Who will rise to the occasion in the Greene County Open?

GCDW photo by Terry Schwinghammer Brock Anderson winds up with his driver on the 18th tee in last year's Greene County Open. Anderson is a two-time winner of the Open.

There is golf, and there is tournament golf. And the differences can outweigh the similarities.

Tournament golf introduces an element of pressure not present in a casual round or a weekly choose-up.

And this weekend's Greene County Open tournament will test the mettle of some 70 golfers.

Ben Hogan said in his book Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, "In some important respects tournament golf and golf are as foreign to each other as ice hockey and tennis."

Hogan's "Five Lessons" first ran as a series in Sports Illustrated in 1957. The book, written with golf writer Herbert Warren Wind has since become a classic of golf instruction.

Hogan stated in his book, "The point of tournament golf is to gain command of a swing which the more pressure you put on it the better it works."

After all, the touring professional and the average golfer are both searching to master the movements that will result in a repeating swing.

And the chief premise of Hogan's instruction book is the average golfer is capable of achieving mastery of those movements.

Golf is a difficult game to play very well. But Hogan believed it's an easy game to play fairly well.

"Up to a point, as I see it, there's nothing inherently difficult about golf," the golfing legend said. "I see no reason, truly, why the average golfer, if he goes about it intelligently, shouldn't play in the 70s - and I mean by playing the type of shots a fine golfer plays."

The past winners and perennial contenders for the Greene County Open title have proven their swings do indeed hold up under tournament pressure. Still, it isn't unusual to see a few second-round 83s and 85s, even in the championship flight.

For the rest of us, maintaining a repetitive swing under tournament pressure remains more of a challenge.

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One player whose swing always seems to hold up is Brock Anderson. The two-time Open Champion (2012 and 2014) is consistently one of the leading contenders in the annual tournament.

It's remarkable considering Anderson only plays three or four other times a year.

With Brock, family comes first.

How does he continue to play at such a high level playing so infrequently? Obviously Anderson has considerable talent.

And to this writer's admittedly untrained eye, Brock Anderson owns the best golf swing this side of the big boys on the Big Tour.

His swing is as powerful as it is aesthetically pleasing.

Brock readily admits he doesn't play at quite the same level he once did. But he always seems to be in the hunt for the Greene County Open championship.

No one has shown more dramatic improvement than 2015 champion Clayton French.

And no one works harder at the game than the current Marian University golfer. With the tournament experience he's gained at Marian and the countless hours of practice, Frenchie has noticeably elevated his level of play.

When Gary Player first joined the PGA Tour, he encountered the great Ben Hogan in the locker room during one of his first tournaments.

Hogan saw tremendous potential in the young South African and asked Player about his practice habits.

"Do you practice, son?" Hogan asked.

"Oh yes, sir!" Player replied.

As the tour rookie who would one day be part of the Big Three triumvirate - along with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer - recited his practice routine for the legend, Hogan said, "Double it."

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OK, this is turning into a "Ben Hogan Said" column.

But I'm still going to throw out one more nugget.

Ben Hogan said, "You're only as good as your clubs allow you to be."

Which gives all of us an excuse to buy more junk!

I'm a self-professed equipment junkie. Chris Taylor and I are keeping the golf equipment manufacturers in business.

This year alone I've got a new driver, 3 wood, hybrid and driving iron in the bag.

But I'm sticking with my Mizuno irons until my skills have diminished to the point I can no longer play effectively with them.

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Since I started playing in the weekend choose-ups at The Phil about a dozen years ago on my summer visits to Linton from Indy, I've been continually amazed by the sheer number of good players in this area - especially for as small as our population base is.

We have players from Linton-Stockton's 2005 State Finalist team and the 2012 and 2016 sectional champions. No fewer than six past champions - several of them multiple winners - are in this year's tournament field.

And it doesn't end with the championship flight.

The first flight is always filled with single-digit handicap players. And a dozen or so of the "seasoned citizens," as Harvey Penick referred to senior players, routinely shoot in the 70s.

As Phil Harris pro Bart Beard said, "We do have a lot of good golfers here."

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I've been eligible to play in the Senior flight for four years now. But the aging holdout still hasn't made the move.

Somehow I can't force myself to move up to the forward tees just yet.

I considered playing with the Seniors two years ago. But as Shane "Bean" Thornton so indelicately put it, "You might as well put on a skirt if you're going to play from up there."

His words, not mine. These guys can play too!

Thornton added, "Besides, you wouldn't have a snowball's chance of beating Randy Smith."

True.

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So, who's up for the challenge this weekend?

Some will pass the test. And some won't.

"Caddyshack" ranks as one of my all-time favorite movies. My biggest takeaway from the epic 1979 film?

Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) wasn't a "money player." Webb conceded as much when he revealed "I don't play golf with people for money."

Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield) coaxed Ty into the big money match against Judge Smails and Dr. Beeper. "Come on, you're an ace, Ty. Everybody knows it," Czervik said.

But Ty Webb was only an "ace" when playing solo.

When the money was on the line in the big match, Webb failed to deliver.

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Best of luck to all the participants in the Greene County Open this weekend! May all your swings be good ones!

Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.