Trenham’s Treasure Trove

“DID YOU KNOW”

• Honesty and a 3-stroke penalty cost a future PGA president a championship! (3/15/2023)
• Full access to the PGA Tour for Black golfers was a 28-year odyssey! (2/18/2023)
• A third alternate from the host PGA Section won the 1920 PGA Championship! (1/25/2023)
• A golf professional with a bad hip was the father of the modern golf swing! (1/7/2023)
• While on PGA suspension in 1961 Tommy Bolt made out well on TV’s All Star Golf! (12/22/2022)
• Shawnee Inn & Country Club was the birthplace of the PGA of America! (12/1/2022)
• Three golf professionals made a “Big Swap” in 1916! (11/18/2022)
• The 1910 Philadelphia Open had the smallest but strongest field! (11/5/2022)
• Walter Hagen played golf with Johnny McDermott at his psychiatric hospital golf course! (10/23/2022)
• 300 players teed off in the first round of the 1973 Pennsylvania Open! (10/10/2022)
• Arnold Palmer never won the PA Open, even with help from the PA Golf Association! (9/19/2022)
• There was a time when the golf professionals went “all in” to promote the PGA Tour! (8/26/2022)
• In 1913 the USA showed its golf was on a par with British golf! (8/12/2022)
• Lew Worsham won the 1947 US Open with two putters in his bag! (7/21/2022)
• The modern version of the PGA Tour was formed at Whitemarsh Valley CC in 1968! (7/7/2022)
• There were 7 U.S. Women’s Opens before the USGA recognized women’s professional golf! (6/16/2022)
• At one time the golf professionals had to play with a marker in the U.S. Open! (5/19/2022)
• A bottle of red wine brought Bobby Locke to the 1947 Philadelphia Inquirer Invitation! (4/4/2022)
• Battles with prize money for the attention of professional golfers are nothing new! (3/7/2022)
• In August 1945 a golf tournament for the U.S. troops was played in France with one ball! (1/28/2022)
• The Philadelphia PGA and the Maxwell Award for football have a connection! (12/27/2021)
• In 2021, the Philadelphia PGA’s Marty Lyons was inducted into the PGA Hall of Fame! (12/13/2021)
• The Philadelphia PGA was founded on December 2, 1921 (12/2/2021)
• President Warren G. Harding’s schedule changed the dates of the 1921 Philadelphia Open! (11/16/2021)
• The 1963 Whitemarsh Open, the richest yet, wasn’t even on the PGA schedule on January 1! (10/29/2021)
• The 1929 US Ryder Cup Team had to go back to playing with their wooden shaft clubs! (9/23/2021)
• The 1949 Ryder Cup had great golf and controversies! (9/13/2021)
• While on the Wilson staff, Sam Snead played with an Izett driver for more than 30 years! (9/3/2021)
• George Fazio’s first foray into golf architecture was at Cobbs Creek Golf Club in 1955! (8/20/2021)
• Sam Snead played his first tournament on the PGA summer tour at the 1936 Hershey Open! (8/3/2021)
• Struck by lightning at the Philadelphia Open, Ed Dudley should have been the winner! (7/23/2021)
• A Philadelphia club professional won the British Open after losing the Ryder Cup! (7/13/2021)
• George Fazio teed off first in the final round of the 1950 US Open and well might have won! (6/30/2021)
• Johnny McDermott won two straight US Opens and is not in the World Golf Hall of Fame! (6/14/2021)
• Sam Snead had to beat Jim Turnesa and the US Army to win the PGA Championship! (5/29/2021)
• A plan for the PGA’s first national golf club began in the Llanerch CC golf shop! (5/14/2021)
• John J. “Johnny” “Jack” McDermott attempted a comeback in 1924! (4/14/2021)
• Leo Fraser held a senior open at his Atlantic City CC 23 years before the USGA’s first one! (3/25/2021)
• At one time, big name golf professionals like Byron Nelson played in local tournaments! (3/11/2021)
• Instead of defending his Philadelphia PGA title, Gene Kunes won the 1936 Canadian Open! (2/27/2021)
• Golf’s leading touring professionals played in the Wood Memorial at Jeffersonville GC! (2/6/2021)
• A young Ben Hogan finished second to Byron Nelson on and off the golf course! (1/27/2021)
• A former Merion Golf Club locker room employee was runner-up in a major golf championship! (12/4/2020)
• Whitemarsh Valley CC hosted a substitute for the 1917 US Open, for charity only! (11/19/2020)
• With a unique plan, Torresdale-Frankford CC held a PGA Tour tournament! (10/17/2020)
• In 1930 the Philadelphia Cricket Club hosted a championship for senior PGA pros! (8/21/2020)
• There was threat of a players strike at the 1939 PGA Championship! (8/2/2020)
• The final 4 spots on the 1931 Ryder Cup Team were decided by a 72-hole playoff! (7/25/2020)
• The 1959 Ryder Cup was awarded to Atlantic City CC, but it was moved to California! (7/18/2020)
• Due to minority golfer issues, the PGA Championship was and was not at Aronimink GC! (7/12/2020)
• Aronimink GC’s pro in 1899 was the USA’s first African American golf professional! (7/3/2020)
• A Philadelphia PGA pro was the only person to play in a World Series and a Masters! (6/20/2020)
• 82 holes were needed to determine a winner at the two-day 1936 Wildwood Open! (6/15/2020)
• The PGA selected two wartime Ryder Cup teams! (6/8/2020)
• A Philadelphia PGA professional would have been host to the cancelled 1939 Ryder Cup! (5/30/2020)
• A little-known Philadelphia professional, helped stop Byron Nelson’s 1945 winning streak! (5/22/2020)
• The world’s greatest trick shot artist was a great golfer! (5/10/2020)
• More than 200 players teed off in the first round of the 1946 Orlando Open! (5/1/2020)
• Three Philadelphia PGA members who were not eligible played in the 1931 PGA! (4/20/2020)
• When the PGA was founded in 1916 there were only seven PGA Sections for the entire USA! (4/16/2020)
• A Philadelphia PGA pro won the 1952 Tucson Open and wasn’t invited to the Masters! (4/9/2020)
• Gene Sarazen left Miami on an exhibition tour two days before the first Masters Tournament! (4/5/2020)
• Philadelphia hosted a long drive contest 3 days after Bobby Jones completed his Grand Slam! (3/30/2020)
• The Philadelphia PGA Championship was won twice by someone not a member of the Section. (3/23/2020)
• Charlie Sifford was not the best black golfer at Philadelphia’s Cobbs Creek Golf Club! (3/17/2020)
• A Philadelphia golf club raised $3 million for WWII US War Bonds in one day! (3/10/2020)
• A man who would win 3 major golf titles was a patient at Valley Forge General Hospital! (2/27/2020)
• The Philadelphia PGA professionals taught the world’s greatest blind golfer how to play! (2/20/2020)
• Art Wall won the 1959 Crosby Pro-Am, while making only one par on the last nine! (2/4/2020)
• A Philadelphia golf pro called in the 1987 Craig Stadler rules infraction at San Diego! (1/21/2020)
• Al Besselink won the Tournament of Champions and donated half to charity! (12/30/2019)
• The Berks County PA golfers provided financial assistance for the 1953 US Ryder Cup Team! (12/7/2019)
• A Delaware Valley professional golfer was the military’s longest serving professional athlete! (12/1/2019)
• Jim Thomson’s honesty paid dividends! (11/14/2019)
• Ed Dudley saved golf during World War II! (11/5/2019)
• Before there was a PGA, there was an Eastern Professionals Golf Association! (10/9/2019)
• It took 55 holes of golf to decide the 1915 Pennsylvania Open! (8/26/2019)
• Leo Diegel played 90 holes in two days to win the 1924 Shawnee Open! (8/3/2019)
• A Philadelphia PGA founder won the first Irish Pro Championship at Royal Portrush GC! (7/15/2019)
• An amateur could have, maybe should have, won the 1939 US Open! (6/9/2019)
• A club professional was responsible for changing the PGA Championship to stroke play! (5/10/2019)
• Byron Nelson’s 1937 first place Master’s check was far from his largest that year! (4/5/2019)
• A golf Professional who left his mark on Eastern PA was the first president of the PGA! (1/30/2019)
• A Philadelphia golf professional was the father of the PGA Merchandise Show! (1/30/2019)
• A Philly man hit his first golf ball at age 23, won the US Am, and almost won the Masters! (1/30/2019)
• The graphite golf shaft was created in a golf ball factory at Plymouth Meeting, PA! (1/30/2019)
• Forty eight golf professionals came out of the East Falls Section of Philadelphia! (1/30/2019)
• Ben Hogan won his first PGA Tour event at the Hershey Country Club! (1/30/2019)
• Wanamaker’s was instrumental in starting the PGA of America! (1/30/2019)
• The 1921 Philadelphia Open dates Were changed because of President Warren G. Harding! (1/30/2019)
• A doctor of veterinary medicine changed the golf industry! (1/30/2019)
• Ed Dougherty delivered his own Vietnam draft notice and wound up on the PGA Tour! (1/30/2019)
• Ed “Porky” Oliver tied for first at the 1940 U.S. Open and was disqualified! (1/30/2019)
• The Philadelphia Electric Co.’s golf pro was struck by lightning qualifying for the US Open! (1/30/2019)
• Big money purses in 1915 could be a dilemma for the golf professionals! (1/30/2019)
• There was a black member of the PGA of America before Charlie Sifford! (1/30/2019)
• A Philadelphia PGA club pro may have been the victim of an Augusta National ruling! (1/30/2019)
• The PGA Tour pros played with 16 clubs during World War II! (1/30/2019)
• A Philadelphia golf pro motivated the USGA to keep the stymie rule for another 30 years! (1/30/2019)
• A Philadelphia golfer’s connection to the movie “Caddy Shack”! (1/30/2019)