Literature Part Six: Gary Moran on one man's attempt to turn back the years and become the golfer he never could have been

"Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all" is an adage often applied to sport. It must have gnawed away for years in the mind of Harry Hurt III, an outstanding junior player who gave up the game for 25 years before trying to make it a as a tournament professional.

Hurt was born in 1951 and grew up in Houston. By the age of 12 he was breaking 80 and, lying about his birthdate, won a citywide championship for 13 to 15-year-olds. He wasn't, however, the best junior in Texas, a fact that he was reminded of many times over the next few years.

He played in a 72-hole junior tournament in 1966 and finished 13 shots ahead of the kid in third. But he was eight shots behind the winner, skinny little Bruce Lietzke who "hit drives that seemed to roll forever". The first time he ran into Ben Crenshaw was at Houston Country Club, where Hurt held the course record with 70. Crenshaw had never seen the place before and shot 68.

Lietzke went to the University of Houston and Crenshaw to the University of Texas, both golfing powerhouses. Hurt went north to Harvard, who won nothing, fell out of love with the game and became a journalist. It could happen to a saint.

He averaged no more than a single round for each of the next 25 years, but very few ever really, truly give up the game. In 1995 and with the idea of documenting his efforts in a book, 43-year-old Hurt decided to restart his golfing career.

He would embrace modern equipment. He would take lessons from the best teachers and practice every day. He would follow a fitness programme and consult with a sports psychologist. In short, he would do everything in his power to try to qualify for the PGA Tour.

Hopeless romantics might expect a happy ending and a Major championship victory. Realistic golfers might wonder if Hurt was a sandwedge short of a full set. Realism won out, and at times Hurt's dream reads more like a horror story. Despite lessons from the likes of Butch Harmon and Bob Rotella the results didn't follow. Hurt shot 72-79 to miss out on local qualifying for the US Amateur. He turned professional and shot 75-81 in his debut on the Hooters Tour. Then, at the Nike Sonoma Open, "a golfing nightmare descended on me in much the same way that F Scott Fitzgerald described the onset of financial bankruptcy - gradually and then all of a sudden and without relief." A few bogeys, a quadruple bogey, a treble bogey and a three-putt finish for an 86.

Suffice to say that the specifics of the rounds do not merit the amount of space they are given in the book, but there are some interesting characters and stories along the way. He met up again with Crenshaw, Lietzke and a young and innocent Notah Begay: "Everyone's dubbing Tiger the next great player but he's not much better than me, if at all." Hurt did get to play, badly, in the first stage of the qualifying school for the main tour, but his triumph came in an 18-event on the 40+ Tour in Florida where he had a hole-in-one en route to a 68 and a winner's cheque for $600.

Hurt was reinstated as an amateur, but turned professional again with a view to becoming a bona fide instructor. He passed the PGA's Playing Ability Test last October and is one of America's oldest apprentices. Maybe those who can do and those who can't teach, but, for sure, it's better to have tried and failed.