by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
Larry Baker is a Jacksonville detective who loves his job — hostage negotiating is among his duties — but his passion is golf. That passion soon will have him on national television.
Baker is one of 29 people with a handicap of 8 or higher chosen for a golf reality show May 14 and 20 on CBS. It will be taped Wednesday and Thursday and everyone will be sworn to secrecy until it airs.
“Actually, my wife got me into it,” said the 40-year-old Baker. “She saw a notice in Golf Magazine. Why not apply?”
He did, via the Internet, and that led to a series of auditions including a lengthy session in Orlando.
“It was like being auditioned for a movie,” he said. “I had to hit shots with a camera right in my face.”
Baker said he thought he had a good chance. “I have a little ham in me,” he said. “I did OK on camera.”
He got the job and a chance to win $250,000 by making par on nine straight holes. He says he won’t last that long on the show.
“I’m greedy,” he said. “If I get six pars, that’s $30,000. That’s enough for me.”
The stocky 6-footer primarily works in the burglary division but is trained as a hostage negotiator. He’s on one of two teams in the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department.
“My work lets me do my passion,” he said. “I get out as much as I can but realistically I play twice a week, usually at Windsor Parke or Jacksonville G&CC. Three daughters take time, you know, and my wife works, too — she’s a realtor.”
He says that his work helps his golf, too.
“Hostage negotiation and golf have similarities,” he said. “You have to stay calm all the time, of course. You have to handle distractions — I might be listening to my supervisor over a headset while I’m talking to the guy who has the hostages.
“You have to reason things out quickly and analyze what’s going on. If you make a mistake, you have to put it behind you and keep looking ahead. And, you have to stay in the moment.”
Baker says two experiences got him into the game.
“I joined the Navy and was at NAS,” he said, “and a buddy and I decided to go play. I had hit on a range but nothing serious. I never had been on a course.
“We were 19-year-old kids. We had a lot of adult beverages before we played and the round ended when I drove the cart into the lake. It ruined the cart and both sets of rental clubs.
“Lucky for us, the base commander loved golf. Instead of getting Captain’s Mast and maybe going to the brig, which we deserved, our penalty was to work extra hours at the club and take golf lessons.”
When he left the Navy, Baker took classes at Florida Community College which led to police training.
He attended the 1985 Players Championship and got caught up in the excitement.
Calvin Peete’s victory was enough, but he also remembers almost getting hit by an errant Payne Stewart shot on the 11th hole.
“From that point, I was hooked,” he said. “I can’t get away from the game. It’s like what I hear of crack cocaine — it’s so addictive that you can’t quit forever. You’ll always go back to it.”
The ‘challenge’
Here’s how the St. Joseph Pressure Challenge works.
It starts with a closest-to-pin qualifier with the best 19 (of the 29 contestants) advancing to the “reality” part.
To win the biggest prize of $250,000, a player must par nine consecutive holes. The value of the holes increases as the nine goes along, starting at $1,000 on No. 1, $2,500 on No. 2, etc., and players can quit at any time. A bogie on holes 1-4 results in losing all winnings, and anyone making par through the fifth hole is guaranteed $10,000.
Each player can hit three shots over — known as a “mulligan” — but no more than one per hole and never to replace a putt.
There are other prizes. A birdie on No. 2 wins a full set of Cobra clubs, a birdie on No. 5 is worth two airline tickets and a birdie on No. 7 is worth a $1,000 Dockers gift certificate. The first ace wins a Buick. Everyone gets a Cobra bag.
The competition will be at The Links at Lighthouse South in Ocean City, Md., on April 19 and 20.
It will be edited for television and will be shown from 2-3 p.m. on May 14 and 2-3 p.m. May 20.