COLIN FARQUHARSON writes:
As you all know, I love a good human-interest golf story. It doesn’t matter if the subject is not Scottish, if there’s a good story line, then I’ll read it from start to finish and maybe come back to again for a second read.
I hope you like this one I came across in my nightly trawling of the websites of the world. If you are having a tough time for any reason, this is the kind of story, with a happy ending, that will lift your spirits.

Chip Beck proves you can come
back – if your wife has faith

By Randall Mell, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

First Chip Beck lost his golf swing. Then he lost his way.
He will tell you he never lost the love he needed to find his way back, and that's why he is such an improbable favorite this week at the Allianz Championship at The Old Course at Broken Sound, Boca Raton in Florida.
"I wouldn't have had a chance without my wife," Beck, 50, said of his comeback. "She always believed in me. I don't know why. She always had this confidence in me. She'd tell me that I would always be her winner, and it's unbelievable what that meant to me. Without her, I'd be gone from this game.
"Karen Beck saw what nobody else could when her husband slipped into a slump rivaling the worst the game's ever seen. She's even more determinedly optimistic than he is, and that's saying something. Chip's sunny disposition is legendary on tour. Nobody endured a bad round more cheerfully than he did, but in the worst of times, his hopefulness was tested.
NEVER LOST HOPE
"I love Chip tremendously, and my love for him was never based on his golf," Karen said. "I never lost hope in him."
Beck went nearly two seasons on the PGA Tour without making a cut from the spring of 1997 to the fall of '98. He missed 46 consecutive cuts. He was embarrassed as attention mounted over whether he would break Doug Ford's record of 54 consecutive missed cuts.
"Chip couldn't keep the ball in a 20-acre field when we started working together," said Jim Suttie, the teacher who helped Beck rebuild a new swing. "He was missing left and right. He was down as far as you can get, further down than Seve Ballesteros and Ian Baker Finch ever got. Nobody's ever been where Chip's game was and come back the way he has.
"Since joining the Champions Tour last September, Beck has shown he isn't just competitive again. He's a threat to win. He tied for fifth in his debut at the Constellation Energy Classic and was second twice and third once in four other starts.
FAITH AND PERSEVERANCE
"The real lesson here is about faith and perseverance," Beck said. "It's about my family loving me for who I am, not what I can do. I never lost myself completely because my family loved me."
Through the worst of his slide, Beck went 18 months without cashing a check in an official event. That was tough on a four-time US PGA Tour winner who once shot 59 at the Las Vegas Invitational, making him one of just three players to do so in a PGA Tour event. He was the tour's second-leading money winner in 1988 and nearly won The Masters in 1993, the same season he clinched the Ryder Cup for the United States with a clutch singles victory against Barry Lane.
Still, Beck's slump was so profound, he sold his home in Lake Forest, Illinois, and moved his wife and their four children into a rented house. Three years ago, he took a job selling insurance.
For two years, Beck dressed in a suit and tie and toted a suitcase onto a train to an office in downtown Chicago.
"I didn't know if I could really make a living doing anything else besides golf," Beck said.
BOTH VERY RELIGIOUS
Beck, who as a young man thought seriously about becoming a priest, said he found solace in his routine attending 6 a.m. Mass every day. His prayers, though, were particularly intense as he sought to build a new career for his family.
"Both of us are very religious," Karen said. "We both believed that God wouldn't give us anything we couldn't handle, and we believe He answers prayer. It's just that sometimes you have to figure out the answer."
Beck's people skills helped him make a six-figure income in his new field, but he never lost his desire to play. He continued to work his game around his new career while revamping his swing with Suttie.
Today, Suttie attributes a number of factors to Beck's decline, including a back injury and a change in equipment that didn't suit his swing.
For a long time, Beck's peers have wondered if his failure at the '93 Masters didn't lead to his slump. Beck trailed Bernhard Langer by three shots when he famously laid up at the 15th hole in the final round. He endured harsh criticism for failing to make the bold play.
Suttie believes that shot might have contributed to Beck's problems, but not for the reason everyone thinks. Beck hit a low cut back then. His low ball flight didn't suit Augusta National, especially the shot he needed to catch Langer with a bold play at the 15th.
"Chip tried to learn to play with a higher ball flight," Suttie said. "He got too mechanical."
Beck found his new swing with Suttie over more than six years of work, but it took him the first 21/2 years just to begin to feel comfortable with the change. Suttie gave Beck a stronger grip, less erect posture and a steeper angle to impact. Beck now plays with a more neutral swing he can work left and right.
LEFT INSURANCE JOB
Last year, Beck left his insurance job and tested his new game on the Nationwide Tour to prepare for the Champions (Seniors) Tour. He made only three of 13 cuts, but he got control of his ball again, and he began to score respectably.
When Beck moved over to the Champions Tour, he relished being an immediate contender. His children at home range from 16 to 11, and he has two older children from a first marriage. The younger children didn't realize their father was really a player until he made ESPN SportsCenter's highlights with a hole-in-one on a 316-yard par 4 in a Nationwide Tour event four years ago.
"The beauty of all of this is that I got away from golf," Beck said. "I was a husband and father spending time at home. Our life as a family came together."
Now, his family is loving how his game is coming together.