Movement in Amateur Golf

There are two distinct age groups in golf, the first being the young bunch, the bucks of high school and college and a few years beyond who swing at golf balls the way Reggie Jackson swung at baseballs, grunting and groaning and lifting their heels out of their shoes.

The second group is the senior set, the Julius Boros and Dow Finsterwald-types who rely on their experience, guys who swing so gently that blind people gathered around the tee would ask, “Did he hit yet?”

Bunched in between those two groups, however, are the rest of the golfers. They are no longer young and flexible and powerful enough to peel the cover off of a ball with a 2-iron or to require Federal Aviation Administration approval before taking out the driver. But they’re not old enough to replace their caddies with paramedics, either.

Don Baker of Canoga Park is definitely not in that second group, the group of guys who occasionally snag their wristwatches in their hearing aid on the backswing. But Baker is 36, and he knows that he is no longer a member of that first group, either.

“I just hope my experience carries me through,” he said. “And it does, to a certain point. But at some level, there’s no substitute for talent.”

Baker, a second-team All-American golfer at USC in 1973, has combined the best of both worlds. He has played golf for 23 years, accumulating enough experience to be able to wriggle out of most every tough spot on a golf course. But he has also retained enough talent to ensure that his golf ball doesn’t find many tough spots.

Last weekend, playing on the brutally tough Eisenhower course at Industry Hills, Baker shot 74 to lead a group of qualifiers for this weekend’s Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship. It will be played today through Sunday at the Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena. The qualifying round at Industry Hills attracted 104 golfers vying for just 18 berths in the Amateur Championship.

“I hadn’t played Industry Hills for eight or nine years,” Baker said. “When I was notified that that’s where I was assigned for qualifying, let’s say I wasn’t real thrilled. I don’t like the course at all. But I figured in qualifying like that, with several spots available, it was as good as anyplace for me. I knew I wouldn’t have to shoot a great score on a course that tough, that I just had to be careful and not get hurt anywhere. I was surprised no one shot better than 74, though. It’s a tough course, but I thought some of those guys would shoot 72s or lower.”

Baker noticed early in the day that most of “those guys” were very young. It was a scene to which he has become accustomed. He played in the California Amateur Championship at Pebble Beach last month, playing his way from a starting field of 200 golfers into the field of 64 before being eliminated.

“At Pebble Beach it seemed like the average age was 19,” Baker said. “It was all kids. It’s like that in all of the top amateur tournaments now. It’s mostly high school and college kids.”

Baker is a certified public accountant. He has a wife and a 3-year-old daughter. Little things like earning a living and laughing and playing with his daughter tend to prevent him from playing golf six hours a day, seven days a week, as most of the top amateurs do.

“It’s definitely a disadvantage going into a tournament, both physically and mentally,” he said. “I play now about one-tenth as often as I used to play. I look at these kids who I know are playing for hours every day and I wonder if I can keep up with them anymore. I see guys playing the way I used to play. They hit it farther and putt better and do everything better.”

They don’t always, however, score better.

“I get matched up with these kids most of the time and I know that they’re thinking, ‘What’s this old guy doing out here,’ ” Baker said. “But after a few holes, they usually start to respect my game.”

And that, Baker said, is all he wants. Just a bit of respect. Starting today, he gets another chance to earn some.

“Realistically, a good showing for me will be in the top 10,” he said. “Last year the tournament was held at the Braemar Country Club, my home course, and I used a lot of local knowledge to finish seventh. To finish seventh again this year, on a different course, would be a much better showing for me. It’s not impossible for me to win the tournament, but I know it’s not likely.

“But not winning won’t ruin my weekend. If I go out and play well against these young guys, that’ll be fine with me.”