"You really want to know where they are?" a grinning Decker answered. "Most of them are in garbage bags in storage down in the basement. I'm serious." Talk about your no-frills, quiet assassin. The guy lays waste to his competitors on the golf course, then covers up the crime scene by removing all evidence and tucking it away in the cellar of his Martinsville home.

Typical Keith Decker. Stick a golf club in his hand and he just wants to put you away. And when he's done, he could care less about some kind of bounty prize to flaunt his conquest.

Who says Ted Williams is the last guy to hit .400? During the past five seasons, Decker has played in some 15 to 20 events per year. It's become a literal "gimme" that he'll win seven, eight, possibly nine times a year.

"I don't like to lose," Decker said. "I don't like to lose in business; I don't like to lose in golf. I will say this: I know how to lose. Because in golf you normally lose more than you win, so if you're not a good loser nobody wants to play with you."

Certainly, there are probably some around the state who wouldn't mind seeing Decker bug off. They must wonder when - and if - Decker is ever going to back off. In a game tailored to the young college-aged limberbacks who tee it up literally every day, Decker, a 44-year-old working man, continues to defy the odds.

The golf bio of the "Martinsville Masher" runs longer than a Titleist Pro VI. It simply goes, goes and goes some more. Here's just a partial list of Decker's major accomplishments:

He is a five-time VSGA player of the year. In addition to winning the award in 1991 and '96, he has run the rack the past three seasons, and this year he comfortably leads again heading into this week's 91st State Amateur Championship at Roanoke Country Club. Since the VSGA went to its current points system in 2000-01, Decker has been No.1 in the state except for a one-month period in 2000, when Scottsville's David Passerell won the State Am and took over the top spot for a month.

He has won three State Opens (1996, 2000 and '01), two State Amateurs (1991 and '98), and a record five State Mid-Am titles (1990, '91, '95, 2000 and '03).

He has teamed with David Partridge to win three State 4-Ball titles (1999, 2001 and '02), and last February he collaborated with Richmond's Allan Strange to win the inaugural U.S. Mid-Am Preview over a star-studded field in Sea Island, Ga.

Tack on four wins in the Kenridge and three in the Fox-Puss, two of the state's most prestigious invitational events, and it's little wonder why Decker has to keep buying Hefty bags.

"He's the Tiger Woods of Virginia amateur golf," said Roanoke's Matt Mankin, one of the state's most respected amateurs. "Just look at his record. We all look up to him as the guy to beat.

"He's a big fish in a little pond and he just keeps kicking our butts. And that's all he wants to do."

Incredible longevity

Most golfers' prime years are from their early-20s to mid-30s. Not Decker, though. The former two-time NAIA All-American at Elon (N.C.) College appears to be playing his best golf at an age when most guys can't wait to turn gray headed and gravitate to senior status.

"I think I'm in my prime right now," said Decker, who keeps his game in tune by beating many of his closest friends at Martinsville's Chatmoss Country Club.

"I think I'm better now than I've ever been. Just looking at my scores, I'm shooting numbers now that I didn't shoot when I was in college or just out of college, when you should be in your prime. Technology has helped, plus I think the experience helps me. I know what my limits are and I don't try to push those as much now as I used to. I don't take nearly as many chances. Plus, I think I'm a better putter and short-game player than I used to be.

"Does that amaze me? I really don't think about it, honestly."

Jeff Adkins, a star basketball player at Martinsville High who went on to play at Maryland from 1981-85, has seen his share of top-flight athletes. He said none may compare to Decker, who often passes himself off as a "short, fat guy who is lucky."

"I've been around a lot of great athletes, and Keith ranks right up there because golf is such a hard game," said Adkins, a scratch handicapper who is one of Decker's regular playing partners at Chatmoss. "He makes the game look so simple and that's sort of the mark of a great athlete."

The "great athlete" comparison really tickles the squatty Decker. While he has lost some weight the past couple years, Decker said it's not because of some rigorous weight-training workouts.

"Do I work out?" he said, chuckling as he repeats the question. "Are you kidding me?"

Adkins, whose only chance of ever getting even with his adversary is a one-on-one game of hoops - "I think I could post Keith up!" - said Decker's golf game is all about the head and hands.

"Keith just has a feel for the game. Great athletes are about feel. If I started thinking on the basketball court, I was done. You can't think; you just got to play," Adkins said.

"And all he thinks about is making every shot. He's not scared of anything. There's no shot that he ever gets over that he doesn't feel like he cannot pull off."

While today it's common for every great golfer to have a personal swing coach to retreat to when their game sours, Decker has no such medicine man.

"I don't know the first thing about the golf swing," said Decker, a plus-4 handicapper at Chatmoss, where he has won the club's invitational tournament 14 times.

"You see all these things in magazines and I don't know the first thing about it. I've never been on video and I don't ever want to be on video. If I saw you playing, I couldn't tell you what you were doing wrong. Now, I know how to fix my problems. But I don't know the first technical thing about it, and I don't want to at this point.

"I like playing those technical guys, though. I love seeing 'em check their swings on the tee ... because it's one little hitch and they're done. My swing is not picture perfect, but it's OK and it works for me."

It must have been working pretty good on June18. That afternoon Decker threw a 13-under 59 at Adkins and the rest of the club regulars. Decker had 11 birdies and an eagle in lowering his course record of 62.

"It was something else," said Decker, who broke 60 by draining an 8-foot uphill putt for birdie on No.18. "My partners were a lot more excited about it than I was because they witnessed it."

Adkins, who found his hip pocket become lighter again, said: "I shot 69 and lost by 10. It certainly didn't play that easy. I'm not surprised, though. Keith always wins. We're dumb enough to bet him, we ought to pay him. We all just keep contributing to the fund."

Counts blessings

During an hourlong interview, Decker repeated the same quote four times: "I'm one of the most fortunate guys you'll ever know."

Forget golf. Decker knows he's been just as blessed when it comes to all else, especially job and family.

"I'm proud to say that American of Martinsville is the only company I've ever worked for," said Decker, who has been a sales representative for the furniture company for 21 years. "Not many folks my age can say they've only worked for one company, so I'm proud of that fact."

After working inside as vice president of sales, Decker decided five years ago that he wanted to become one of American's traveling sales reps. He is in charge of Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. Sure, he's on the road a few nights, but the new position also lends him a chance to work his own hours, which enables him to spend more time with family, not to mention play in more golf tournaments.

"As long as you're making sales and getting it done, you can do that," he said.

Decker has two daughters - Christina (14) and Elizabeth (11) - from his first marriage. He now has a foursome of kids, adding stepson Sydnor (15) and stepdaughter Finley (12) when he married Shelly Trent, a former Miss Arkansas, three years ago.

"Sydnor is 6-foot-4; he can dunk a basketball and wear a size-14 shoe," Decker said. "Now I have something I can do with all the gift certificates I win in golf. I've got everything I need, but now I use them to special order golf shoes from FootJoy for Sydnor.

"When we get in this new house it will be great. Our house right now isn't big enough to accommodate the 'Brady Bunch' that we've got. I can honestly tell you I've never been happier than I am right now."

Decker said he frequently is asked by others why didn't he turn professional long ago?

"First, I hate to practice," Decker said. "When I was 14 to 16, I used to wear the practice area out. I hit so many practice balls that I got burned out on it. I never wanted to make golf a job. If I turned pro, I would have to force myself to do that and I think I probably wouldn't like golf as much as I do.

"I have never regretted one bit not going pro. The guy I look up to is Vinny Giles [longtime amateur icon from Richmond]. I look up to him, see what he's done and how he's conducted himself. He's successful in business and he's had a great life. And I have, too. I can honestly tell you that if I could never play in another tournament, it wouldn't bother me a bit. I've had a great run."

Plus, he's got all those trophies, too.

"Hopefully, I will need a few more trash bags yet," Decker said, laughing. "If you walked in my house, you wouldn't even know ... well, I've got a few trophies scattered around. I gave about 50 or 60 of 'em to my father [John] and he's got them in his office on Smith Mountain Lake like some sort of shrine, which makes him feel great.

"It's an honor to have something like that done, but that's not a priority. My new family and my kids and my wife, that's my priority."

And if he can continue to leave cleat marks on some younger golfers' backs along the way, that will work fine, too.