The perfect golfer is Mr. Analyst, a robot whose job it is to scientifically test and analyze new designs and materials for golfing clubs. He works for Golfcraft, a manufacturing firm based in Escondido.

The robot is the answer to all those who have ever left a course in disgust, muttering something about that not being a fit game for man or beast.

Mr. Analyst is the product of the tinkering of William J. Glasson, a golfer who also has concluded, from time to time, that it was a game fit not for man or beast.

Glasson started toying with his mechanical monster while trying to figure out scientifically how to lower his five handicap on the links. At the time he had graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was working on the Falcon missile.

"The monster was still a crude thing then," Glasson reminisces, "mounted on a wooden tripod. And I had to crank it manually to get it to work. At first it would only hit the ball about 125 yards. But, after making several modifications and adjustments it started belting it 200 yards and I got excited about its possibilities."

At a recent demonstration, the robot showed graphically how it has been improved by socking balls one after another in low, screaming trajectories to a distance of 400 yards on the fly. Even that isn't the most amazing aspect of its skills. Its accuracy at this distance is what is truly amazing. All the balls landed within a circle only 15 feet in diameter.

The original 18th hole at the Pittsburgh Field Club was a severely uphill 277 yard par 4 that played to the top of "Pike's Peak"; the site of the present day practice putting green. The hole was modified in 1930 but the strenuous, severe uphill climb for golfers was still there. Golf cars were unheard of and on hot summer days, the risk of fatal heart attacks was real. Tradition and anecdotes indicate that fatal heart attacks did occur and as a result, the final chapter of the hole was written in 1938. In that year, an elevator was erected beside #17 green which transported golfers up 70 feet to the 265 foot long bridge leading them to the newly constructed 18th tee at the top of the hill. The hole became a par 3 and remains that way today. The elevator ride to the top takes 39 seconds and still transports thousands of golfers every year.