Columnist Dean Juipe: Nellis pro can’t resist a challenge

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, April 17, 2001 | 10:25 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

The sun wasn't about to be deterred as Richard Yale, a good-sized man who had been diligently beating some balls on the range, took a seat on a nearby bench and looked to catch his breath.

It wasn't yet noon and he still had a long day ahead.

And at 67 years old, the prospect of playing 18 grueling holes under the most trying of circumstances had a wearying feel to it. As one of 156 players aged 50 and over who had paid $300 for the right to play 18 holes Monday at the TPC at the Canyons with an eye toward securing one of four berths in the Las Vegas Senior Classic, Yale had every right to be intimidated.

But golfers are known for possessing a love for the game and Yale was approaching his task as if it were a heavenly present.

"I'm just glad to be above ground and kicking," he said during his respite from smacking 150-yard 8-irons and 270-yard drives on a range populated with colleagues of similar shapes, aspirations and backgrounds. "My chances of qualifying (for the tournament that opens Friday) are slim and none, but I like the competition.

"But you should also know I might not be the ideal person you want for your story."

That's where he was wrong. Yale, the head pro at Sunrise Vista (at Nellis Air Force Base) for the past 15 years and an occasional entrant in Senior Qualifiers throughout the West, was just exactly who I was looking for: A man who wasn't so much chasing a dream as he was fulfilling a lovely ambition.

He knew he wasn't apt to gain one of the four spots in the Senior Classic that would go to the top finishers in the Qualifier, but darned if he wasn't going to try.

"I've played in a few of these before," he said, adding that anything within driving distance of Las Vegas was fair game. "The best I ever did was make a 10-man playoff for the fourth spot in Seattle about 10 or 12 years ago."

He was not, however, disheartened by that lack of success, or, for that matter, the very real possibility that his best days as a golfer were behind him.

"I'm hitting the ball well," he said. "I haven't lost much off my game."

Qualifiers on the Senior Tour are brutal by nature, appealing to a mix of fading tour veterans, spirited club pros and imaginative stragglers. Among the familiar names at the Canyons were ex-tour regulars Lon Hinkle, Dick Mast, Dick Lotz, Bobby Stroble, Bob Lendzion and a host of aging locals who once tamed the Southern Nevada Golf Association tour.

Each man teed it up not only hopeful of landing a spot in the Senior Classic (and automatically earning at least a minimal purse in the no-cut event), but in bringing some credibility to this dusty saying: "Many an old fiddle has a fine tune yet to play."

Yale, a retired Marine and Metro police officer, was among the majority with no caddie, no swing coach and no fans. He was out there simply to challenge himself and feel alive.

The fact that he would later shoot 82 and fail to qualify was of no concern.

"You can't beat this," he said as we completed our talk, rising to tackle another pyramid of neatly stacked balls on a glorious day in which even the longest of long shots had access to fame and an intriguing satisfaction.