His Method of Teaching Is Simple: Step by Step

Hank Johnson of Birmingham, Ala., the 2004 PGA teaching pro of the year, says he likes to get to know a student before he starts to work on his or her golf swing.

“My daddy used to tell me, ‘Don’t get to the top of your ladder and find out that you are leaning against the wrong wall,’ ” Johnson told TNT at the PGA Championship.

Trivia time: How did Baltusrol Golf Club, site of the PGA Championship, gets its name?

Net result: Scott Harper, the 18-year-old from Armonk, N.Y., who last week jumped from the upper deck at Yankee Stadium into a net some 40 feet below, said he gambled that the netting would hold his weight.

Although not seriously hurt, Harper was carried off on what Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press termed a “seventh-inning stretcher.”

Dumb and dumber: Neighbors of Harper have told the media that he is a knucklehead. But a gambling website, nine.com, has announced that it wants to reward Harper for his stupidity, offering him a college scholarship worth up to $5,000.

A press release said the idea was to educate Harper and help him avoid such foolish gambles.

On the home front: Said NBC’s Jay Leno: “You’d think if any fans would be jumping, it would be Dodger fans.”

Guaranteed giveaway: If the Dodgers are looking for ways to keep attendance up, they might want to try what the Lake Elsinore Storm did Saturday night.

As part of a Positive-Purpose Night promotion, the California League team guaranteed it would beat the High Desert Mavericks, even though the team had lost 12 games in a row. The Storm lost, 3-1, but the game drew 5,050, and everyone in attendance got a voucher for a free ticket to one of the team’s 10 remaining home games.

Dodger reunion: Here’s another promotional idea for the Dodgers: Former Employee Night.

The Long Beach Armada of the independent Golden Baseball League, before its 7-3 victory over Mesa on Saturday night, honored former Dodger employees, and more than 60, plus family members, showed up. Peter O’Malley was in attendance, and Ross Porter threw out the first pitch to Bill Russell, with Joe Amalfitano at the plate.

Barry Stockhamer, the Armada’s general manager, came up with the idea, which figures. He formerly was the Dodgers’ vice president of marketing.

Looking back: On this day in 1993, Greg Norman’s putt on the second playoff hole of the PGA Championship lipped out, giving Paul Azinger the title. It also gave Norman a Grand Slam of playoff losses. He had earlier lost playoffs at the 1984 U.S. Open, the 1987 Masters and the 1989 British Open.

Trivia answer: The name comes from Baltus Roll, a farmer who owned the property. He was murdered in 1831 during an attempted robbery.

And finally: Of Harper’s Yankee Stadium leap, David Letterman said, “How can you afford to get that drunk at $8 a beer?”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.