Writer takes his best shot at golf film

Screenwriter and TV writer Mark Frost (“Twin Peaks,” “The Fantastic Four”) has always been passionate about golf. “My grandfather was Scottish and just loved the game,” said Frost, 51. “My grandmother was a great golfer and a club champion. Whenever I was visiting them, I got a double barrel of golf lore. I guess it was always in my blood.

“I started playing the game seriously in my late 20s. I thought it would be fun to write about the sport.”

The result was “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” published in 2002. The book chronicles the ultimate underdog story: Twenty-year-old American caddy Francis Ouimet defeats the reigning champion, Britain’s legendary Harry Vardon, at the 1913 U.S. Open.

In telling the story, Frost explored the changing social climate in England and America.

“The sport was right in the center of these changing social dynamics,” Frost said. “It was a game invented by blue-collar people in Scotland but adopted by the elite in England and America. All of those conflicts were coming into the open. I was amazed to find out how much was played out in golf as well.”

For example, Vardon -- even though he was a top-ranking player -- was considered lower class and not allowed to enter upper-crust clubhouses in England or America. “You would have to imagine someone as popular as Tiger Woods not being allowed into a clubhouse,” Frost said.

Frost thought “Game” had the makings of a film and found it a home at Disney, which has had success with such sports movies as “Remember the Titans” (2000) and “Miracle” (2004).

The PG-rated “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” starring Shia LaBeouf as Ouimet, Stephen Dillane as Vardon and newcomer Josh Flitter as Ouimet’s 10-year-old caddy, Eddie Lowery, opens Friday. Besides writing the screenplay, Frost also is a producer. “Titanic” costar Bill Paxton directs.

In adapting the book, Frost said, “We made a clear decision that was it wasn’t going to be 50-50 about Francis and Harry. It got narrowed down to a single protagonist. When those decisions get made, the things you have to leave out are very self-apparent. But I didn’t find it as painful as I thought.”

Successfully capturing the sport of golf for the big screen has eluded many filmmakers. Only a few, such as “Pat and Mike,” “Caddyshack” and “Tin Cup,” have hit a hole-in-one at the box office. Frost hopes that “Game” avoids the pitfalls of previous golf movies that failed to capture the intensity of the sport.

“I have played the game so much, I think I understand it pretty well -- it is almost like chess when you are playing one on one,” he explained. “The intensity of that feel is what we wanted to make clear for the audience.

“The other thing we discovered early on is it’s not interesting to watch the flight of the ball necessarily,” Frost said. “It is more interesting and often more telling to watch the faces of the people who are playing and watching the game. There are very few shots of the ball. It’s more about people reacting to something that is happening.”