Dave Kindred, a preeminent American sports writer who has worked his trade for the better part of four decades, was walking down the right side of the first fairway at Kiawah Island with the final group at the PGA Championship when he mentioned he had been teaching a writing class to college students.

Like most great columnists, Kindred’s strength is his power of observation, and he has tried to pass that along.

“The one thing I tell them,” he said, “is that if you really pay attention to what you’re covering, you’ll see something you’ve never seen before.”