Little Guy, Big Golf Skills

So many things go into hitting a golf ball properly — some people go a lifetime and never master them all at once.

Kyle Lograsso is not one of those people, CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman reports for Assignment America.

At the age of five, Kyle already has what the pros call "a perfect swing."

Even his short game — of course for him it's all short game — is remarkable.

When Kyle explains it, the game is simple: "You have to put you feet right here, club right there, ball right there. Put your club up and hit it."

"I don't take credit for it, I just take him to the golf course," his father Jeff says.

"It amazes us every day," says his mother Regina. "We don't know where it came from."

They say they never played golf. And yet when Kyle was just 23-months-old, for some reason he started taking a keen interest in ... the golf channel.

Jeff would ask his son if he wanted to watch cartoons. He'd reply: "no, I'm watching the golf channel." And that was it.

"And I think he just started imitating it," his mother says. "Really, I think it was all imitation."

He got his first metal clubs for his third birthday, and hasn't put them down since.

Today, he's good enough to play against adults, often outplaying them.

Typically, with a little headstart on the really long holes, Kyle will shoot about ninety for a round of 18.

"Yea, but at the end I'm tired," Kyle says.

Obviously, it's quite an accomplishment to be that good while still this tiny. But what's even more impressive is his handicap — and I'm not talking golf handicap.

As a baby, Kyle was diagnosed with something called Retinalblastoma.

"The best way to describe it was just a white glare — in one of his eyes."

What happened to his eye?

"I got cancer; they had to remove it," Kyle says.

Kyle also went through five months of chemotherapy.

Dr. Carol Shields did the surgery and may appreciate Kyle's golf more than anybody.

"I think one of the hardest things for this kid to do is judge his swing. I think it's remarkable he's been able to do so well with the handicap," she says.

But he's also adapted. Even though he does everything else right-handed, he golfs left. It allows him to keep his good eye over the ball during the entire swing.

Will he continue to adapt? Could he go on to become the next Tiger Woods? His doctor sees no reason why not. In fact, she's banking on it.

"I got an autograph, and I'm keeping it!" Shields says.