Were you to go looking for the soul of Charlotte golf, you would find no shortage of possible spots to search.

You could go to Charlotte Country Club where the years, trees and layout encompass the game's spirit.

You could go to Revolution, where it's frayed around the edges but keeps its heartbeat.

You could visit the First Tee programs or the windowless room off the men's locker room at Myers Park Country Club, where it's always cocktail hour or any practice tee where guys wearing once-white shoes hit once-white golf balls into the distance.

Or you could just find 66-year-old Xan Law.

He's the chairman of the Charlotte City Amateur, which returns to life this week.

If you don't know X, you probably know someone who does.

And chances are, they have a story about X.

Like the time back in 1973 when X flew to Columbus, Ohio, to play golf with Tom Weiskopf, who was in the process of winning five PGA Tour events, including the British and Canadian opens that year.

X was working a deal to get Weiskopf to speak in Charlotte – that's what X does, he makes deals, usually involving commercial real estate.

On the first hole, X rolled in a birdie and Weiskopf made par. Walking off the first green, X told the hottest player in the world, “I do take one-down presses (a new bet after being down one hole).”

True story.

“Cost me $22 that day,” X says proudly of the extra bets he made – and lost – after his opening birdie.

Some people call him Xan, one calls him Ekkie but just say X and everyone knows who you're talking about.

Besides, X has a nickname for everyone he's ever known long enough to remember.

There's Chopper and Baby and Zal. There's Snake and Seve and Hawk. And there's a thousand more.

Just like the stories.

Like the time X was hunched uncomfortably over a putt on the 18th green at St. Andrews, the most celebrated piece of golf land in the world, and he heard one of the townspeople say, “Pitiful. Just pitiful.”

That was back when X had the yips, before he discovered the miracle of the long putter and, depending on who's telling the story, became the first player in Charlotte to go public with the long stick.

“I went cross-handed in '66,” X says, sounding like a history professor certain of his dates. “I went long in '86.”

X may know more about the golf swing than almost any man alive. Sorting it out is the trick. X has been known to rely on his “swing du jour,” and he has names for different moves such as “grippety-doo-dah” and “lock and load.”

Like his quest for the perfect tomato, X is forever searching.

He invented the “hip-chip” when the yips afflicted his short game. He also preached one-handed chipping for a time. He's better now, but the yips never completely leave anyone who's been visited by them.

There was a time, though, when X could play as well as anyone around. X won the City Amateur in 1969 and received one of the best compliments ever when, around that time, the legendary Leon Crump told him, “Besides me, you're the best player in the city.”

He can still play and does every chance he gets, usually at Myers Park or Quail Hollow. But X will play anywhere there's a course and a friendly group of players who appreciate the game the way he does.

X was 7 years old when he saw his first golf shot. It was at the old Charlotte Open at Myers Park, and when he walked up to the 16th green – part of nine holes that no longer exist – he saw Sam Snead's shot clang off the flagstick.

He's been in love with the game since.

X and his buddy Snake, aka Dave Farr, have been playing golf together for 56 years and know each other like an old married couple. Golf can be good that way.

When X turned 65 two years ago, they held a dinner in his honor at Myers Park and his buddies kidded him about how he looked “like third runner-up in a Ben Franklin look-alike contest.” When someone at the dais asked guests who'd been given a nickname by X to raise their hands, everyone in the crowd raised their hand.

They told stories deep into the night including the one about the hole-in-one X made at Quail Hollow a few years back.

They were giving away a four-seat Mercedes convertible for an ace on the second hole at Quail that day and, walking off the first green, X told his playing partners, “Boys, I'm thinking Mercedes, today.”

Sure enough, X floated a 5-iron down the hill, saw it land 10 feet short of the hole and roll in.

X then walked to his cart, pulled his golf bag off and sat it in the passenger seat of his new convertible. He hopped into the driver's seat, cranked it up and used it as his cart for the next three holes.

To be honest, X will tell you, he's called plenty of holes-in-one in advance. That was the only one that came true.

The funny thing about the stories is they all come back to the same thing – the man they're talking about and the way he loves golf and life.

None of his friends can remember hearing X say a bad word about anyone. Ever.

X was born sunny side up.

That night two years ago when X turned 65 and so many of his friends were there and it was his turn to talk, he couldn't.

The sweetest part was he didn't have to.