“DID YOU KNOW”
For three straight years the Philadelphia PGA lost money in banks!

In late 1930 Robert Stalker, Philadelphia PGA secretary/treasurer, died at age 52 after having been ill for one week. A few weeks before, he had resigned his position as the professional at the Huntingdon Valley Country Club.

At the Section’s annual meeting in January 1931, Herb Jewson was back in harness as the secretary/treasurer. Jewson had been Section president for four years, 1924 to 1927. As the new treasurer Jewson inherited a bank account with no money. The country was in the Great Depression and banks had begun to fail, with the first ones closing in November 1930.

Having concern about the health of the banking system, Jewson put the Section’s money in two banks; Manayunk Trust Co. and the Commercial Trust Co. At that time the PGA Sections collected the national and local dues money in May. The national dues money was then sent to the association’s office in Chicago, which Jewson did. The national dues collected in the Philadelphia Section for 1931 came to $1,930. The Philadelphia Section dues totaled $423 that year.

On October 13, 1931 the Manayunk Trust Co. closed and was taken over by the Pennsylvania State Banking Department. The Philadelphia PGA had $142.14 in that bank, which was now unavailable. The Section had $206 available which was in the Commercial Trust Co. Jewson must have kept some of the Section’s money out of banks as the financial report at the Section’s annual meeting in November 1931 showed $342 in the Section’s treasury, counting the $206 at Commercial Trust.   

In 1932 the PGA of America began collecting the national dues, rather than trusting the various PGA Sections to safely collect and advance the money to the national office. For 1932, Jewson kept some of the Section’s money in the Commercial Trust Co., which was now the Manayunk National Bank. Another bank account was opened at the Jenkintown Citizens Bank. With money still in the Manayunk Trust Co., the Section had money in three banks.

On the first Monday of November, 1932 Jewson presented the Section’s financial report. On May 11 the State Banking Department had sent the Section $21.32 (15 percent) from the Manayunk Trust Co. The Manayunk National Bank had closed with $138.00 of the Section’s money now unavailable. Also the Jenkintown Citizens Bank had closed with $103 of the Section’s money. Again Jewson had decided not to deposit all of the Section’s money into banks. The Section’s financial report for the November meeting showed $412.65 immediately available.

Because of how he had managed the Section’s money, Jewson was returned to the office of president at the 1932 November meeting of the Philadelphia PGA, five years after he already been president for a four year term.

In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected US president. On January 1, 1934 FDIC was created insuring each bank account for $2,500. In the previous four years 9,000 banks in the United States had failed.

Herb Jewson was the professional, green superintendent and manager at the Roxborough Country Club, which was in Philadelphia. In 1926 the club’s lease on the land ran out. The club purchased ground in Lafayette Hill. Jewson designed a new golf course for the club and oversaw its construction. Several owners and two golf course redesigns later, it is now owned by the Union League of Philadelphia and called Union League Liberty Hill. Herb Jewson is a member of the Philadelphia PGA Hall of Fame.  

“Did You Know”
A third alternate from the host PGA Section won the 1920 PGA Championship!

The 1920 PGA Championship was scheduled for Flossmoor Country Club in Chicago. At that time, there were only seven PGA Sections encompassing the entire country. Sectional qualifying for the 31 spots in the match play ladder was held in July at the various PGA Sections with the defending champion exempt. The number of qualifying spots was based on the number of PGA members in each PGA Section.

The Middle States Section, which covered 11 states from Florida north to Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, was given 2 extra spots as the host for the championship, for a total of 8. When the Middle States Section held its qualifying in Chicago, the big news was that Chicago’s Jock Hutchison had missed qualifying. He not only failed to qualify, but the third alternate, tying for 11^th. Hutchison was a very accomplished player who had come close to winning major championships.

Atlanta’s J. Douglas Edgar led the qualifying in Philadelphia for 1 of the 4 spots allotted to the Southeastern Section.

That year there were six big golf tournaments in six weeks; Shawnee Open, Metropolitan Open, Western Open, US Open, PGA Championship and Canadian Open.

Just back from finishing sixth at the British Open, Jim Barnes won Shawnee for a second straight year. The two great British professionals, Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, who had just arrived in the states for an exhibition tour of 200 rounds, were entered. Due to a swollen thumb that Vardon sustained in a pillow fight during the voyage, he had to skip the tournament. Ray finished second.

After a disappointing T53 in the British Open, Walter Hagen stayed overseas and won the French Open. On his return to the states Hagen won the Met Open in a playoff with Barnes. Due to being overseas Hagen missed competing in PGA qualifying. As the defending champion Barnes was exempt.

It was on to the Western Open in Chicago. One week after failing to qualify for the PGA, Jock Hutchison was the winner. Barnes, Leo Diegel and Atlantic City Country Club’s Clarence Hackney tied for second, one stroke back. Next it was the US Open in Toledo. Ted Ray won by one stroke. Vardon, Leo Diegel, Hutchison and Jack Burke, Sr., tied for second. Now in Minnesota, Burke had learned to play golf as a young caddy at the Philadelphia Country Club.

From there it was back to Chicago for the PGA Championship at Floosmoor Country Club with Hutchison, the professional at a Chicago club, playing great golf, but not in the starting field. Then someone withdrew and Wisconsin’s Arthur Clarkson, the Middle States Section’s first alternate was in. With it getting late withdrawals were being filled by the host Section’s alternates. There was another withdrawal and Indiana’s Wallie Nelson was in as the second alternate from the host Section. Then the evening before the tournament, Clarkson who had agreed to play withdrew. The next morning it was not Clarkson, but third alternate Hutchison opposing Chicago’s Eddie Loos. Loos had been the head professional at the Philadelphia Cricket Club for one year until enlisting in the US Navy in 1917 for World War I.

Hutchison, with earlier second place showings in the PGA and US Open, had a golf record deserving of a place in the tournament. But, eyebrows were raised and there was a great deal of speculation concerning how it all came down at the eleventh hour.

The tournament format was 32 PGA members playing match play, all seeded by blind draw, including the defending champion. All rounds were 36 holes. In the second round Hackney knocked out Barnes, the defending champion, by the count of 5&4. You wonder who was watching Hackney’s Atlantic City CC golf shop during the peak of the golf season. Hackney lost in the next round to Harry Hampton, who would be working for him seven years later.

At the bottom of the ladder Hutchison swept through his opponents; 5&3, 5&3, 6&5 and 4&3. In the upper half J. Douglas Edgar first had to go to the 36^th green before winning 1up. From there he won the next three matches with ease, one by 11&9.

 On the day of the final most of the money was wagered on Edgar who had won the 1919 Canadian Open by 16 strokes, but Hutchison led all the way. With a one hole edge teeing off on the par five 36^th hole Hutchison took no chances. Edgar went for the green with his second shot only to finish in a green side bunker. They halved with 5s. Jock Hutchison had won the PGA Championship. A year later he won the British Open.

The next week J. Douglas Edgar won the Canadian Open for a second straight year.

Many years later it was still being mentioned, sometimes in print, what an unusual chain of events it took for Jock Hutchison to find his way into, and then win the 1920 PGA Championship.

“Did You Know”
Shawnee Inn & Country Club was the birthplace of the PGA of America!

Shawnee Country Club’s owner, Charles Campbell Worthington, was a visionary. Born in 1854, his father H.R. Worthington had developed the first direct-acting steam pump, and was part owner of the Worthington Hydraulic Pump Works. Working under his father, C.C. Worthington contributed hundreds of important developments in pumps and other machines. When his father died in 1880, C.C. Worthington took over management of the company.

On a trip to Scotland, Worthington was introduced to golf. Upon returning home he built a six-hole course on his estate, north of New York City. In 1899 he sold his interest in the pump company and started a company manufacturing automobiles, first steam and later gasoline.

Worthington began spending more time at his summer home in the Pocono Mountains at Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania, west of New York City, where he had a rudimentary 9-hole golf course. In 1903 he bought 8,000 acres near his Pennsylvania home on both sides of the Delaware River. There he created a game preserve to protect different forms of wildlife.

In 1910 Worthington hired Albert W. Tillinghast, a friend of his three sons, to build an 18-hole golf course on his property. Tillinghast had never designed a golf course, but he was a good golfer and Worthington saw something in him. That same year Worthington began building a 90-room hotel near the golf holes that were under construction. The hotel, the Buckwood Inn, was later named Shawnee Inn.

Both the golf course and inn opened for business in 1911. One year later Worthington introduced a tournament for the golf professionals, the Shawnee Open. The tournament had a purse of $500 and drew a strong field as it was played three days after the Philadelphia Open and one week before the US Open, which was in Buffalo that year. The US Open purse was $940. 1908 US Open champion Fred McLeod won the tournament. The Worthington family treated the golf professionals like honored guests, which was not the norm at other tournaments. At the closing ceremony Worthington mentioned that the golf professionals should have a national organization.

Worthington sponsored a second Shawnee Open in 1913. One evening during dinner, a letter from Mr. Worthington was read extolling the virtues of the professionals having an organization like the British PGA that would include all the states.

The Shawnee golf course was on land that for many years had been Indian farmland. With miles and miles of land, the Indians did not need to rotate crops. With the soil depleted of nutrients, growing grass was a challenge. In 1914 Worthington hired a St. Andrews trained golf professional/green keeper, Robert White, who had been working in Chicago. During the winters White had been taking agronomy courses at the University of Wisconsin, so he understood what was needed to revitalize the soil.  

During the early years the fairway grass was kept at a proper height by grazing sheep. Worthington even brought in a shepherd from Scotland to tend the flock. In 1914 he created the first commercially successful set of gang mowers for mowing fairways, which were pulled by horses and later tractors. That enterprise would become the Worthington Mower Company, located in nearby Stroudsburg.

The professionals who had competed at Shawnee like Gil Nicholls, Alex Smith, and Walter Hagen, along with White heard Worthington’s message and began advancing the idea of a national PGA. In 1916 the PGA of America was formed, with Robert White as its president.  

In the PGA’s monthly magazine “Professional Golfer”, Shawnee was often referred to as the “Cradle of the PGA”.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Three golf professionals made a “Big Swap” in 1916!

It was like “musical chairs” except everyone ended up with a seat. The three golf professionals were Gil Nicholls, James Fraser, and Wilfrid Reid. The three golf clubs involved were Wilmington Country Club (DE), Seaview Country Club (NJ) and Sound View Golf Club (NY), (often called Great Neck GC).

In July 1915, Wilmington CC’s Gil Nicholls won the Metropolitan Open for a second time, on Staten Island. After being tied at the end of 72 holes, Nicholls defeated Bob MacDonald in an 18-hole playoff. Walter Hagen finished third. First prize was $150.

Before returning home, Nicholls visited Sound View Golf Club on Long Island, where he lost a friendly 18-hole match to the professional James Fraser. With that the Sound View members put together a ten-round match in early August between Fraser and Nicholls for $1,000, $100 per round. All rounds would be played at Sound View. The members thought that with all rounds at Sound View the match would be competitive, but Nicholls, a two-time runner-up in the United States Open, won most of the matches. The members had money and were willing to spend it. At the conclusion of the challenge match, they offered Nicholls a contract to be their professional. It was the largest that had ever been paid to any golf professional in the country. Nicholls accepted. His first assignment was to revise some of the golf course and to build another nine holes, which was to be for the exclusive use of the ladies.

Seaview was in its first year in 1915, with Wilfrid Reid as its professional. Reid had a large ego which clashed with Seaview’s owner Clarence Geist. Even with a three-year contract, by early August Reid and Geist had parted company and Seaview was looking for a golf professional. Not wanting to blame the owner, Reid blamed it on the mosquitoes. Within a few days of Reid’s departure, James Fraser was the professional at Seaview.

It was still August and with the exodus of Nicholls, Wilmington CC needed a golf professional. Reid stepped up and was hired. Three changes all made within a few days of each other. 

When the PGA of America was formed one year later, in 1916, both Nicholls and Reid became members of its Executive Committee.

James Fraser was born in Scotland. In 1916 he won the Philadelphia Open. He died in 1923 when his automobile collided with an Atlantic City trolley car. Years later his son, Leo, would own the Atlantic City Country Club and become president of the PGA of America.

Before emigrating from England to the United States in 1915 Wilfrid Reid had won many titles in Europe. In the USA he designed or remodeled 100 golf courses. When Leo Fraser bought Atlantic City CC in 1946, he brought Reid back to Atlantic City as his teaching pro.

Born in England, Nicholls was an early exponent of forming the PGA of America. Along with his success in the US Open, he won the North and South Open, two Metropolitan Opens, two Philadelphia Opens, two New England PGA Championships and the Shawnee Open. Eight times he finished in the top ten at the US Open.

“Did You Know”
In 1913 the USA showed its golf was on a par with British golf!

With the 1913 United States Open scheduled for September, Great Britain’s leading golfers were heading to the USA. Harry Vardon and Ted Ray were leading the way. As their passenger ship was nearing New York City, Ray asked Vardon, who had been in the states in 1900, “What is it like in America?” With one word Vardon said “Frantic”. 

A few minutes later they were handed a telegram from Alex Findlay, their stateside manager, stating that they were booked to play an exhibition the next day in Philadelphia at Whitemarsh Valley CC.  Ray said “I see what you mean.”

On embarking from their ship they were met by a horde of reporters. Then they boarded a train to Philadelphia, arriving after midnight. In Philadelphia they were interviewed on the steps of their hotel by more reporters. 

The next morning, Saturday August 16, Vardon and Ray were at Whitemarsh Valley for a 36-hole exhibition. Designed by George C. Thomas on his family’s estate, Whitemarsh Valley was Philadelphia’s first great golf course. Playing catch-up to Great Britain’s golf, America was hell bent on getting there.

Vardon and Ray’s opponents for the match were Whitemarsh Valley’s professional Ben Nicholls and his brother Gil. Philadelphia’s Johnny McDermott, winner of the previous two US Opens, was unavailable as he was in New York, finishing second in the Metropolitan Open.

Born in England, the Nicholls brothers had credentials. Gil, the professional at Wilmington CC, had won the Metropolitan Open and North and South Open, along with twice being second in the US Open. Ben had won championships in Europe along with defeating Vardon on two occasions during Vardon’s 1900 exhibition tour of America, which some dubbed “The Vardon Invasion”.  In spite of still being on their “sea legs”, Vardon and Ray lived up to their billing by defeating the Nicholls brothers 3&1. On what a newspaper described as pitiless heat, the Brits wore waist coats while their opponents were in shirt sleeves. In the afternoon round Vardon shot a 71 for a new course record. Nearly 2,000 turned out to view the golf and it was said that there would have been a larger turnout if the course had been more accessible. 

At the two-day 72-hole Shawnee Open McDermott came from behind to win by eight strokes. Vardon tied for third and Ray tied for sixth. At the US Open Vardon and Ray ended up tied with a young American amateur, Francis Quimet, which Quimet won in an 18-hole playoff the next day. The Shawnee course had been the first course design of Philadelphia’s A.W. Tillinghast.

Findlay, a transplanted Scot who had managed Vardon’s 1900 US tour and was now building golf courses for the Florida East Coast Railroad, had booked Vardon and Ray for a wide-ranging series of exhibitions. They traveled the country from coast to coast playing 45 exhibitions before heading home in November. Vardon stated that the best amateur he played against was Chicago’s Chick Evans.

Golf in the states had moved to a new level. McDermott and Quimet had showed the world of golf that there were American born golfers who could compete with Great Britain’s best. Walter Hagen had entered the picture. With architects like A.W. Tillinghast, Donald Ross, C.B. MacDonald and Walter Travis, world class golf courses were opening every month. Pine Valley Golf Club was in the works, and Merion’s East Course had opened in late 1912. American golf was now on a par with Great Britain and Philadelphia was a major part of it.  

  “Did You Know”
There were 7 U.S. Women’s Opens before the USGA recognized women’s professional golf!

The first U.S. Women’s Open was played at the Spokane CC in August 1946. It was managed by the Women’s Professional Golf Association which had been founded in 1944. The tournament was co-sponsored by the Spokane Athletic Round Table and the WPGA. There were 40 entries. First prize from the $19,700 purse was $5,600 in war bonds. Any money (war bond) over $100 won by an amateur went back into the WPGA treasury. The early favorites were Patty Berg and amateur, Babe Zaharias. The tournament was played at match play, with the semifinals and final rounds being 36-hole matches. Berg won, defeating Betty Jameson in the final.

Berg had been a United States Marine stationed in Philadelphia during World War II. Playing exhibitions, she helped raise millions of dollars for the war effort.

The following year the tournament was in Greensboro, North Carolina at the Starmount Forest CC. Betty Jameson won by six strokes over two amateurs. At $7,500 the prize money was much smaller. First prize was $1,200.

Leo Fraser stepped up to host the 1948 tournament at his newly purchased Atlantic City CC. The prize money was the same as 1947. There were 51 entries. Babe Zaharias, who had turned pro to make a golf movie, won by eight strokes with an even par 300 total. When she failed to hole a five-foot putt on the last green, Zaharias missed out on another $1,000 which had been put up by an ACCC member for anyone breaking 300. Zaharias said it did not make a difference; it would just have put her in a higher tax bracket.

The WPGA went out of business in the summer of 1949 and was reformed as the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association (LPGA), with Berg as its president. Sponsored by the newly formed LPGA, Prince George’s CC in Virginia hosted the U.S. Women’s Open in September. Louise Suggs put together a 291 over the four rounds to win by 12 strokes over Zaharias. The total prize money was $7,500 again, but first prize was larger at $1,500.

Zaharias won the 1950 U.S. Women’s Open and its $1,250 first prize by nine strokes at the Rolling Hills CC in Wichita, Kansas. The 1951 tournament was won by Betsy Rawls at Druid Hills CC in Atlanta. Her 293 won by five strokes. First prize was $1,500. The last day’s attendance of 6,000 was a record for the tournament’s six years.

The LPGA played for $100,000 in prize money during the 1951 season. In order to save money, the lady professionals ran their tour from top to bottom. They set up the golf courses, promoted the events, made the pairings, and served as the rules committee.  Golf companies Wilson, MacGregor and Spalding kept the LPGA tour alive by signing the top professionals to endorsement contracts. There were Babe Zaharias, Patty Berg and Louise Suggs golf clubs for women. The women’s clothing company, Weathervane, sponsored four tournaments with bonus money at the conclusion of the four events.

The 1952 tournament, sponsored by the Philadelphia Inquirer Charities, was at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. Louise Suggs won the $1,750 top money by seven strokes with a 284. That year the LPGA had hired a man to administrate their tour. There were sixteen tournaments on the schedule. Admission was $1 on week days and $2 on the weekend. For the week, there were 11,000 in attendance. With total prize money of $7,000 the Inquirer’s Charity turned a profit.  

In 1953, after seven U.S. Women’s Opens had been played, the USGA acknowledged that women’s professional golf was going to last. They began sponsoring the tournament, but the money stayed the same or was even less at times for the next ten years.   

“DID YOU KNOW”
In 2021, the Philadelphia PGA’s Marty Lyons was inducted into the PGA Hall of Fame!

Lone overdue, Marty Lyons was inducted into the PGA of America’s Hall of Fame in November 2021. Lyons should have been inducted many years ago, but first someone had to nominate him. Deceased since 1968, his accomplishments were nearly forgotten.

Lyons spent all but six of his 55 year golf career at the Llanerch Country Club in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania. In 1913 at the age of 9, Lyons was introduced to golf when he took a six mile trolley ride from his home in West Philadelphia to caddy at Llanerch. Lyons would earn 35 cents for carrying a golf bag around the course, and then had to give the caddy master 10 cents of his earnings. The trolley fare was 5 cents each way, so some days he walked to the golf course and then home. 

At age 16 Lyons dropped out of school to become the caddy master at Llanerch. Two years later he was the assistant professional at Llanerch. In 1928 he moved across the Delaware River to southern New Jersey, where he was the head professional at the Spring Hill Country Club for six years.

With his employer struggling with the Great Depression, Lyons returned to Llanerch in 1934 as the assistant to Denny Shute. Having won the British Open in 1933, Shute was away playing in tournaments and exhibitions most of 1934. The next year Shute was off to Chicago for a new head professional position. By popular acclaim of the Llanerch members, Lyons was now the head professional.

At that time the juniors could not play the Llanerch golf course until age 16. As the head professional Lyons changed that and instituted junior golf clinics where he filmed their golf swings. One year five of his junior girls broke 80. His prize pupil, Dorothy Germain, won the 1949 US Women’s Amateur.

The Philadelphia Section hosted the PGA of America’s 25th anniversary at Philadelphia’s Bellevue Stratford Hotel in September 1941. That week, the PGA Tour’s Henry Hurst Invitational was being played in Philadelphia at Torresdale-Frankford CC. The PGA officers, leading players and the national press were among the 800 that attended. Lyons and Jimmy D’Angelo served as co-chairmen.  

In October 1941 Lyons was elected president of the Philadelphia PGA, an office he would hold for six years. At the 1943 spring meeting Lyons gave tournament chairman Leo Diegel full authority to use the Section’s tournament schedule to raise money for World War II charities.

Exhibitions were played with local amateurs and nationally known professionals. The Philadelphia PGA was planning to buy an ambulance for the Red Cross but someone from the Red Cross suggested they visit the Valley Forge General Hospital for wounded veterans to see what could be done there. Lyons and Diegel decided to build a nine-hole golf course on the hospital grounds. Every member of the Philadelphia donated either time, equipment or money and many did all three. Before they were done, the Philadelphia pros raised enough money to build two golf courses and three putting courses at veterans’ hospitals in the Delaware Valley. Under the leadership of the Philadelphia PGA every PGA Section in the country instituted rehabilitation programs for the wounded veterans during World War II.     

Lyons was elected PGA Secretary at the 1948 national meeting. Even though he was nominated for office again, he chose to serve only one year.

At the PGA’s 1956 annual meeting, Lyons campaigned for his club to host a PGA Championship, and Llanerch was awarded the 1958 championship.

Lyons and some of the Llanerch members attended the 1957 championship in Dayton, Ohio, to learn what they could about hosting a PGA championship. When they returned Lyons wrote a letter to the PGA relating how he had attended a well-run championship that had lost money, and some of the better players had not even entered. He stated that if the format was changed from match play to stroke play, more PGA members could participate. Also with stroke play, a major television company might be interested, as the big name golfers would still be playing on the weekend.

At the 1957 PGA annual meeting, with Lyons selling his format change, the delegates voted to change their PGA Championship to stroke play. Then through the local television affiliate, Lyons sold CBS on televising the tournament.

The 1958 PGA Championship was televised, which was a first for that tournament. CBS broadcast the last three holes of the tournament on Sunday, for a total of two and one half hours. The PGA Championship turned a profit, which it hadn’t for many years. Frank Chirkinian, a young man who was producing the evening news at the CBS affiliate, produced the telecast. He went on to produce the CBS telecast of the Masters Tournament for four decades. Along with that, there was another young sports reporter named Jack Whitaker, who did interviews with the leading golfers for the nightly news at that CBS affiliate. 

Lyons mentored two golf professionals, Leo Fraser and Henry Poe, who went on to be presidents of the PGA of America. He hosted the Philadelphia PGA Championship 9 times, 8 on consecutive years.

In 1968 Lyons was back in harness as the PGA Director from District Two. But that same year, at the Philadelphia Section’s spring meeting, he suffered a heart attack and died at the head table.  His last words were “With the boys coming back from Vietnam, we need to get the golf course at Valley Forge Hospital going again.”

“Did You Know”
Sam Snead played his first tournament on the PGA summer tour at the 1936 Hershey Open!

In early September 1936 twenty-four-year-old Sam Snead ventured out of the Blue Ridge country to test his golf game in a summer PGA Tour event, the Hershey Open. Before that, only a trip to Florida for the 1935 Miami Open and a missed cut at the North and South Open in March had been his attempts at professional touring golf.  

Having learned golf as a caddy at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia he was now in his first year as an assistant professional at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. In July he had won a tournament called the West Virginia Closed by 16 strokes with rounds of 71 and 61. It was played at The Greenbrier’s 6,317-yard championship course and open only to West Virginia professionals. The 61 was made up of nine pars and nine birdies. He drove the green on two par four holes, only to take three putts for pars.

By late summer Snead had saved up $75 so he decided to try his luck in Milton Hershey’s $5,000 Hershey Open, where the prize money was the same as the US Open and the Masters that year. Snead took a train to Philadelphia and then a second train to Hershey. He arrived on Wednesday for a practice round. There for a practice round as well was George Fazio, who invited Snead to join him. The first hole at that time was a straightaway 329 yard par four, with its green near the Hershey Chocolate factory. (Later the factory was enlarged and the hole was changed to a dogleg left.) Snead’s first two drives were in the factory grounds.  His third drive was on the green.

In the first round Snead toured the par 73 course in 70 strokes, which was two off the lead. After a second round 77 and a third round 70, he was within three strokes of the leaders. In the last round Snead birdied the 343 yard 11th hole after driving the green, but putting failures led to a 74 that left him four strokes behind the winner, host professional Henry Picard (287). A tie for sixth at 291 earned Snead $285. Picard won $1,200. Before Snead could leave town Craig Wood signed him to a $500 contract with Dunlop Sporting Goods to play its clubs and golf balls.   

The world of professional golf had been made aware that a new star was on the horizon, but Johnny Bulla was one who had not gotten the message. In January Bulla and Snead drove to the west coast for the winter tour in Bulla’s automobile. Snead’s auto wasn’t road worthy for a trip to the west coast. During the drive west Snead offered to split all the expenses and winnings, but Bulla declined, figuring he would play better than Snead. That was a mistake. Snead won the second tournament they entered, the Oakland Open, and the rest is golf history.

“DID YOU KNOW”
George Fazio teed off first in the final round of the 1950 US Open and well might have won!

At 8 a.m. Saturday June 10, 1950, two local golf professionals, George Fazio and Al Besselink, were the first two players teeing off for the double round finish of the US Open at Merion Golf Club’s East Course.

At that time there were no gallery ropes, so the USGA would spread out the leaders. Crowd control of the 10,000 spectators each day was up to volunteer marshals. Before the tournament began Ben Hogan had said that his biggest problem might be getting under the gallery ropes. Hogan had circulation problems in his legs from the near fatal automobile accident just one year earlier in February 1949. Large veins had been tied off to mange blood clots. This caused cramping.

For the 36-hole finish on Saturday, players were paired in twos at six minute intervals. Fazio (145) and Besselink (143) may have been put in the first pairing by the officials, because they were not slow and knew the golf course. Actually it was Merchantville, New Jersey’s Besselink who struck the first tee shot of the day with Norristown, Pennsylvania’s Fazio next.

Halfway leader Dutch Harrison (139) was at 9:00 with Julius Boros (140). Johnny Bulla (140) and Lloyd Mangrum (142) were off at 8:30. Ben Hogan (141) and Cary Middlecoff (142) had a 9:30 time. Jim Ferrier (140) and Henry Ransom (143) had a 9:54 tee time. It had taken a score of 149 to make the cut (low 50). Most of the players with the higher scores had later times, but some were arly. Only five strokes back at 144, Denny Shute, once the professional only a few miles away at Llanerch CC and a winner of three majors, was last off at 10:30.

In the tournament’s third round that morning Fazio kept himself in the conversation with a 32 on the second nine to post a 72 for 217, while Mangrum with a 69 took the lead at 211. With a 73 Harrison (212) was still there, in second place. Hogan (72), Middlecoff (71) and Johnny Palmer (70) were tied for third at 213.

Back on the course at 12:30, Fazio played the last nine holes in 33 strokes for an even par 70. His 72-hole 287 total on the scoreboard looked great, but probably not a winner. Then the US Open pressure began to take its toll. Middlecoff and Palmer, each were in the process of taking 79 strokes to finish. Harrison with a 76, came in one worse than Fazio’s 287. Mangrum was out in 41 and staggered in with pars on the exceedingly difficult final three holes for a 76. That managed to get him into a tie with Fazio.

Out on the course one hour after Mangrum, Hogan made 10 pars and a bogey on the first eleven holes. His legs were giving out. On the last nine holes either Middlecoff or Hogan’s caddy removed his ball from the hole. On the 12th tee Hogan’s drive found the rough. He limped over and leaned on Harry Radix, who was there as a spectator. He said “Harry I don’t think I can finish.” (Before there was a Vardon Trophy for the low scoring average on the PGA Tour it was the Radix Cup. The Radix Cup, donated by Radix, a Chicago jeweler, was awarded for that achievement from 1934 to 1936.) Hogan’s second shot was long and would have ended up over the green out-of-bounds in Ardmore Avenue if not for the throng of spectators at the back of the green. From there he made a bogey. It has been reported that after the short 13th hole, which was near the clubhouse, Hogan considered quitting but his caddy was on the way to the 14th tee so he kept walking. He three putted 15 for a bogey. He made a par on 16 when his second shot hit a lady spectator near the green and ended in a good lie just off the green.   On the par-three 17th, his tee shot found a back bunker and he made another bogey. Hogan was now in a tie with Fazio and Mangrum. On the last hole he was on the green after a drive and a 1-iron. From 40 feet he putted four feet past the hole. Without much though a dead tired man made the next one coming back. With his 74 there was now a three way tie at 287; Fazio, Mangrum and Hogan.  

In 72 holes, if one more putt had been holed by Fazio or one more missed by Hogan and Mangrum, Fazio would have won the US Open. In the last round, he had made a great 4-iron shot from the rough on the 16th hole to four feet, only to miss the putt. Fazio would have been a long-shot and a dark-horse, but no more than some others. Fazio had won once before, the 1946 Canadian Open.

In an 18-hole playoff on Sunday which began at 2 p.m. because of Pennsylvania’s “Blue Laws” (The law is still on the books in Pennsylvania, but not enforced). Hogan won with a 69 against a 73 by Mangrum and a 75 by Fazio. First prize was $4,000 and worth much more in endorsements.   

“DID YOU KNOW’
Johnny McDermott won two straight US Opens and is not in the World Golf Hall of Fame!

Johnny McDermott was the first American born golfer to win the United States Open. Born in west Philadelphia on August 11, 1891, he learned golf as a caddy at the Aronimink Golf Club, which was in west Philadelphia at that time. McDermott tied for first in the 1910 US Open at the Philadelphia Cricket Club with Alex Smith and his brother Macdonald Smith, only to lose an 18-hole playoff the next day to Alex.

One year later in 1911, McDermott again ended up in a three-way tie for first in the US Open at the Chicago Golf Club. This time he prevailed, becoming the first American born to win his country’s open championship. The first 16 US Opens had all been won by golf professionals born in Great Britain. He was the youngest winner, and in the year 2021 he still is. Only Young Tom Morris won a major golf tournament, the British Open, at a younger age.

At the 1912 US Open hosted by the Country Club of Buffalo, McDermott won again. He also finished the tournament under par, making him the first to accomplish that in any major golf tournament. Now he had come within one stroke of winning three straight US Opens. In the 121 years that the tournament has been played, McDermott is only one of seven who won the tournament in back to back years.

Along with his success in the US Open he won other important tournaments, like the 1914 Western Open, which he won by seven strokes. At that time the Western was the second most prestigious tournament in the United States. When it came to golf tournaments the description of “major” was not yet in use, but the Western was a major golf tournament until the late 1930s. 

With many of the world’s greatest players in the field, McDermott won the 1913 Shawnee Open. After trailing by five strokes at the end of 36 holes he won by eight. Most of the golfers there were entered in the US Open a month later. Two-time US Open champion Alex Smith finished second and Vardon ended up fifth.  

McDermott won the Philadelphia Open three times, 1910, 1911 and 1913. On last hole of the 1912 Philadelphia Open McDermott holed out a pitch shot for a birdie on the last hole to tie, only to later lose an 18-hole playoff to Wilmington CC professional Gil Nicholls, twice a runner-up in the US Open. There were great players in those tournaments. In 1910 McDermott edged out Philadelphia Cricket Club’s professional Willie Anderson, who had won the US Open four times, by one stroke.

For a period of five years (1910 to 1914) McDermott and Harry Vardon were probably the two best golfers in the world. His golf career was short but brilliant. In late 1914 mental problems brought it to an end.

Even with all those successes McDermott is not in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Hollywood celebrities are in that hall of fame but not John J. “Johnny” McDermott.

Bill Orr and his company Telra created a video on the career of Johnny McDermott using information from Trenham Golf History. As a favor to Bill Orr, Jack Whitaker supplied the voiceover of the narrative. The video is on our website—trenhamgolfhistory.org

Below is a link to the McDermott video.

“DID YOU KNOW”
A young Ben Hogan finished second to Byron Nelson on and off the golf course!

As most golfers know, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson were born in 1912 and grew up caddying at the Glen Garden Golf Club in Ft. Worth, Texas. Nelson’s golf game may have developed sooner, due to Hogan beginning with left-handed clubs.

Nelson always seemed to have a bit of an edge. One year, in the club’s annual caddy tournament Hogan and Nelson tied for first place. There had been no mention of a playoff being part of the tournament, but the committee called for a playoff which Nelson won. As a result of that Nelson was asked to work in the golf shop and was able to play the course more often.

They both turned pro at an early age. Nelson had success almost right away, winning money on the PGA Tour. Nelson began winning tournaments while Hogan was struggling to win enough money to even cover his expenses.  

In late 1936 Nelson and Hogan both applied for the head professional position at Reading Country Club in Pennsylvania. RCC hired Nelson. A few months later Nelson won the Masters and then headed north to his new job at RCC. Hogan wasn’t invited to the 1937 Masters. At times Hogan was working odd jobs in the oil fields and gambling houses to enter some more tournaments.

In the spring of 1938 Hogan landed a job as the teaching and playing professional at the Century Country Club in White Plains, New York. In the embedded photo, Hogan and Nelson, pictured with William Flynn, are at the Philadelphia Country Club the week after the 1939 Masters, playing a practice round for the upcoming US Open. Nelson was back at Reading CC and Hogan was on his way to White Plains.

In June Nelson finished 72 holes in the US Open at the Philadelphia Country Club tied for first with Craig Wood and Denny Shute. On Sunday there was an 18-hole playoff, which Nelson won after a second 18-hole playoff on Monday. Hogan finished 62nd.

(What follows was told to me by Henry Poe.) During the playoff Nelson told Wood and Shute that he was going to be the professional at the Inverness Club in Toledo in 1940. Nelson asked them if they knew of anyone who might be right for Reading CC. Wood recommended Henry Poe who was working for him at Winged Foot Golf Club.

Hogan had also applied at Inverness. Again he had finished second to Nelson. Nelson being Nelson said that the committee must have liked the way he tied his tie better than Ben.

Poe told me he really wasn’t interested in the Reading position. He loved working at Winged Foot for Wood, but he agreed to an interview. During his interview he was invited to stay for dinner and told he could have the same contract as Nelson. Poe signed on and stayed 27 years. He went on to be president of the Philadelphia PGA and the PGA of America.

In 1940 things began to turn around for Hogan. In March he won the North and South Open for his first individual title on the PGA Tour, but it was back to Century CC for a third year. Hogan won three more times that year and tied for fifth at the US Open.

In early 1941Henry Picard resigned as the professional at Hershey Country Club to buy a farm in Oklahoma. A great supporter of Hogan, Picard recommended him to Milton Hershey, who owned the club. Hogan was now a head professional. He won five times on the PGA Tour in 1941 and six in 1942. At the same time Nelson’s golf game was improving as well.

By late 1941 the United States was at war. Hogan enrolled in a flight school and learned how to fly. In 1942 he volunteered for the US Air Force and taught flying during the war. Nelson, who was turned down by the draft board due to a blood disorder, won even more often than before.

In 1945 Nelson won 11 straight tournaments and 19 in total. Late that summer Hogan was a civilian again. Before the year was over he had won 5 times. About the time that Hogan had figured out tournament golf, Nelson seemed to have tired of the tournament trail. After winning six times in 1946 Nelson retired in late July. It is too bad that the world of golf wasn’t able to witness two of the greatest golfers ever, competing against each other at the peak of their careers.

“DID YOU KNOW”
In 1930 the Philadelphia Cricket Club hosted a championship for senior PGA pros!

On the fourth Monday of May, 1930 a group of golf professionals who called themselves the Professional Golfers Seniors Association, met at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Flourtown course. It was the first of what they planned to be many annual championships.

There were 22 entries, some from as far away as Cleveland. To be eligible, one had to have been a head professional for at least 25 years. They had set themselves up as a national organization with more than 100 members. Albert R. Gates, PGA of America business administrator, was on hand to oversee the competition.

Along with cash the prize for the winner was the engraving of his name on the Willie Anderson Trophy. The trophy’s namesake, a four-time winner of the U.S. Open, served as the professional at the Cricket Club in 1910. A few months after hosting the 1910 U.S. Open, Anderson died at the age of 31. Also engraved on the trophy were the names of all deceased winners of the U.S. Open. 

The competition was scheduled for one 18-hole round. At the end of 18 holes, 1908 US Open champion Freddie McLeod was tied for the title with Long Island’s Charlie Mayo, with 76s. A sudden death playoff was held, beginning on the first hole. Representing Maryland’s Columbia Country Club, McLeod’s drive was in the fairway and his iron shot to the green finished 8 feet from the hole. Mayo, the professional at Pomonok Country Club, drove into the right rough and his second shot was barely on the green. From there Mayo holed his putt of 30 feet for a birdie. McLeod failed to hole his putt and Mayo was crowned the champion.

Ashbourne Country Club professional Dave Cuthbert shared third place at 77 with Gill Nicholls, who had been the professional at the Wilmington Country Club twenty years before.  

In another casualty of the Great Depression, the tournament was discontinued. Seven years later the PGA of America introduced a Senior PGA Championship. The Championship continues today.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Due to minority golfer issues, the PGA Championship was and was not at Aronimink GC!

In 1947 Charlie Sifford was in Detroit playing in the Negro National Championship. Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis and entertainer Billy Eckstine were playing in the amateur division. Louis sold Eckstine on hiring Sifford as his private golf pro and chauffeur. Sifford had been living in Philadelphia and honing his game at Cobbs Creek GC, but now he was on the road with Eckstine. They would spend winter months in California where it was warm and had golf courses open to them.

Sifford played on what was called the United Golfers Association tour, which was for Black golfers. The UGA tour offered two-day weekend events in various locations with meager purses, but it was an opportunity to compete. Beginning in 1932 the UGA held a national championship, which Sifford would later win six times.

Golf was the last professional sport in the United States with a national schedule to become integrated. The PGA of America had a by-law stating that only Caucasians could be PGA members. With the threat of lawsuits in the early 1950s, the PGA announced that Black golfers could play PGA Tour events if invited. Now many of the tour events, especially in the south, became invitation tournaments, in order to not invite the Black golfers.

Sifford began entering the Monday qualifying events for tour tournaments that were open to Black golfers. Most of those were in the northern states.

By the late 1950s, with the growth of golf and more golfers wanting to play on the PGA Tour, the PGA devised an “Approved Players Card”, for non PGA members. Those were attained through the local PGA Sections. Only non exempt PGA professionals and those with Players Cards could enter the Monday qualifying rounds for PGA Tour events.

In 1960 on his third attempt and now with the help of an attorney, Sifford’s application for an “Approved Players Card” was accepted by the PGA, after an eight week wait. Even with that he could still only play in the Monday qualifying rounds for tournaments that were open and not invitations. With such a limited schedule, winning enough money to be among the top sixty money winners and gain full exemption for the next year was difficult.

In July 1960 the PGA announced that its 1962 championship had been awarded to Los Angeles’s Brentwood Country Club. One month earlier in June of 1960 Sifford had qualified for and played in the US Open, but he was most likely not going to be playing in a PGA Championship. To play in the tournament as a non PGA member he would have to be in the top 25 money winners on the PGA Tour the previous year.

When California attorney general Stanley Mosk was informed of that, he announced that there would not be a PGA Championship in California unless Sifford was in the field. The PGA replied that because Sifford was not a PGA member or an exempt player, he was not eligible for entry. Then the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, which was the sponsor of the tournament, decided they did not want to be involved in a segregation issue and asked out of its contract with the PGA. Instead they would run an L.A. Open in 1962, rather than skipping a year as planned.

The PGA came back with a statement that it had a valid contract with the Chamber, but at the same time went looking for a new venue. On the other side of the country near Philadelphia, the PGA found a club with a championship course that could host the tournament on short notice, the Aronimink Golf Club. Just a few years before the PGA had held a highly successful PGA Championship at Llanerch Country Club in 1958, which was not far from Aronimink, so there was some comfort in a shift to Philadelphia.

In the third week of May, 1961 the Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article stating that the 1962 PGA Championship might be coming to Philadelphia. PGA Tournament Director J. Edwin Carter was on his way to check out the course at Aronimink. At the annual meeting of the PGA in the fall of 1961, the Caucasian Only clause was removed from the by-laws. The tournament was played at Aronimink in June 1962 without Black golfers. The winner, Gary Player, was the first non PGA member to win the tournament and the first foreign born winner not domiciled in the United States.

In October 1988 the PGA announced that its 1993 PGA Championship would be held at Aronimink GC. In 1990 the PGA Championship was played at the Shoal Creek Country Club in Alabama. Leading up to the tournament it was learned by the press that Shoal Creek did not have any minority members and did not plan to. Now the press was on the case. With the 1993 championship on the horizon the press inquired as to whether Aronimink had minority members. When it was learned that they did not, there were more articles in the newspapers.

In early November 1990, officials of Aronimink GC informed the PGA that the club was withdrawing from its contract to host the 1993 PGA Championship. They said that with its current seven year waiting list for full golf privileges, the club was not going to be able to achieve minority representation in its membership prior to 1993.

If Joe Lewis had not introduced Charlie Sifford to Billy Eckstine, Aronimink GC may not have hosted the PGA Championship in 1962. Aronimink is now scheduled to host the PGA Championship in 2026. 

“DID YOU KNOW”
Aronimink GC’s pro in 1899 was the USA’s first African American golf professional!

John Matthew Shippen, Jr. was born in Washington D.C. on December 2, 1879. His father John Sr., was born into slavery in Virginia. When the Civil War ended he was a free man. He moved to D.C. and attended Howard University. Upon graduation he became an Episcopalian minister. In 1888 the church sent John Sr., his African American wife and children to the far end of Long Island to bring Christianity to the Shinnecock Indians.

The Shinnecock Hills Golf Club opened in 1891 and the golfers needed caddies. John and his brother Cyrus along with some of the Indian boys became caddies and some learned to play the game.

By 1896, with the US Open scheduled for Shinnecock Hills, 16 year old John Shippen was being proclaimed in newspapers around the USA. It was written that he was a long straight driver and could play all the shots. He was the holder of the Shinnecock Hills course record, having lowered the number set by then Shinnecock professional Willie Dunn, by six strokes. Dunn had given Shippen pointers on how to play the game.

When the 1896 US Open rolled around in July, Shippen was paired with Charles Blair MacDonald, 1895 US Amateur champion. Oscar Bunn, one of the Shinnecock Indian caddies was also entered. Some of the Shinnecock members paid their entry fees. When the British born professionals learned there was a black golfer entered they produced a signed petition, refusing to play. USGA President Theodore Havemeyer stated that there would be a tournament even if only Shippen and Bunn were in the field. The protesting players decided to play.

The tournament, one day of 36 holes, was won by James Foulis, a Scotland-born professional from Chicago with rounds of 78 and 74 for 152. Despite poor putting, Shippen posted a 78 in his morning round. In the afternoon he took 11 strokes on the 13^th hole when his tee shot ended up on a sandy road, where it took several strokes for him to escape. He finished with an 81 for 159 and a tie for sixth and last money. Some years later he said the hole was an easy par four, but his drive was a little too far to the right.

After working as the professional at Maidstone Golf Club, Shippen became the professional at Aronimink Golf Club in 1899, for that one year. His brother Cyrus was his assistant. At times his employers, to justify his employment, would say that he was not a black man but of English/Indian decent. It was said and written that Shippen was related to John Raife on his father’s side and Pocahontas on his mother’s side, which was far from realty. Shippen himself had registered for that 1896 US Open as a Shinnecock Indian, to avoid problems. In later years in an interview with his daughter, she said her father was 100 percent black.   

As the professional at Aronimink, Shippen finished third in a driving contest at the 1899 US Open. He played in six US Opens, tying for 5th in 1902 along with his tie for 6th in 1896.  

For many years Shippen was the professional and course supervisor at the Shady Rest Golf & Country Club in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. It was later Scotch Hills Country Club. In 1991 the John Shippen Foundation was created to offer golf instruction and competition for young minority golfers.  

“DID YOU KNOW”
The PGA selected two wartime Ryder Cup teams!

Even with the Ryder Cup matches canceled in 1939 due to war in Europe, the PGA of America selected a team. Walter Hagen was the non-playing captain. Now the PGA had a team with nothing to do. Ideas were presented. One was to host a team of professionals from Argentina. With the threat of a world war, the United States was doing everything possible to maintain friendly alliances in South America.

Gene Sarazen, who had been left off the Ryder Cup team for the first time since the inception of the matches in 1927, voiced his displeasure with the makeup of the team. He said it was not about him, but he could field a better team. He went on to announce his team which had three players; Tommy Armour, Harry Cooper and Jimmy Thomson, who had not been born in the United States and not eligible for a Ryder Cup team.

Nothing materialized that year but in 1940 Oakland Hills Country Club, near Detroit, came up with a proposal. They would host a match for charity between Hagen’s Ryder Cup team and Sarazen’s Challengers. Hagen had been the professional at Oakland Hills in 1919 and Detroit was his adopted home town. Sarazen said that they should play for the Cup itself, which the US was holding, having won in England two years before. Hagen said that he was the captain of the Ryder Cup team and he would make the rules.

When the match was played on July 16-17, Sarazen was there with his three players who were not citizens. All ten members of the Ryder Cup team were there. The players on both teams were reimbursed for their travel expenses. The format was 4 foursomes (alternate shots) the first day and 8 singles the second day, with all matches 36 holes. Hagen and Sarazen had a side bet of $1,000, with the money going to the Red Cross. The first day Sarazen sat himself out as Hagen’s team won three matches. Ben Hogan and Jimmy Demaret defeated Shawnee CC’s Sam Snead and Ralph Guldahl 1-up for the Challengers’ only point. On day two the points were divided even (4-4), even though Sarazen lost to Hershey CC’s Henry Picard 8&7. That made it a 7 to 5 victory for the Cup team. $18,500 was raised for the Red Cross.

With the city of Detroit behind the challenge match, a second one was played at the Detroit Golf Club in August 1941. Bobby Jones, who was no longer an amateur, was the Challengers playing captain. Jones had made a golf instruction film, written books on golf and had a product line of Spalding Robert T. Jones Golf Clubs on the market. When Jones retired from competitive golf in 1930 the PGA had made him an honorary member. All Cup team members were on hand. Sarazen was on Jones’s team. All matches were 36 holes. The first day Nelson and Jug McSpaden beat Jones and Sarazen 8&6 as Hagen’s Cuppers led 3 to 2. The Haig declared victory, but the second day was a different story. Jones came back from being four down to Picard after nine holes to win 2&1. Hogan beat Nelson 2-down and the other Challengers won four and tied one of the matches. The final count was 8-1/2 for the Challengers against 6-1/2 for the Cup Team. (Hogan was now the professional at Hershey CC, as Picard had bought a farm in Oklahoma). $18,221 was raised for the Red Cross.

A third challenge match was back at Oakland Hills in August 1942. In late 1941 the PGA had selected another wartime Ryder Cup team. Sarazen was back on the team along with newcomers Hogan and Demaret. Harold “Jug” McSpaden, who was now the professional at the Philadelphia CC, was on the team again. For the first time since the first match in 1927, Hagen was not the captain. The captain was Craig Wood. Hagen was now the captain of the Challengers. Hagen invited Jones to play on his team, but Jones was in the Army and could not arrange leave. Snead was in the Navy so Ed Dudley, who was a veteran of three Ryder Cup teams and president of the PGA, subbed for Snead. The Cup team won all five foursome matches and split the second day singles for a 10-5 victory. $25,000 was raised for the Red Cross.

Plum Hollow Country Club in Detroit hosted a fourth challenge match in August 1943. Wood captained the Cup team and Hagen captained the Challengers. Hogan, Snead and Horton Smith were in the service and unavailable. For local interest two Detroit professionals filled in. The Cup team won 8-1/2 to 3-1/2.

With many of the leading professionals now in the service, a 1944 challenge came down to a winner-take-all match between Craig Wood and Sam Byrd for $2,500 in War Bonds. The match was played at Plum Hollow, where Byrd, who had been an assistant at Philadelphia CC and Merion GC, was now the head professional. Byrd routed Wood by eight strokes in the 36-hole match. 

“DID YOU KNOW”
A Philadelphia PGA professional would have been host to the cancelled 1939 Ryder Cup!

On March 18, 1939 George Jacobus, president of the PGA of America, announced that the Ponte Vedra Golf Club had been chosen to host the Ryder Cup sometime that fall. The course, 22 miles south of Jacksonville, lay near the Atlantic Ocean. In trying to be a gracious host, Jacobus said the location might be to the liking of the British team, with windswept golf holes and weather that was not extremely hot. The PGA of America was the holder of the Cup having won at Sandwich in 1937. That was the first time either side had won on foreign soil.

Walter Hagen had been named team captain for the seventh time (now non-playing). Hagen did not seem enthusiastic about providing a friendly venue for the invading team. He said there might be more seagulls than spectators on hand for the matches. 

It was going to be the first time a major golf tournament would be held in Florida. Why in Florida and why at Ponte Vedra? The golf professional at Ponte Vedra was A.B. “Al” Nelson. Nelson had been a head professional at the Country Club of York, Yardley CC and then just across the Delaware River in New Jersey at Hopewell Valley CC. before becoming the professional at Ponte Vedra in 1936. He played in PGA Championships and US Opens along with being an officer in the Philadelphia PGA. Once he attended his first national PGA meeting in 1932, he seemed to attend them all. Thru all of this, Nelson knew nearly everyone in professional golf and sold the PGA on bringing the Ryder Cup to Ponte Vedra.

The PGA scheduled November 18 and 19 for the Ryder Cup and the British team was announced on August 23. On September 5, before the US team was finalized, British captain Henry Cotton wired Ed Dudley, the tournament chairman for the U.S. PGA Tour, that due to war in Europe the British PGA would not be sending a team to the states.

Even with the cancellation of the Ryder Cup, a ten-man U.S. team was selected and announced at the PGA’s national meeting on November 13. The selection committee was composed of Jacobus who was now the past president of the PGA, Dudley, Hagen, Leo Diegel and Olin Dutra.

Over the next four years the Detroit, Michigan golf community hosted four Ryder Cup challenge matches, with teams of professionals taking on the Cup team to raise money for the Red Cross and other wartime charities. Bobby Jones, who was no longer an amateur, and an honorary member of the PGA, led a team of challengers to victory as a playing captain in 1941.

In late 1941 a wartime Ryder Cup team was selected by the PGA of America. There were professionals on those two wartime teams like Harold McSpaden, Vic Ghezzi, and Jimmy Hines who never received credit for being Ryder Cup team members. They only played for charity.  

“DID YOU KNOW”
Three Philadelphia PGA members who were not eligible played in the 1931 PGA!

On the third Monday of August 1931, forty members of the Philadelphia PGA were at The Springhaven Club to try to qualify for the PGA Championship. There was a bit of a quandary though. Six of the professionals had been late paying their PGA dues. One of those in question was the host professional Andy Campbell.

The PGA rule was that $35 of the $50 PGA dues had to be paid by July 15. Campbell and Charlie Hoffner (Ocean City GC) had been two days late paying their dues while Clarence Hackney (Atlantic City CC) and Harry Markel (Berkshire CC) had been 30 days late. Two others; Morrie Talman (Whitemarsh Valley CC) and Howard Slattery (Bucks County CC) had been late paying as well. The PGA had set a precedent by accepting Campbell’s entry but not the other five.

Since the PGA had accepted Campbell’s entry, Herb Jewson (Roxborough CC), secretary of the Philadelphia PGA, allowed the others to play under protest. Jewson said that he would refer the matter to Albert R. Gates, business administrator for the PGA of America. Late in the afternoon a telegram arrived from Gates stating “Should the gentlemen you refer to be certified as qualifiers for the P.G.A. Championship their entries will probably be accepted, but cannot decide definitely until full report from sectional officers”. The officers agreed that since Campbell’s entry had been accepted the others should be also.

Nineteen-year-old George Low, Jr. (Huntingdon Valley CC) led the 36-hole qualifying with a 145. Also qualifying for the seven allotted spots were Ed Dudley (Concord CC), Joe Kirkwood (PGA Tour), Hackney, Hoffner and John Beadle (Paxon Hollow GC). Markel defeated Al Heron (Riverside CC), who he used to work for, in a sudden death playoff to pick up the last spot. Even though Dudley had won twice on the PGA Tour in the past year he had to qualify along with Kirkwood who had been a semifinalist in the PGA the year before.

That night George Sayers (Merion GC) wired Gates to protest allowing Hackney, Hoffner and Markel to be accepted as qualifiers for the PGA Championship. Gates, who was considered the Judge Landis of professional golf, then ruled that Hackney and Markel were not eligible, so Heron was in. With three players, Campbell, Sayers and Marty Lyons (Spring Hill CC) having tied for ninth with 151s, Jewson announced that there would be an 18-hole playoff on Friday for the seventh spot. Campbell then wired the PGA to say that he did not care to play in the PGA Championship.

On Friday Lyons and Sayers played off at Springhaven in an all day rain. At the end of 18 holes they were tied, so out they went for another 18, which Lyons won.

In the third week of September, nine Philadelphia Section members, seven apparent qualifiers plus Hackney and Markel, arrived at the Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, RI for the PGA Championship. Hackney and Markel along with Hoffner were told that they were not eligible to play in the tournament. Hackney said that he had not been told he had been barred from playing and threatened to sue the PGA. He was seen walking around with important looking papers sticking out of his back pocket. Hackney stated that he was going to get an injunction against the playing of the championship.

When the PGA officers were informed of that they changed their stance. Hackney, Hoffner and Markel were added to the 104 that were there for onsite qualifying and given starting times. They all failed to qualify for the 32-man match play ladder, with Hackney missing by one stroke.

The tournament was won by the darkest of dark horses, Tom Creavy a twenty-year-old. He defeated Denny Shute, who would later win the PGA twice and a British Open, in the final. Two years later Shute was the professional at Llanerch Country Club, near Philadelphia.  

“DID YOU KNOW”
When the PGA was founded in 1916 there were only seven PGA Sections for the entire USA!

Due to these geographical challenges most PGA Sections did not have a Section Championship. Attending meetings was difficult unless you were near a sizable city.

When the PGA was being created Rodman Wanamaker of the Wanamaker’s Department Store, had promised to fund the prize money for a championship and with that he dictated the format to be match play. The PGA’s first championship was scheduled to be held at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, New York.

The PGA decided that 32 PGA members would make up the match play ladder, with Sectional qualifying to determine the starting field. Each PGA Section was allotted spots based on the number of PGA members in its Section. The Met Section had 12 spots and the SE Section had 5. Walter Hagen made the trip from Rochester to Innwood CC on the south shore of Long Island and won the Met’s last spot in a driving rainstorm. The professionals from other PGA Sections had even greater problems with distances to travel.

The Southeastern Section held its qualifying rounds at the Wilmington Country Club in Delaware on the second Wednesday of September. The course is now the municipal Ed Oliver Golf Club. No one was there from Atlanta. Charlotte was the farthest south that anyone came from. Whitemarsh Valley CC’s Jim Barnes and Jock Hutchison, the professional at the Allegheny CC in Pittsburgh, tied for medalist honors at 147. The next two spots went to CC of York professional Emmett French, and host professional Wilfrid Reid with 149s. Philadelphia CC’s Jim Thomson and Philmont CC’s Charlie Hoffner tied for the last spot at 151, which called for an 18-hole playoff. The next day Thomson won the last spot from Hoffner while Barnes and Hutchison were in a 9-hole playoff for the medalist prize, which Hutchison won by one stroke. There was $350 in prize money.

In the second week of October the successful qualifiers were at Siwanoy for the first PGA Championship. There were only three players there from west of the Mississippi River; one from Missouri,
one from Iowa and one from California. Wanamaker paid the travel expenses for all of the qualifiers. All rounds were scheduled for 36 holes. Barnes and Hutchison each won four matches and met in the final. All even through 35 holes, they came to the last green, each facing five-foot putts for the title. After a measurement it was determined that Hutchison was away. Hutchison missed his putt and Barnes holed his. First prize was $500 and a diamond medal with a diamond stud. Second prize was $250 and a gold medal.

With the United States at war in 1917 and 1918 the PGA Championship was canceled and the travel problems were forgotten. With the war over, the PGA Championship was being played again. 1919 and 1920 were held with local qualifying along with many complaints about travel. In 1921 there was no Section qualifying. The defending champion and the low 31 PGA pros in the 1921 US Open who wished to play in the PGA Championship were entered in the match play.

The PGA members didn’t like that process either. At the PGA’s national meeting in July, which was held during the week of the US Open, a motion was made for each state to be a PGA Section. That motion didn’t pass but the message was heard. A committee was formed to study the problem. The committee came up with a plan to divide the original 7 PGA Sections into 24 Sections. On December 2, 1921 one of the new Sections was the Philadelphia PGA, the only PGA Section named for a city. There are now 41 PGA Sections.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Gene Sarazen left Miami on an exhibition tour two days before the first Masters!

Two days later Bobby Jones and his invited guests teed off at Augusta National in the first Masters Tournament. Sarazen was invited but he thought it was a land promotion that he didn’t need to help the “Emperor” publicize. Sarazen said if Jones had considered taking part in helping him promote golf events at the Miami Biltmore he would have returned the favor by competing at Augusta. 

Kirkwood was the perfect partner for a golf exhibition. Kirkwood was the leading golf trick shot artist in the world. Kirkwood grew up in Australia. As a young boy he worked on a sheep ranch that had a three-hole golf course, where he learned to play. While tending the sheep he would pass the time attempting trick shots. During World War I he entertained the Australian soldiers with his various shots. He could do more than hit unusual shots. At age 23 he won the Australia Open, New Zealand Open and New Zealand PGA, all in 1920. The next year he left the South Pacific for the United States. He played his way across the country arriving in Pinehurst in April for the North and South Open. One round after having been paired with Walter Hagen, he was asked to show off his array of trick shots. When he finished, Jimmy Walker, the mayor of New York, passed a hat to collect tips for Kirkwood. When Hagen saw how much money was in the hat he could see someone he should team up with for exhibitions. It was a partnership that would last for the rest of their lives. On occasion like 1934, Kirkwood would also team up with Sarazen. In 1923 Kirkwood moved to the states. He purchased a home in Glenside, a suburb of Philadelphia, and joined Cedarbrook Country Club. For many years he kept a home in Glenside, no matter what club he might be representing.   

The Sarazen/Kirkwood tour would last almost one year and cover 100,000 miles. First they visited South America returning to the states in time for the U.S. Open at Merion in June. Then they were off to the British Open and a tour of Europe. In late July they were back in the states for the PGA Championship in Buffalo, where Sarazen was the defending champion. After that, the two pros toured Canada and then they headed for the Far East where they visited eight countries that included China, Japan and Australia.

By 1935 Sarazen could see that the Masters was more than a land promotion, so he was in the starting field. In the final round he holed a 230-yard fairway wood on the 15th hole for a double-eagle that allowed him to tie Craig Wood for the title. The next day Sarazen defeated Wood in a 36-hole playoff.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Philadelphia hosted a long drive contest 3 days after Bobby Jones completed his Grand Slam!

Municipal Stadium later named John F. Kennedy Stadium was demolished in 1992 to make room for more modern sports venues. The stadium was an open horseshoe. Tees with an elevation of forty feet were constructed at the South end of the field. A fairway, sixty yards in width, extended 422 yards.

The event, held under the lights, was open to professionals and amateurs. Due to the large number of professionals who were sending in entries, only those playing in the US Amateur were allowed to enter, and they were all invited. Gene Homans, who lost to Jones in final of the Amateur, and Boston’s Jesse Guilford, the longest driver in amateur golf were there. Charley Seaver, the father of future NY Mets pitcher Tom Seaver, was entered. Professionals Gene Sarazen and Tommy Armour had signed up. The contest was sanctioned by the United States Golf Association.

The contest was sponsored by the Arena Corporation of Philadelphia and supervised by the Valley Forge Golf Club in King-of-Prussia. With total prize money totaling $7,500, entries poured in. The total prize money at the US Open that year had been $5,000. Tickets for the east and west stands were $1, with reserved seats directly behind the driving tees $2 and $3.

The evening of Tuesday September 30, more than 200 professionals and amateurs were at Municipal Stadium for fame and fortune. In order to handle the large number of entries, players were hitting drives from more than one tee at the same time. Each contestant hit four drives, with the average of the best two that ended up inbounds counting. The ten best qualifiers were in the final. In the final each contestant hit five drives. The average of the three best drives determined the winner and where the others placed.  

During the evening there were strong winds sweeping across the field from left to right. Many weren’t able to keep their required drives inbounds. Ed Dudley, who had been on the 1929 Ryder Cup and was the professional at the Concord Country Club, qualified for the final but then could not get the required three drives in bounds. The same went for 1927 Ryder Cupper Bill Mehlhorn.   

The winner was Pontiac, Michigan’s Clarence Gamber. His three best drives averaged 256 yards, 5 and 1/3 inches. His longest drive, which was the longest of all contestants, was 262 yards, 1 inch. Cliff Spencer of Baltimore finished second at 252 yards, 2/3 inches. Tops among Philadelphia area professionals were Reading professional Al Heron in sixth place and Atlantic City professional Alex Hackney in seventh place.

In 1925 the USGA had allowed the use of steel shafted clubs for the first time. There may have been a reason why the USGA sanctioned the Municipal Stadium driving contest. For seven years the USGA had been studying why the golf ball was being driven farther, nearly every year. On January 1, three months after the Philadelphia driving contest, the USGA came out with mandatory changes to the golf ball. Instead of the ball having to be no less than 1.62 inches in diameter and not more than 1.62 ounces in weight the ball now had to be at least 1.68 inches in diameter and no more than 1.55 ounces. The larger/lighter ball solved the distance concern, but presented many problems on windy days.

Ed Dudley fared well with the new ball. In 1931 he won the Los Angeles Open and the Western Open along with compiling the low scoring average for the year on the PGA Tour. On September 15 the USGA pulled the plug on the changes to the golf ball and came out with new specifications, which are still the regulation today. The 1.68 inch ball size stayed the same but the ball could weigh up to 1.62 ounces. 

{See Treasure Trove article–Once upon a time the USGA let the air out of the golf ball!}

“DID YOU KNOW”
The Philadelphia PGA Championship was won twice by someone not a member of the Section.

In March 1923, Barnett left Philadelphia to be the professional at the Chevy Chase Club in Maryland. The Philadelphia Section members wanted the popular Barnett to continue as their president, but he said he could not run the Philadelphia Section from Maryland.

In 1925 Barnett was a founder of the Middle Atlantic PGA. He was its second president in 1926 and 1927 and was president again in 1933. He was also the Middle Atlantic’s Section champion in 1929. As the professional at Chevy Chase he gave golf lessons to Presidents W. Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding.

In 1930 the Indian Creek Country Club in Miami hired Barnett as their golf professional. He was now the professional at Chevy Chase in the summer months and Indian Creek in the winter. As the professional at those two clubs he had several assistants who went on to prominence in golf. Max Elbin, president of the PGA of America 1966-68, and Bill Strausbaugh were with him at Indian Creek. Strausbaugh went on to be one of the countries’ leading golf instructors and a PGA of America award is named for him, for his lifelong endeavor to assist golf facilities in finding the right head professional.

Lew Worsham worked for Barnett at Chevy Chase. During Worsham’s employment at Chevy Chase, Barnett made Lew practice every day and he paid all of Worsham’s tournament entry fees. Worsham won the 1947 U.S. Open along with 5 other victories on the PGA Tour.

In 1923 the Philadelphia Section’s second championship was played at the Stenton Country Club. Barnett, who was no longer a member of the Philadelphia PGA, was invited to play in the tournament, which he won. With all of southern New Jersey now being in the Philadelphia PGA, the Section’s 1924 championship was at the Linwood Country Club. Barnett was on hand to defend his title, but had to withdraw due to the death of his father on the eve of the tournament. The 1925 Section Championship was back at Tredyffrin and Barnett won the tournament for a second time. In 1926 he was in the starting field for the championship at Ashbourne Country Club, but failed to defend his title, finishing eighth. 

Barnett represented Middle Atlantic PGA for three years on the board of the PGA of America and is a member of the Middle Atlantic PGA Hall of Fame.

“DID YOU KNOW”
A Philadelphia golf club raised $3 million for WWII U.S. War Bonds in one day!

With the United States fighting World War II on two fronts, the golfers decided to sell War Bonds and raise money for wartime charities. With the Ryder Cup matches canceled in 1939, four Ryder Cup Challenge matches were played in Detroit from 1940 to 1943. Those four years of challenge matches raised $236,521 with the sale of War Bonds and money for the Red Cross. 

In May of 1943 Llanerch Country Club and its professional Marty Lyons hosted an exhibition featuring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. They were paired with Ed Dudley, president of the PGA of America and Jug McSpaden, a member of the wartime Ryder Cup teams. Special trains ran from the city every 15 minutes and 6,000 fans of Hope and Crosby, each paid $1. With rain predicted the exhibition was reduced to nine holes. The Club had lined up 100 policemen and military personnel to keep order, but with the spectators being movie fans and not golfers the marshals could not keep order. Rain turned the golf turned into five holes. The golfers fled to the locker room for dry clothes. Then Hope and Crosby returned to the practice putting green. Hope told jokes and Crosby sang, while at the same time they auctioned off war bonds. Golf balls, scorecards, and sweaters were autographed and along with golf clubs, were sold for war bonds. Mrs. John B. Kelly bought a $5,000 bond in return for a phonograph record signed by Crosby. Thirteen years later her daughter Grace was starring in the movie True Love, with Crosby. In total War Bonds sold that day came to $130,52

In June the Philadelphia PGA, Golf Association of Philadelphia and Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia played an exhibition at Bala Golf Club, which raised $3,000 to buy an ambulance for the Red Cross. The Red Cross suggested, instead of buying an ambulance they should visit the Valley Forge General Hospital to see what might be done there. While visiting the hospital, golf professionals Marty Lyons and Leo Diegel decided to build a nine-hole golf course for the veterans who were being rehabilitated there. Within a year the Philadelphia PGA had another golf course at Fort Dix and putting courses at three other hospitals for wounded veterans.

In October Torresdale-Frankford CC members Henry Hurst and Ollie Troup staged an affair at their club,  to raise money for the Red Cross and the golf course at VFGH. There was an exhibition and a pro-am tournament in the morning. The exhibition featured Craig Wood, Byron Nelson, Vic Ghezzi and Leo Diegel. In the afternoon there was an 18-hole tournament with $2,000 in prize money. The $12,000 proceeds from the day went to the golf course at VFGH and the Red Cross.  

During the summer of 1944, Sonny Fraser, the owner of Atlantic City CC, and Tavistock CC professional Dick Renaghan played a series of exhibitions in southern New Jersey that raised $10,000 for the Red Cross. In October another mixed golfer exhibition was played at Bala GC for VFGH. The proceeds of $1,000 went to VFGH.  

During the years 1944 to 1946 the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper sponsored three PGA Tour tournaments with all proceeds earmarked for wartime charities and the golf course at VFGH. Lancaster CC opened their golf course to the public three Sundays during the summers, with all money collected from the green fees going to the Red Cross.

On the fourth Sunday of June 1944, Philmont Country Club then a jewel of Philadelphia golf with its 36 holes of championship golf, staged an event to sell US War Bonds. Ellis Gimbel of Gimbels Department Store was president of Philmont. A golf exhibition featuring Craig Wood, Bud Lewis, Helen Sigel and Patty Berg was played in the afternoon. Wood was the holder of the US Open title, Lewis the Philadelphia Open holder, Sigel runner-up in the 1941 US Women’s Amateur and Berg one of the countries’ leading women professionals who was stationed with the Marines in Philadelphia. In the evening Ella Fitzgerald entertained the members and guests. Philmont CC, which was predominantly composed of Jewish members, sold $3,000,000 in War Bonds. To purchase a War Bond one paid 75 cents on the dollar. That meant that $2,250,000 had been paid to purchase the bonds, which with inflation equates to $32,979247 in 2020 dollars.  

“DID YOU KNOW”
A man who would win 3 major golf titles was a patient at Valley Forge General Hospital!

Dr. Emmet Cary Middlecoff was born in Halls, Tennessee in 1921 and was raised in Memphis. His father, a dentist and club champion, introduced Cary to golf at age 7.  At 17 he won the Memphis city championship. He then proceeded to win the Tennessee state amateur championship four straight years. Middlecoff played on the golf team at the University of Mississippi and then earned a degree in dentistry from the University of Tennessee. He was soon commissioned into the United States Army as a dentist where he filled 12,093 teeth. While filling a tooth in 1945 a fragment brook off and flew into his eye. Middlecoff was sent to Valley Forge Military Hospital near Phoenixville, which specialized in eye injuries.

Once he began to recover from his eye injury he started playing golf again at the public Meadowbrook Golf Club, which was not far from the hospital. The nine-hole golf course that had been built at the hospital for wounded veterans returning from World War II lacked the distance and challenge for someone of Middlecoff’s ability. It was feared that Middlecoff’s career as an elite golfer might to be over but in October 1945, while still a patient at VFMH, he decided to enter the James “Sonny” Fraser Invitational golf tournament at the Atlantic City Country Club. At that time Sonny Fraser, who was a brother of future PGA president Leo Fraser, was the owner of Atlantic City CC. Playing his first competitive golf in three years, Middlecoff won the tournament.

One month later in November Middlecoff won the North and South Open in Pinehurst, North Carolina by five strokes, becoming the one of the few amateurs to win a PGA Tour tournament. He was discharged from the Army in 1946. His father hung a dentist’s shingle for his son next to his at his office, but Cary had seen enough bad teeth. He began playing golf every day and turned pro in 1947.

He went on to win 40 times on the PGA Tour, which included two victories in the U.S. Open (1949, 1956), the 1955 Masters Tournament and the 1949 Reading Open. He was a member of three Ryder Cup Teams, all victorious. Middlecoff’s father kept his son’s shingle next to his for ten years but Cary never filled another tooth. His father tried to get Bobby Jones to talk Cary into returning to the practicing dentistry, but when he won the 1955 Masters Tournament, Jones told the father “I think your son did a very nice job of filling 72 cavities this week”. In 1986 Cary Middlecoff was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Before there was a PGA, there was an Eastern Professional Golfers Association!

Before the PGA of America was formed in 1916 there were several professional golf associations in the United States. One of those and most likely the largest was the Eastern Professional Golfers Association that covered eastern USA from the state of Maine to Wilmington, Delaware. On June 4, 1906 their founding meeting was held at the Astor House in New York City. Officers were elected. Samuel Y. Heebner, a founder of the Golf Association of Philadelphia, was at the meeting and appointed to a six-man advisory board. The organization’s objective was to provide competition for the professionals and assist with employment.

In October they held their first championship at the Forest Hill Field Club in New Jersey. There were 50 entries and the club put up $300, making the prize money $450. The winner was Scotland’s Alex Smith, who would go on to win the US Open twice. Smith also won a gold medal, similar to what the US Open winner was receiving. Smith won their championship three times, but the pride of those professionals was Willie Anderson, who won the United States Open four times from 1901 to 1905. Anderson, who immigrated to the USA from Scotland with his golf professional father and brother at the age of 15, always considered himself to be an American golf professional.

In 1910 the Philadelphia Cricket Club, which was hosting the US Open that year, was looking for a golf professional. Anderson, who had held nine head pro positions in 13 years, was interested. If he could learn how to play that course, maybe he could win another US Open. Anderson was hired. When the tournament was played in June, he finished 11^th, while Smith took the title.

In October of that year, Anderson passed away at the age of 31. He was buried near the Philadelphia Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill’s Ivy Hill Cemetery. The Philadelphia Cricket Club members arranged a subscription to create a monetary fund for Anderson’s widow and baby. The Eastern Professional Golfers Association provided a large monument for the grave site, which mentioned his four U.S. Open victories. His father and brother, also golf professionals, are buried next to Willie. The monument nearly bankrupt The Eastern Professional Golfers Association.

“DID YOU KNOW”
A Philadelphia PGA founder won the first Irish Professional Championship at Royal Portrush!

James Dunlop “Jim” Edmundson was born in Portrush, Ireland in 1886 and learned golf as a caddy at the Royal Portrush Golf Club. By 1905 he was the professional at the club. In 1907 the first Irish Open was contested. Royal Portrush was the host club, and it will also host this year’s British Open in July.

Edmundson won the First Irish Professional Championship, and in 1908 he was the winner again. Along with that, he finished second in 1909, 1910 and 1911.

He played in The Open four times, with his best showing being a tie for 11th in 1908.

After six years at Royal Portrush, Edmundson moved across the Irish Sea to England as the professional at the Bromborough Golf Club. At Bromborough he instructed Gladys Ravenscroft, who would win the 1912 British Ladies Championship and the 1913 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.

With the onset of World War I, Edmundson volunteered for the British Army’s artillery division, seeing action in France for two years. When the war was over he could not find another head professional position. In early 1921, his brother John, who was the professional at the Llanerch Country Club, wrote to him saying that he should visit the states. John’s letter mentioned that there were clubs with well-to-do members near Llanerch looking for experienced golf professionals.

Jim Edmundson set sail for America, and soon after arriving he was hired as the professional at the North Hills Country Club, just north of Philadelphia. Later that year on December 2, the Philadelphia Section PGA was formed. Having been a member of the British PGA, he became a founder of the Philadelphia PGA, with much to contribute. He was an officer for two years and was elected Section president in 1930.

In 1923 at the age of 39 he won the Pennsylvania Open, and finished second in the Philadelphia Open. He also had a second place finish in the Philadelphia Section Championship in 1926.

After North Hills, Edmundson was the head professional at the Hi-Top Country in Drexel Hill, which had been Aronimink Country Club before moving to Newtown Square.

“DID YOU KNOW”
An amateur could have, maybe should have, won the 1939 US Open!

The 1939 United States Open Championship was played at the Philadelphia Country Club’s Spring Mill Course, which was near Gladwyne, a few miles west of its main clubhouse on City Line Avenue. The golf course, usually a par 71 was played at a par of 69. Two par five holes, the eighth and twelfth, were played from forward tees as par fours.

Most golfers, even 80 years later, have heard the stories of how Sam Snead appeared to be a sure winner when he teed off on the 71^st hole with a two stroke lead, only to make a bogie 5 on that hole and a triple bogie 8 on the last hole. When all the scores were posted he tied for 5th at 286. Playing right in front of Snead, Reading Country Club professional Byron Nelson posted a 68 for a total of 284, which made him the leader in the clubhouse. 25 minutes later Craig Wood reached the last green with two big shots. His birdie 4 gave him a 72 and he was in at 284. In those days there were no gallery ropes, so in order to spread out the spectators the leaders were not paired together. The players had been paired in twos, at five minute intervals for Saturday’s final 36 holes. Former Llanerch Country Club professional Denny Shute, who had teed off 55 minutes after Nelson, shot a 72 for another 284 and a three-way tie for the title.

Lost in all the commotion over Snead’s triple bogie on the last hole and then the three-way tie for first, was Marvin “Bud” Ward, an amateur from the state of Washington, who had begun the day in a tie for fourth. Ward’s tee time was earlier than any of the leaders and more than an hour before Denny Shute, who he was tied with. Not an unknown Ward had been a member of the 1938 Walker Cup Team. With nine holes to go, Ward was within one stroke of the leader, Sam Snead. On the short downhill par 3 eleventh hole, Ward was bunkered twice and made a double bogey 5, but he birdied the next hole to remain in contention. On the 200-yard thirteenth hole Ward played a solid 2-iron toward the right side of the green. With most of the marshals assisting the big names, a young lady was standing almost on the thirteenth green. Ward’s tee shot struck the lady ending up in a bunker, nearly unplayable. Two stokes later he was on the green and two putted for another double bogey. Ward made a birdie on the next to last hole and finished with a 285 total. He was the leader in the clubhouse, but not for long. Ward finished alone in fourth place, behind Nelson, Wood and Shute. There was scant mention of his misfortune in the newspapers. The outcome could have, and maybe should have been, entirely different.

Byron Nelson won the playoff that took two days and Bud Ward went on to win the US Amateur Championship later that year and again in 1941.

“DID YOU KNOW”
A golf professional who left his mark on Eastern PA was the first president of the PGA!

One hundred years ago this April, the PGA of America was founded. In January 1916, seventy-five golf professionals and leading amateurs met in New York at Wanamaker’s Department Store, to explore forming a national organization of golf professionals. Philadelphia’s Rodman Wanamaker offered to put up the prize money for a championship of the organization, so the golf professionals agreed to give it a try.

On April 10^, 1916 the pros met again and founded the Professional Golfers Association of America. There were 78 members spread out across the United States. The Philadelphia region was in one of the seven PGA Sections, which was called the Southeastern Section. An executive committee was formed with representatives from each PGA Section. This was based on the number of PGA members in each Section. The Philadelphia area was represented by; William Byrne (St. Davids GC), Wilfrid Reid (Wilmington CC) and James Thomson (Philadelphia CC).

In late June the PGA of America held its first annual meeting in Minneapolis, where the 1916 U.S. Open was being held at the Minikahda Club. The day after the tournament ended, the professionals met and elected officers. The president elect was Robert White.

Robert W. White was born in St. Andrews, Scotland in 1874, and immigrated to Boston 20 years later. White held pro jobs in Boston, Cincinnati, Louisville and Chicago before landing at the Shawnee Inn & Country Club in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania in the fall of 1913.

His duties at Shawnee were Golf Professional and Head Greenkeeper (now called Golf Course Superintendent). The Worthington family, who had made their fortune in pumps, had hired A.W. Tillinghast to build the course in 1908. When White arrived at Shawnee, the course was in poor condition. The golf course property had been farm land for the Indians, who had been growing corn for many years, and did not know about crop rotation. While in Chicago, Robert White had been studying agronomy at the University of Wisconsin during the winters, so he was well prepared to solve the Shawnee problems.

At the end of 1914 White moved on to the North Shore CC on Long Island as the professional and green keeper. While at North Shore he also supervised the maintenance at 11 other golf courses.

When the PGA was founded in 1916; White with his knowledge of the golf business and being so well known among the golf professionals, was the right man to be the first president. He held the office for three years.

White was also instrumental in forming the MacGregor Golf Company in 1897. As the golf professional at the Myopia Hunt Club outside Boston, he was sweating away one day with rasps and files making a wooden head for a golf club. A man who was watching him announced that he could show him how to do that job in a few minutes. He took White to a factory in Lynn where they were shaping wooden shoe lasts (templates) with a machine. While later working in Cincinnati in 1897 White met the owners of the Crawford & Canby Company, which made wooden shoe lasts. White showed them how they could have a business making wooden heads for golf clubs. That led to the Crawford, McGregor & Canby Company. Later, to make it sound more Scottish, they added the letter “a” and called it the MacGregor Golf Company,.

White laid out numerous golf courses and was a founder of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Some of the courses in the Delaware Valley by White are Berkleigh, Buck Hill, Skytop and Water Gap. He designed a course south of Reading in 1932 for a bootlegger, which is called Green Hills.

In the 1920s he laid out a couple of golf courses near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. That led him to start spending time there during the winters, and he began purchasing Myrtle Beach real estate. He later retired there.

Without ever winning a golf tournament or endorsing a piece of golf equipment Robert White, the first president of the PGA, became one of the wealthiest golf professionals in
the world.

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“DID YOU KNOW”
Wanamaker’s was instrumental in starting the PGA of America!

The PGA came into being in 1916, but before that there were golf professional organizations in the major metropolitan regions of the United States. Many of the golf professionals who were transplants from the British Isles were interested in having a national organization like the British PGA they had belonged to.  At the same time there were concerns that the size of the United States would make a national PGA difficult to manage.

One of the early promoters of a United States PGA was Charles C. Worthington, who had made his money in water pumps. He purchased 8,000 acres in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania in 1903 where he built the Buckwood Inn. A golf course designed by A.W. Tillinghast came along later. Soon he was in the golf course mower business, as well. In 1912 Worthington held the first Shawnee Open for the professionals. Worthington tried his best to interest the golf professionals in forming a nationwide organization. He held meetings with them during his Shawnee Opens and even wrote a letter to some of them on the subject. The professionals would not make the commitment, but something happened in 1916 that brought the golf professionals together.

Wanamaker’s department store, which was founded in Philadelphia, had been a leading seller of golf equipment in the early 1900s. They imported clubs, balls and other golf items from Great Britain that they sold to the public at retail and to the golf professionals at wholesale. John Wanamaker and his son Rodman were members at Huntingdon Valley Country Club. The Wanamakers opened two stores in New York as well. Tom McNamara, an America born golf professional who had finished second in the U.S. Open three times, was Wanamaker’s golf expert and salesman.

By 1916 Wanamaker’s had been surpassed in golf equipment sales by A.G. Spalding & Bros., that had been created by a professional baseball pitcher named Albert Spalding. McNamara convinced his boss, Rodman Wanamaker, to help the professionals organize as it would be good for Wanamaker’s golf sales. On Monday January 17, 1916 McNamara, who knew all of the golf professionals, invited them to lunch at Wanamaker’s private restaurant in New York, the Taplow Club. Thirty-five golf professionals attended. Several of the leading professionals had misgivings as to the success of a national organization. Also some may have wished not to be beholden to Wanamaker’s, but when Rodman Wanamaker offered to put up the prize money for a championship along with a trophy, the professionals signed up.

At a meeting on April 10 in New York, the PGA of America was officially founded with 78 “Class A” members. At a later meeting of the PGA Executive Committee it was decided not to accept the Wanamaker money. Some of the professionals were complaining that when ordering from Wanamaker’s they were told that their order had been put on back-order, but at the same time Wanamaker’s had plenty of the product for sale at retail. As a later meeting they agreed once more to accept Wanamaker’s offer.

In October 1916 the first PGA Championship was played at the Siwanoy Country Club on Long Island. The winner was Whitemarsh Valley CC professional, Jim Barnes. The tournament was played with a match play format, because that is what Rodman Wanamaker wanted. The purse was $2,580 and $2,500 came from Wanamaker along with the perpetual trophy that was 28 inches tall and a gold medal with a diamond stud for the winner. Wanamaker also paid the travel expenses for all of the 32 professionals that qualified for the tournament.

After a few years the PGA stopped accepting the Wanamaker money, but the Wanamaker Trophy still exists even though Walter Hagen lost it for a few years, but that’s another story. The winner’s name is engraved on the trophy each year.

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“DID YOU KNOW”
The 1921 Philadelphia Open dates were changed because of President Warren G. Harding!

It was 1921 and the dates were all set for the country’s leading golf professionals to play four big golf tournaments from New York to Washington D.C., in just 15 days. The pros would start out at the Shawnee Open on July 14 and 15, go to Washington for the U.S. Open, travel by train to Whitemarsh Valley CC for the Philadelphia Open, which would be played the next two days, and finish up at the Metropolitan Open in New York on July 27 and 28.

The U.S. Open was being held at the Columbia CC, so the USGA decided to have President Warren G. Harding hit a drive from the first tee to kick off the tournament on the first day.  Qualifying for the tournament was to be held on site on July 18-19 with the tournament being played on Wednesday the 20th and Thursday the 21st.

In early July President Harding notified the USGA that he would not be available to open the tournament on the 18th but he could do it on the 19th. The USGA then moved the tournament dates back one day.

The U.S. Open was now going to end on Friday and the Philadelphia Open was being pushed onto a Saturday and Sunday at Whitemarsh Valley. The WVCC members came out against giving up their course for Saturday and Sunday. The Club had already hosted the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia championship for five days in May and the Golf Association of Philadelphia men’s championship in June, which ended on a Saturday. They had now taken the Philadelphia Open on short notice when Pine Valley Golf Club, which was to have held it, had declined due to poor turf conditions.

At the U.S. Open all of the 258 entries had to qualify. England’s Ted Ray, the defending champion, was not in the states. The field was divided with one half qualifying on Tuesday, and the other half on Wednesday. They played 18 holes and the low 40 plus ties each day were put into the starting field. 36 holes were played on Thursday and 36 again on Friday. Jim Barnes, who had been the professional at Whitemarsh Valley just four years before, put together a score of 289 that won by nine strokes over Walter Hagen and the host professional Fred McLeod. President Harding was on hand to present the trophy, along with Vice President Calvin Coolidge. That was a first, and has not happened since. First prize was $500 which was $50 less the top prize at the Shawnee Open.

The Philadelphia Open was played in August at WVCC. New York’s Willie Macfarlane, who would go on to win the 1925 U.S. Open, won by 13 strokes with a two-day total of 294. Whitemarsh Valley CC member Woody Platt finished second.

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“DID YOU KNOW”
Big Money Purses Could Be A Dilemma For The Golf Professionals!

In 1915 (one year before the PGA of America was founded), the summer was filled with tournaments for the golf professionals. For a stretch of eight weeks there were tournaments offering decent to exceptional money. To make matters worse, the USGA in an attempt to lure the great foreign professionals, had moved the U.S. Open from late August to June right after the Shawnee Open.

Along with that the Metropolitan, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and the Western Opens were also played one right after another. At that time the state Opens were open to any professional who wished to enter. In order to attract some of the better players who were in the East competing in the U.S. Open, Shawnee Open and Met Open the Massachusetts Open tripled its purse and the Connecticut Open made its tournament the best ever.

This created problems for the golf professionals, maybe good ones, as they all were working at golf facilities. None of them could be away for eight summer weeks. Decisions had to be made as to where to play and when to be at their clubs.

The Philadelphia professionals had a busy summer. Wilmington Country Club’s Gil Nicholls won the Met Open for a second time along with the Shawnee Open, where Walter Hagen was second, and he finished sixth at the Western Open in Chicago. Pocono Manor’s Eddie Loos lost the Pennsylvania Open in an 18-hole playoff to North Jersey’s Tom Anderson. Boston’s Tom McNamara won the Philadelphia Open, as Whitemarsh Valley’s Jim Barnes and Philmont’s Charlie Hoffner tied for second. Barnes finished seventh at the Western Open, where he was the defending champion and won the Connecticut Open later in the summer.

By 1922 the amateur golf leaders had become concerned about the purses being offered for professional golf tournaments and exhibitions. On November 12 the USGA issued a statement which the New York Times reported. “While the USGA has no desire to hinder or hamper any professional from competing in prize money tournaments or from earning money to the limit of his ability, nevertheless the present officials feel that if the practice now in vogue is not checked, great harm will be done in creating a class of professional players who will devote their time and attention in attending tournaments.”

In spite of the fears of some people the PGA Tour was taking form and who could have imagined the PGA Tour of today.

“DID YOU KNOW”
There Was a Black Member of the PGA of America Before Charlie Sifford!

Before Charlie Sifford, before Pete Brown and before Lee Elder there was a PGA member of African descent named Dewey Brown.

Dewey Brown was born in North Carolina in 1898 and grew up in New Jersey. He was introduced to golf as a caddy at the Madison Golf Club. Before long he was working on the golf course mowing fairways behind a horse drawn mower for $1 a day.

By the age of 18 he was an accomplished golfer and had become interested in club making. He began working under the golf professional at the Morris County Country Club as a club maker. He must have learned quickly as he made a set of clubs for Chick Evans that Evans used to win the 1916 U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club.  Brown later made a set of clubs for United States President Warren G. Harding.

In 1918 Shawnee Inn & Country Club professional Willie Norton hired Brown as his assistant. At Shawnee Brown gave many golf lessons. During the winter months he would return to New Jersey and work for Baltusrol Golf Club professional George Low teaching indoors and making golf clubs.

At one point Brown left Shawnee to buy a farm but he returned in 1925 and stayed on for another 12 years. In 1928 he became a member of the PGA of America but in 1934 the PGA inserted a clause in its by-laws stating that the members had to be Caucasians. His membership in the PGA was terminated.

He left Shawnee in 1937 to manage clubs in New Jersey and New York, but in 1946 he returned to Shawnee one more time. Fred Waring, the famous bandleader, had bought Shawnee and hired Brown to be his hotel manager. He did not stay long as a new opportunity beckoned. He bought the Cedar River House & Golf Club in Indian Lake, New York. By then he was certainly qualified to own an inn and golf club. Brown managed the hotel and was the golf professional as well. Eleven years after buying the Cedar River House he joined the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

When the PGA eliminated the “Caucasian Only” clause from its by-laws in 1962 Brown applied for reinstatement. A couple of years later he was a “Class A” PGA member again.

When Dewey Brown retired in 1972 one of his son’s took over the business. Brown died in 1973 and is buried in Indian Lake Cemetery which is across the road from his Cedar River Golf Club. Some golf historians have referred to him as one of America’s golf pioneers.

“Did You Know”
A Philadelphia Golf Pro Motivated the USGA to Keep the Stymie Rule for Another 30 Years!

When golf came to the United States in the late 1800s the neophyte golfers did their best to adhere to the rules of St. Andrews. One of those rules was the stymie which had been a rule in Scotland for almost 300 years. At some point in the 1800s the rule was redefined to state that the stymie was only for match play when there was just one ball in play to each side.

The stymie rule was: That on the green the two golf balls had to remain in place unless they lay within six inches of each other. The golfer who was away, had to either play around or over the intervening ball. If the stymied player moved the other ball while playing his stroke the opponent could either replace the ball or play the ball from its new position. If the ball had ended up in the hole the player was deemed to have holed out with his previous stroke. To assist in measuring stymies the scorecards were six inches in length.

Most golfers were of the opinion that the rule was unfair and a matter of luck. In 1920 the USGA softened the rule a bit. With the new version the golfer who was stymied could concede the next stroke to an opponent who had laid the stymie. Thus, if an opponent’s ball was close to the hole it might be best to concede the next stroke rather than be stymied.

The next year (1921) the Western Golf Association abandoned the stymie rule completely. Sometime during that year the president of the USGA, Howard Whitney, met up with Joe Kirkwood, Sr., who was the greatest golf trick shot artist of all time. (Kirkwood was a longtime resident of Glenside, Pennsylvania and the professional at the Huntingdon Valley Country Club from 1938 to 1949.) Whitney watched Kirkwood demonstrate the art of negotiating a stymie. Upon witnessing that exhibition, Whitney decided that the stymie was an important part of golf.

At a meeting of the USGA at Pine Valley Golf Club in April 1922 the stymie was returned to the rules of golf as it was before 1920. The USGA and the R&A were once again in complete agreement on the stymie rule.

In 1938 the USGA modified the stymie rule again. If the obstructing ball lay within six inches of the hole the stymied golfer could ask to have the ball marked. During all of these changes by the USGA the R&A never altered its interpretation of the rule in any way.

In 1944 the PGA of America stopped using the stymie in its championship and many other golf organizations were simply ignoring the rule. In 1952, 30 years after Kirkwood had influenced its continued life in the USA, the stymie was removed from the rules of golf.

“DID YOU KNOW”
A Philadelphia Golfer’s Connection to the movie “Caddyshack”!

Harold “Reds” Ridgley was born in Philadelphia in 1913. He grew up next to the Brookline Square Club in Havertown where he learned to play golf as a caddy. When the Brookline Square Club closed in 1927, he caddied at Merion GC, Paxon Hollow CC and the Main Line GC. Ridgley was runner-up in the 1957 British Amateur; and later played an important role in what may be your favorite golf movie.

When the U.S. Open was played at Merion in 1934, Ridgley caddied for Harry Cooper.  At the same time he was playing golf anywhere he could.  By the late 1930s he was in money matches against the best golfers in Philadelphia, like Billy Hyndman and George Fazio. In 1942 he was drafted into military service, and ended up in the Army Air Force as the tail-gunner on a B-17. He was stationed in England and on his 23^rd mission his plane was shot down over Germany. He parachuted from the plane and was captured, spending the rest of World War II in a POW camp.

Back home in 1945, he was sent to a hospital in Atlantic City for rehabilitation. That summer he won the Bright Memorial Tournament at Wildwood and reenlisted in the Army Air Force.  His golf continued to improve. In 1951 Ridgley entered the U.S. Open and made it through qualifying at Llanerch. For some reason, he gave up his spot in the tournament to the first alternate, Henry Williams, Jr.

Ridgley was sent back to England where he set course records at various clubs, along with winning military and local tournaments.  In 1953 he entered the British Amateur, winning three matches, and the following year he lost in the fifth round to the great Joe Carr.  In 1957 Ridgley made it to the finals of the British Amateur, losing to Reid Jack, 2 & 1. He made one more run at the Amateur title in 1959, where he lost to his old friend Billy Hyndman in the fifth round. Ridgley had caddied for Hyndman at Merion 26 years before in the 1933 Pennsylvania Amateur, and now they were playing each other 3,500 miles from home. A year later he was back in the states and stationed at Andrews Air Force Base. That year he won the 1960 Maryland State Amateur Championship.

After retiring from the military, Ridgley worked one year as an assistant to Ken Gibson at Indian Spring Golf Club in New Jersey before moving to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida where he joined the Rolling Hills Country Club. The movie “Caddyshack” was filmed at Rolling Hills in 1980. Rodney Dangerfield starred in the movie. He was a good actor, but he was not a golfer. Any golf shots by Dangerfield seen in “Caddyshack” were played by Harold “Reds” Ridgley.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Once Upon a Time the USGA Let the Air Out of the Golf Ball! 

Ever since 1902 when Laurie Aucterlonie became the first to win a U.S. Open with four rounds in the 70s the USGA has been concerned with the distance a well struck golf ball can travel. Aucterlonie had won the tournament playing the new Haskel wound rubber golf ball which was much longer than the gutta percha ball. Until 1920 a golf ball could be any size and weight, but that year the USGA announced that the golf ball could be no less than 1.62 inches in diameter and not more than 1.62 ounces in weight.

In spite of the standardization of the ball the manufacturers continued to find ways to make a golf ball go farther. In 1924 the USGA invited some good players like the U.S. Amateur champion Max Marston to test various golf ball designs at Jekyll Island, Georgia. (Jekyll Island was also where secret meetings were held in 1910 that created the Federal Reserve System.)

It took seven years but the USGA was ready with mandatory changes in the golf ball for 1931. The new regulations called for a larger and lighter ball. The golf ball now had to be at least 1.68 inches in diameter and no more than 1.55 ounces.

Ed Dudley, who was in his third year as the professional at the Concord Country Club must have liked the new ball. He had a great year, winning the Los Angeles Open and the Western Open along with having the lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour. The ladies liked it because of being lighter it sat up better on the turf which made it easier to play with fairway woods but most golfers didn’t like the ball. The lighter ball was difficult to control in the wind. Also at times the ball would not stay in place on the greens when it was windy. Some frustrated golfers referred to it as the “Balloon Ball”.

On September 15 of that same year the USGA pulled the plug on those ball specifications. New standards were put in place. The 1.68 inch size stayed but the ball could now weigh up to 1.62 ounces. The golf ball manufacturers are still required to go by those regulations today.

“DID YOU KNOW”
The Origin of the Trophy for the First Philadelphia PGA Championship!

In June of 1922 the Evening Public Ledger newspaper donated a perpetual trophy for the newly formed Philadelphia PGA’s first Section Championship. Percy Sanderson who wrote golf for the newspaper under the byline of “Sandy McNiblick” and his boss Robert Maxwell, who was the newspaper’s sports editor were responsible for the gift of the trophy to the Section.

Fourteen days after that first Philadelphia PGA Championship was played Sanderson and Maxwell were critically injured in an automobile accident west of Norristown near Betzwood. Early on a Sunday morning they had come upon a car stalled in the road. Maxwell was driving. Fearing a holdup he swerved around the car and ran head-on into a truck loaded with boy scouts heading back to Valley Forge Park from a dance. Three other passengers in the car were also injured. Maxwell had seven fractured ribs and a dislocated hip. Sanderson who was in the back seat with his wife and another lady was injured the worst with a fractured skull and concussion. Everyone suffered injuries of some sort. Sanderson’s wife was a duchess who he had married while in Europe during World War I. All five occupants of the car were taken to the Montgomery County Hospital in Norristown.

Within a few days Maxwell had contracted pneumonia and lost consciousness. He died on Friday June 30. He was 38 years old. Sanderson survived and eventually returned to work. Jim Barnes and three other golf professionals played an exhibition in October, 1922 to help Sanderson, an honorary member of the Philadelphia PGA, pay his hospital bills.

This is the same Robert “Tiny” Maxwell that the Maxwell Club was created for in 1937. Maxwell had been an All-American football player at the University of Chicago and Swarthmore College. As well as being a sports editor he was a leading college football official at the time of his death. Each year trophies are awarded by the Maxwell Club to the best football players and coaches from all levels of football. In 1974 Maxwell was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Johnny McDermott gambled to double his prize money at the 1911 U.S. Open!

Most people know that Philadelphia’s Johnny McDermott won the 1911 U.S. Open in a three-way playoff at the Chicago Golf Club. On Saturday, June 24, McDermott finished the 72 holes in a tie with Mike Brady and George Simpson for the title, with a total of 307.  Because of the “Blue Laws” the playoff was not held until Monday. It is well known that McDermott won the playoff, becoming the first American born golfer to win the U.S. Open, and also the youngest, but here is the rest of the story.

Before the playoff began, a representative from the St. Mungo Mfg. Co. told the three players that the company would match the $300 first place prize if the winner was playing one of their Colonel golf balls.  McDermott agreed to change from the Rawlings Black Circle ball to a Colonel ball.  On the first hole McDermott’s first two tee shots were out-of-bounds. With his third tee shot he made a birdie four for a score of six. The out-of-bounds penalty at that time was loss of distance only.  McDermott also made a bogey on the third hole, but when he holed a short putt for a birdie four on the last hole, he was the United States Open champion and $600 to the better.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Pennsylvania erected a historical marker for two-time US Open winner Johnny McDermott! 

On Thursday October 9, 2014 the state of Pennsylvania erected a historical marker in memory of John J. “Johnny” McDermott. The marker was placed at 1201 South 51st Street, in front of the Kingsessing Library, the neighborhood where McDermott grew up. McDermott is the first golfer in Pennsylvania to be remembered with a historical marker.

When Johnny McDermott won the U.S. Open at the Chicago Golf Club in 1911 he was the first American born golfer to win our Open and also at age 19 the youngest; a distinction he still holds today.  In 1912 he defended his title at the Country Club of Buffalo by winning the tournament again. Having lost the 1910 U.S. Open in a playoff, McDermott had come within one stroke of winning the tournament three straight years. Only five others have won two consecutive U.S. Opens.

McDermott was born on August 12, 1889 and grew up on Florence Avenue in West Philadelphia. He learned to play golf as a caddy at the Aronimink Golf Club, which was then located at 52^nd Street and Chester Avenue. Along with winning two U.S. Opens, McDermott also won the Western Open, Shawnee Open and three Philadelphia Opens. He accomplished all of that in four years.

In October of 1914 McDermott suffered a mental breakdown blacking out and collapsing in the golf shop at the Atlantic City Country Club where he was the head professional.  He was taken to Philadelphia and put in the care of his parents. At the age of 25 his golf career was over. He spent the rest of his life in the Norristown State Hospital for the Mentally Insane. He died on August 1, 1971, just a few weeks after watching Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus play off for the U.S. Open title at Merion Golf Club.

“DID YOU KNOW”
It May Not Be Possible To Be Over Golfed!

On May 25, 1921 an American team of 12 golf professionals left New York on the Aquitania and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to oppose a team of golf professionals from Great Britain. The match was played at the Gleneagles Hotel. There were other tournaments and exhibitions for the professionals to play in but the main purpose of the trip was to bring the British Open’s Claret Jug back to the United States.

On the 7th of June the American team was soundly defeated as they played foursome matches in the morning and singles in the afternoon.

The next day the 2,000 Guineas Tournament kicked off, which was also being played at Gleneagles. The contestants played 27 holes on June 8th and 27 holes on the 9th to qualify for sixteen places in a match play format.  Jock Hutchison qualified but lost to Abe Mitchell in the first round in spite of being four up after the first four holes.

Bill Mehlhorn, who was later the professional at Brandywine Country Club, was also a member of the team and rooming with Hutchison. After losing, Hutchison said to Mehlhorn who had failed to qualify “Let’s go over to St. Andrews and play a practice round for the British Open”. Off they went by cab to The Old Course. Even though Hutchison had grown up at St. Andrews and had played 18 holes of tournament golf that day they went 36 holes.

On June 14 and 15 Hutchison won a 36-hole tournament in London at the Kinghorn Fife Links. He put together a 74 and a 64 to win by three strokes.

On June 18 Hutchison and James Braid defeated J.H. Taylor and Joe Kirkwood in a featured match at St. Andrews.

Qualifying for the British Open was on June 21 and 22 with 18 holes each day. Even the defending champion (known as the holder in Great Britain) had to qualify. The British Open was played on June 23, 24 and 25 with 18 holes each of the first two days and 36 holes on the third day. Hutchison posted a score of 296 and was tied for the title with Roger Wethered, an amateur. The next day Hutchison won a 36-hole playoff by nine strokes with a 150 total. First prize was 75 British Pounds. Mehlhorn tied for 16th.

Hutchison and Mehlhorn did quite well considering that the two of them were sleeping in one bed. They were on a tight budget having been allotted $1,000 apiece by Golf Illustrated magazine, which sponsored the team’s round trip to Scotland.

From what this writer can find Hutchison played 17 competitive rounds plus at least 8 practice rounds in 20 days and won two important tournaments.

“DID YOU KNOW”
A Match Between American and British Golf Professionals Was Played in 1921!

A forerunner to the Ryder Cup was played in June of 1921. A golf magazine called Golf Illustrated sponsored the match, which was played in Scotland. The magazine solicited money from its readers and the PGA professionals at the various clubs around the country assisted with the funding by collecting donations from their members. The golfers were asked to each donate $1. Enough money had to be raised to pay the expenses for the team members to make the overseas trip for the match and the British Open.

Twelve American golf professionals, which were chosen by the PGA of America, were selected to oppose twelve golf professionals from Great Britain.  The members of the American team had to be native born or naturalized citizens. The match was played in Scotland and hosted by the Gleneagles Golf Club. Six members of the American team had been born in either Scotland or England.

Five members of the American team had connections to clubs that would make up the Philadelphia PGA later that year. They were Charlie Hoffner, Wilfrid Reid, Clarence Hackney, Jim Barnes and Emmett French.

Hoffner was the professional at Philmont Country Club and would win the first Philadelphia PGA Championship one year later. Because Hoffner was born and spent his whole career here the old Philadelphia golfers used to refer to him as the “Ryder Cupper”, which was not exactly true but nice.

Reid was the professional at Wilmington Country Club and Hackney was the Atlantic City Country Club professional. Barnes had been the professional at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club from 1914 to 1917 and had won the first two PGA Championships. French had learned to play golf while working in the locker room at Merion Cricket Club (later Merion Golf Club) as a boy and then had been the professional at the Country Club of York form 1914 to 1920. French was the captain of the team. Another member of the team, Bill Mehlhorn, would later be the professional at the Brandywine Country Club in 1947 and 1948.

The other members of the U.S. team were Walter Hagen, Jock Hutchison, Fred McLeod, George McLean, Tom Kerrigan and J. Douglas Edgar.

As it turned out two American team members were not able to play. Barnes had a case of neuritis and J. Douglas Edgar was not allowed to play because he had not yet become a United States citizen. (Edgar was only selected at the last minute when one of the team could not make the trip. Maybe he was selected because he was in New York and on the way to the British Open. He was a worthy pick as he had won the 1919 Canadian Open by 16 strokes. ) Due to that it was ten against ten. They played five foresome (alternate strokes) matches in the morning and ten singles in the afternoon. The British team won 10-1/2 of the 15 points. The Philadelphia players won two and one-half of the points.

Jock Hutchison, a transplanted Scot from St. Andrews, won the British Open at St. Andrews’ Old Course two weeks later.

The Ryder Cup, which was first played in 1927, is back in Scotland and at Gleneagles this month. One difference is that the 1921 match took place on the Kings Course and this year’s match will be played on the relative new PGA Centenary Course.

“DID YOU KNOW”
What Happened to Byron Nelson’s Tee Shot on the 70th Hole at the Hershey Open?

It was September 1939 and Reading Country Club professional Byron Nelson was playing in the 72-hole Hershey Open. Late in the final round Nelson was in contention needing to play the last three holes in one under par to tie Scranton Country Club’s professional Felix Serafin for the top prize. On the 70^th hole Nelson’s tee shot was just off the fairway but could not be found. He returned to the tee and with a two stroke penalty for the lost ball made a double bogey. Serafin won with a total of 284. Ben Hogan and Jimmie Hines tied for second at 286 and Nelson finished fourth at 287. Serafin’s victory was worth $1,250. Hogan and Hines each won $650.

Here is the rest of the story. A man who had attended the tournament with a lady friend was on a train returning to New York. Sometime during the return trip the lady reached into her handbag and produced a golf ball. The man knew right away that it was Nelson’s golf ball. He sent a letter to Nelson explaining what had happened and enclosed a check for the difference between what he won and the amount that he would have won if he had finished alone in second place at 285.

“DID YOU KNOW”
The PGA Built a Practice Green for President Eisenhower!

 In the late summer of 1955 Reading Country Club professional Henry Poe, who was president of the Philadelphia Section PGA, received a telephone call from Harry Moffitt, the president of the PGA of America. Harry Moffitt asked Poe if Reading was anywhere near Gettysburg. He told Poe that the PGA wanted to build a putting green for President Eisenhower at his Gettysburg farm. Poe then called on the green superintendents from the Country Club of York and the Lancaster Country Club to ask for their help. They assisted Poe in designing and building a 9,000 square foot green with an approach for chipping.

By the time the green was completed it was getting late in the year. Poe didn’t want the President to wait nine months for a seeded green to grow in but he didn’t have the proper sod. Poe then received a telephone call from Eugene Grace, the president of Bethlehem Steel. He said I understand that you are building a putting green for President Eisenhower. Grace said that Bethlehem Steel, which owned the Saucon Valley Country Club, would like to donate the sod. Their men would install it at no charge but they couldn’t get there until the next day. The only stipulation was that the PGA couldn’t tell anyone who had provided the sod. One of the major golf course equipment companies donated the mowers. The construction of the putting green turned out to be timely. President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in September and spent seven weeks in the hospital. After leaving the hospital on November 11 he went to his Gettysburg farm to recuperate. His heart specialist reported that it was quite likely that the President would eventually get back to regular rounds of golf and hopefully he would be able to get in some practice on his new putting green before the end of the year. Three months later he announced that he was running for reelection and in November he was elected for a second term.

If you visit Gettysburg and the Eisenhower Farm, and it is a very worthwhile trip, you won’t see the green that the PGA built. When President Eisenhower died in 1969 Mrs. Eisenhower had the green removed because it reminded her of how bored she always was, watching Ike practice his chipping and putting for hour after hour on that green.

A small grassed over mound with a flagstick, which is a poor excuse for a golf green, was put there after Mrs. Eisenhower died in an attempt to show the farm as it was when the President of the United States lived there. Much to the PGA of America’s regret each tour guide tells the visitors to the farm that the green was a gift to President Eisenhower from the PGA of America.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Babe Didrikson Played in the 1937 True Temper Open at Whitemarsh!

The American Fork & Hoe Company, manufacturer of the True Temper golf shaft, and the Philadelphia PGA co-sponsored the True Temper Open in June of 1937. Along with the professionals from the Philadelphia Section there was a strong contingent of male professionals from other regions entered.

For what was a first in American men’s professional golf two women were entered as well. The two women professionals were Mildred “Babe” Didrikson (later Zaharias) and Betty Hicks. Didrikson, the star of the 1932 Olympics, was not a polished golfer yet as she had only begun playing golf in 1935. The ladies were not a factor other than being in the starting field. Seven months later Didrikson played in the Los Angeles Open on the PGA Tour. Most records cite the 1938 L.A. Open as the first time a female competed against males in a PGA tournament, but it actually took place during 1937 in Philadelphia.

At that time there were very few tournaments for female golf professionals but with the help of Wilson Sporting Goods the LPGA was formed in 1947 with Didrikson, now Zaharias, a founding member.

Harry Cooper, a Texan playing out of Chicago and one of the greatest golfers to never win a major championship, shot a 30 on the last nine for an eight under par 280 and a two shot victory. First prize from the $4,000 purse was $900. The low professionals from the Philadelphia PGA were Jack Patroni and Jimmy Thomson. Patroni, the head professional at the Shawnee Country Club, tied for seventh at 288 and Thomson, the playing professional from Shawnee, finished eleventh with a total of 290.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Dick Sleichter Might Have Defeated Dow Finsterwald Except For His Honesty!

In 1957 the last PGA Championship contested at match play was held in Dayton, Ohio at the Miami Valley Country Club. Nine of the 128 professionals in the starting field were from the Philadelphia PGA.

One of those was Gettysburg Country Club professional Dick Sleichter who met Dow Finsterwald in the first round. After 16 holes the match was all square. On the par three 17th hole both players were on the green with their shots from the tee. When they arrived at the green they realized that Sleichter’s ball had spun back into its pitch mark. At that time the golfers were not allowed to repair pitch marks before putting. Sleichter thought that when he struck the ball with his putter it would jump up from the indentation and then roll toward the hole. What happened was that the ball popped straight up and Sleichter’s putter struck the ball a second time. Only Sleichter knew that he had hit the ball twice and he promptly reported it to Finsterwald. Finsterwald two putted for a par to win the hole and when they halved the 18th hole Finsterwald moved on to the second round eventually losing to Lionel Hebert in the final.

Later that year Sleichter won the Philadelphia Section Championship and the next year when the PGA Championship was changed to stroke play Finsterwald won the tournament at Llanerch Country Club.

“DID YOU KNOW”
Philadelphia Section Professionals Dominated the Canadian Open!

The Canadian Open has been played more than 100 times and twenty-one of the winners have had ties to the Philadelphia Section PGA. Most of those victories came before 1963 but there have been a few recent ones.

The following were the Canadian Open winners with Philadelphia PGA ties:
Clarence Hackney–1923
Hackney was the professional at the Atlantic City Country Club from 1915 to 1941. He was a member of a pre-Ryder Cup Team in 1921 and won the New Jersey Open three straight years.
Leo Diegel—1924, 1925, 1928, 1929
Diegel was the professional at Philmont Country Club from 1934 to 1935 and a member of four Ryder Cup Teams. He won the PGA Championship in 1928 and 1929.
Joe Kirkwood, Sr.—1933
Kirkwood was the professional at the Huntingdon Valley Country Club from 1938 to 1949. He was the greatest trick shot artist of all time and when he put his mind to it, a winner of important golf tournaments.
Gen Kunes—1935
In 1935 Kunes was the professional at the Jeffersonville Golf Club and the defending champion of the Philadelphia PGA Championship. Instead of defending that title Kunes chose to play in the Canadian Open, which he then won.
Lawson Little—1936
Little was a great amateur golfer winning both the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur twice each in 1934 and 1935. He also won the U.S. Open as a professional. In the mid 1940s he was Section member while working out of Philadelphia for A.G. Spalding & Bros.
Sam Snead—1938, 1940, 1941
Snead was the Shawnee Inn & Country Club’s playing professional from 1940 to 1942. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 two days after winning the PGA Championship at Seaview Golf Club.
Jug McSpaden—1939
McSpaden was the professional at the Philadelphia Country Club from 1942 to 1944. He won 17 times on the PGA Tour.
Byron Nelson—1945
Nelson was the professional at Reading Country Club from 1937 to 1939. The victory at the Canadian Open was one of his famous eleven straight wins in 1945.
George Fazio—1946
Fazio was born in Philadelphia and worked a golf professional at several clubs in the Philadelphia area. He was a very good tournament player but became more renowned as a golf course architect.
Dutch Harrison—1949
Harrison was the professional at the West Shore Country Club and the Country Club of York in the 1940s. The Canadian Open was one of his 18 wins on the PGA Tour.
Dave Douglas—1953
Douglas, the son of a golf professional, was born in Philadelphia. He was the professional at the Newark Country Club from 1940 to 1943. After serving in World War II he played on the PGA Tour for ten years.
Art Wall—1960
Wall was born in Honesdale. He represented the Pocono Manor Golf Club on the PGA Tour for more than 25 years winning 14 times which included the 1959 Masters Tournament.
Ted Kroll—1962
Kroll was an assistant pro at the Philmont Country Club from 1947 to 1949. He won eight times on the PGA Tour and played on three Ryder Cup Teams.
Jim Furyk—2006, 2007
Furyk was born in West Chester to a father who was a golf professional and grew up in Lancaster County. After college he joined the PGA Tour where he won many tournaments including the 2003 U.S. Open.
Sean O’Hair—2011
O’Hair married a girl from the Philadelphia area and moved to West Chester in 2004. After early success on the PGA Tour with three wins he fell into a deep slump in 2011, but after missing the cut at the British Open he won the Canadian Open the next week.