THE QUESTION: If you could ask any living golfer a question, what would it be? (Asked of the members of this year's Ryder Cup Team)

JACK BURKE
Buffalo
My question is for Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Jimmy Demaret. I hope they won't think I'm impertinent. I'm not. I just want to know: When are you old pros going to retire? We young ones want a chance. Remember, only one man ever invented a way to take it with him—Jack Benny.

TED KROLL
Cooperstown CC
Cooperstown, N.Y.
Sam Snead is a wonderful guy and a good friend. Because I like him so much, I've always wondered why he works so hard. He works at two golf clubs, the Greenbrier and Boca Raton, plus all his other golfing activities. I'd ask Sam why he doesn't take some time off and really live a bit.

TOMMY BOLT
Knollwood CC
Granada Hills, Calif.
I'd like to get together with Ben Hogan and Dick Mayer. If that ever happens I'd say: "A few of us occasionally one-putt; most of us usually two-putt; but will you please tell me how some of us can stop three-putting?" They should know. They're the best putters around.

FRED HAWKINS
El Paso
I'd ask Jackie Burke how he makes so much money outside of golf. Professional golfers are always thinking about this problem, because we're all growing older. The competition at the pro tournaments is so terrific that a player has to be a wizard or awfully lucky to bank any money.

LIONEL HEBERT
Lafayette, La.
I'd like to ask Ben Hogan how he developed his power to concentrate on his game for 72 holes. Concentration is the greatest thing in golf and it's Ben's greatest asset. He always has it shot for shot, drive for drive, putt for putt, without a lapse. Wish I had it.

ED FURGOL
Miami Shores, Fla.
Sam Snead, physically and mechanically, is the finest player we ever had and has a humorous way of talking. So I want to ask him: Why do you have such a negative attitude in some of the big tournaments, whereas in a $10 Nassau you are so uncanny in shot-making and scoring?

DICK MAYER
St. Petersburg, Fla.
This question is right down my alley because I think Ben Hogan is probably the greatest player of our time. I'd ask Ben what was his greatest moment in golf. He's a man who keeps his emotions from the public and from his fellow golfers. You can never tell from his expression and reactions.

ART WALL JR.
Pocono Manor CC
Pocono Manor, Pa.
I'd ask Sam Snead what he thinks is the greatest shot he ever made. In all the publicity given him, I don't recall anyone ever asking him that question. I've seen him make some great shots, but Sam is such a great golfer, I'd really like to know what he thinks is his greatest shot.

DOW FINSTERWALD
Tequesta CC
Tequesta, Fla.
Doug Ford is as close a friend as I have. Yet his game is a complete mystery to me. I'd ask him what changed his game from a left to right or from a straightaway to his present game where he is strictly a member of the hook fraternity. Doug does it deliberately. How does he do it and why?

DOUG FORD
Putnam CC
Mahopac, N.Y.
Well, Ben Hogan is like a machine when he is playing a match. He seldom betrays his emotions. At least, I've never seen him do so. I'd like to ask him how it felt to win the Open the first time. And how it felt when he won it the second time. Not having won the Open, I'd really like to know.

ELEVEN PHOTOS