Wooden Shafted Golf Clubs, wood shaft putters, niblicks, midirons, mashies, golf collectibles, golf gifts.
Wooden Shafted Golf Clubs, wood shaft putters, niblicks, midirons, mashies, golf collectibles, golf gifts.
Wooden Shafted Golf Clubs, wood shaft putters, niblicks, midirons, mashies, golf collectibles, golf gifts.
Wooden Shafted Golf Clubs, wood shaft putters, niblicks, midirons, mashies, golf collectibles, golf gifts.
|
|
Archives
Most items listed here for reference purposes, only! Most of these listings are probably already sold.
January 22, 2002 Absentee Auction
September 22, 2001 Live Auction
March 31, 2001 Live Auction Catalog
August 7, 1999 Auction Catalog
July 31, 2000 Absentee Auction
December 4th, 1999 Auction Catalog! with color pictures!
Aluminum Head Mills Type Putters
Socket Woods Made In
Great Britain
Brass Head Putters
Illegal Deep Groove Irons
Sets
Juvenile Clubs
Irons Made In Great Britain
Irons Made In America
Putters Made In Great Britain
Left Hand Clubs
Pretty Face Woods
Putter Made In America
Spliced Neck Woods
Catalogues:
Monthly Hickory Shaft Golf Club Catalogs
#116
#118
#119
#120
#122
#123
#124
#125
#126
#127
#129
#130
#132
#133
#134
#135
#136
#137
#138
#139
#140
#141
#142
#143
#144
#146
#148
#149
#150
wooden shafted golf clubs, wood shaft golf clubs, golf collectibles, golf gifts, golf collectables, golf clubs, golf balls, gutta percha, wooden shafted golf clubs, wood shaft golf clubs, golf collectibles, golf gifts
Celebrate the 2000 British Open with this ST. ANDREWS KEEPSAKE: A St. Andrews Millenium British Open keepsake. An "Old Course" Bag Tag, Logo Golf Ball, Ball Marker and Green Repair Tool all with the St. Andrews emblem. 4 items. If purchased separately IN ST. ANDREWS, your cost would be approximately $13. Our price - $12.
*** NEWS - Furjanic Auction Records Record Prices.
The April 1, 2000 Chuck Furjanic, Golf Collectibles Auction was a great success with a number of lots setting records. The “Patent Applied For” Cran Cleek, G-8+ brought $3080., the “Pat. Applied For” Hagen Concave Sand Wedge in Superb G-9 condition realized $1045. and a mint “Ocobo” gutta percha ball circa 1895-1900 fetched $2090., a superb “Park Compressed Head Brassie” G-9, $1375. and a red mesh wrapped ball by “Miller & Taylor, Glasgow” brought $467.50. were all record prices. Other items of interest were the “Jn Gray” Cleek G-7+, $2090., a “Star Challenger” G-6+, $2090, a mint “Colonel Crescent Dimple, $880., a Spalding “Baseball” mark Rut Niblick G-7, $715, a Morris long nose putter $1980. and a Hogan Bronze for $2090.
Furjanic’s next live auction will be held in Irving, TX in mid October. Catalogues will be available at the GCS National Gathering in Virginia Beach.
Consignments are now being accepted for this
major Fall Auction Sale. Contact Chuck Furjanic at 1-214-377-8421, or eMail
View Past Auction Pictures!
PEBBLE BEACH by Edwin De Bell
One of my favorite fantasies while driving an automobile cross country is to visualize superficially a golf course on a particular piece of terrain which, in my mind's eye, would provide an ideal setting for one. I remember distinctly an occasion which occurred some years ago as I was driving through Lake County, California, and had just passed through Hoberg's on the way to a small village called Lock Lomond. I happened to look to the left of the car and suddendly caught sight of a large meadow with undulating fields, sporadic trees, and several creeks running through it. "That would be an ideal setting for a golf course," I murmured to myself as I carefully rounded a large bend in the road. And guess what? I was wright! In a few years' time that inviting plot of ground became the Adams Springs Golf Course, a course which I, later played many times. It was one of those "out of the way" nine hole courses which seem to beckon challenges which it represents. It takes me back. And I can think of another course which takes me back to its ideal setting, its natural beauty, and its hidden challenges. I have played it once and only once - in 1957 - but that once was enough to engrave in my memory all of its subtleties, its nuances, its invitations. That course is Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach is a golfing environment which lures the player to its intrinsic elements and then possesses him by gorging his senses with a panoply of ever-changing impressions, feelings, and experiences. To play Pebble Beach once is to play it forever; to play it forever is to play it once. It defies time, it defies location; it defies knowing. It just is. If you have ever played it, you have become a part of it; it has become a part of you. Jack Nicklaus has said that if he had to play only one golf course for the rest of his life, it would be Pebble Beach. The Pebble Beach Golf Links were created from the inspiration the scenic terrain stirred in the mind of Samuel F. B. Morse, the nephew of the inventor of the telegraph. Morse purchased the beautiful site from the Southern Pacific Railroad and declared that the area was ideal for a golf course. Accordingly, he contracted Jack Neville - who was primarily a real estate person - to design eighteen holes overlooking the ocean. What emerged from the undertaking was "a magnificent layout sprawling along the top of the cliffs and meandering up from the ocean to the edges of the Del Monte Forest." It remains as a links course which is as tough to play as it is spectacular to look at. Measuring 6799 yards from the champion's tees, it has hosted only three United States Opens, yet it boasts some of the most famous holes in all of golfdom. So what is it that causes this fortuitous meeting of ocean, land, and sky to be so revered by golfers and viewers alike? It is the feeling that once you have set foot on this enchanting landscape you know instinctively that you are in a singular place. Is there any place else quite like it? Not really. It scarcely needs mention that most of the famous holes at Pebble Beach are quite well known individually - like seven, eight, seventeen, eighteen - yet there are several other holes which are just as worthy of commendation. I like five, nine, fourteen and sixteen. When I played Pebble Beach in 1957, the green fees were only one tenth of what they are now. (And I thought that fifteen dollars was kind of high.) I also remember when I was teeing it up on Number Five I knew this really was a unique course. Five is not a long par three, but accuracy and the right distance are imperative. The green seemed higher than the tee, there was a brook directly behind it, and the entire green appeared overhung with branches from adjoining trees. It was the kind of hole which I would have liked to have played over and over and over. I think that Number Nine is an incredibly challenging hole. It is long, it is uphill, it has a small green, and the wind can be a deciding factor. And it comes right after Number Eight, the often photographed Ravine Hole. Number Fourteen is probably recognized not only for its severe dog-leg to the right, but also for its almost inaccessible green. If you are short you are in the bunker; if you are long you have a very delicate pitch; and, if you are on, your ball is liable to roll anywhere... perhaps even off the green altogether. There are probably any number of golf holes which are reminiscent of Number Sixteen, but I doubt that any can be as intimidating. And not the least because it is the first of three of the best finishing holes in all of golf. Pebble Beach won't even let you forget where you have been and what you have done. I like to think that Pebble Beach is a living thing. I like to think that, among all the living entities on the Earth, this is an entity which gloriously came into being, prevailed through infancy...adolescence...maturity, and then gracefully acceded to the ravages of time. I like to think that, by virtue of living and being and passing, Pebble Beach made this a better world for all of those who knew her. I hope that she will be there to think about for a long time to come.
THE KAPALUA INTERNATIONAL by Edwin De Bell
About nineteen years ago, when I tried to play as many different courses as I could in order to acquire score cards, pencils, and ball markers, I was invited to spend a week on the island of Maui by my brother - who was living in Kihei at the time. Naturally, I wanted to play as much golf as I coudl, but when I realized that my budget for the trip would be inadequate to cover the even-then expensive green fees, and when I learned that I would be forbidded to walk the course of my choice, I decided to find something that I would like. That something turned out to be the Maui Lua Golf Course. The Maui Lua Golf Course was not one of those spectacular tournament type championship courses with artificial lakes, buttressed sand traps, and huge slick greens which were designed by such architectural notables as Robert Trent Jones, Dick Wilson, or Pete Dye. It was just a very unpretentitious nine hole course adjoining the Mau Lua Hotel on the inland part of Maui and bereft of huge waves crashing against jagged rocks below, shorebirds wheeling and careening above, or gigantic palm trees genbtly swaying in the tropical breezes. But I liked it. Some golfers would probably have referred to it as a "short course". There were almost as many par threes as threr were par fours, and none of those par fours were over 400 yards long. But it had a certain rustic charm to it - even in Hawaii! The fairways were deceivingly rolling and hilly, there were plenty of trees all around, and the greens were small and slow. And there were no cart paths to abruptly remind you that technology had thrust its artificial tentacles into what once was a solely pastoral experience. You just walked up to a little booth adjoining the first tee and paid your three or four dollars to the young Hawaiian girl inside and got a scorcard, a encil, and a ball marker.... what else? There were also a few rrental clubs available for guys like me who hadn't brough their own clubs along. But what got the butterflies churning in your stomac was the anticipation of the unknown, the realization that you were embarking upon a journey into a strange place, the satisfaction that for the next two hours or less there was nothing else in the world but you, the golf course, and the challenge of doing something well. We cherish these moments forever. And I still cherish that brief foray into the realm of island golf - as fleeting and as distant as it was - and I look back with nostlagia to an event which was unique for its once-in-a-lifetime quality. The Maui Lua Golf Course is no more. How could it be, with real estate being so valuable in "The Islands," and so many "bigger and better" courses around? That golf course is probably a host of condominiums now, or another huge hotel, or a big shopping center. But we don't want to know about that; we want to know about those other courses. Among the other course, the Waiehu Municipal Course woul be the next step up from the Maui Lua. It has a full eighteen holes at 6330 yards and the green fees are $25. You can walk it if you are a purist, or you can rent a cart and roll merrily along; the cart costs half as much as the green fees. Next in order of opulence would be the Pukalani Country Club at 6494 yards and green fees at $60. The carts there are the same price as they are at Waiehu. At Kihei - where my brother still lives - you can roll; your way along the 6400 yards of the Silverwood Golf course for $65., including that cart. >From here on out the carts are mandatory (or at least included in the green fees) and you are looking a hundred dollar bills plus. the Waikapa Valley Club is a par 72 of 6200 yards and almost $100. For $110. you can play the 6823 yards of the Makena Golf Course with a par of 72 also. $125 will get you eighteen holes of more par 72 golf over the 6152 yards of the Wailea Blue Course. And that brings, finally, to the Kapalua Golf Club. The Plantation Course of the Kapalua Golf club, where the Kapalua International will be played, was designed by Ben Crenshaw - one of the few tour golfers who is also an avid collector as well as a keen bird watcher (So am I, Ben.) It is considered a big course - a par of 73 over 6547 yards - because it is spread out over a former pineapple field and it features wide fairways and huge greens. To show his respect for the links-type courses of the British Isles, Crenshaw left the fronts of the greens unguarded by bunkers in order to encourage the old fashioned run-up shots. These shots come into play quite frequently because the winds are usually consistent and quite strong on this course. An opportunity for this type of play becomes apparent on the 305 yard fourteenth hole, which is downwind and offers a good chance for an eagle. On the final hole, a par 5 of 663 yards - downhill and also downwind - a free automobile is offered to the plauyer who can put his second shot closest to the pin on Saturday. And Hula-Hula dancers will be there to celebrate that accomplishment. And here come the those butterflies again! The Kapalua Resort is famous for its well-known logo: the butterfly. This symbol is visible on almost everything there: golf apparel, napkins, soap, etc. And - what is more - there is even an exotic drink named in its honor! Kapalua.... Maui Lua... Hula Hula.... it's all Hawaiian to me. And, it could be all Hawaiian for you if you tune in your television to the Kapalua International between November 3 and November 6. Or, better yet, you might want to go there and see it first hand; tournament spectators are welcomed at no charge. Aloha nui loa: fondest regards.
WALT DISNEY WORLD GOLF CLASSIC by Ed DeBell
How would you feel if you shot twenty five strokes under par in a golf tournament and you didn't win it? Regardless of how many holes you played, wouldn't you feel a little bit goofy? You can get a not-so-goofy answer from Chip Beck. Chip Beck is a professional on the P.G.A. tour who just happened to shoot twenty five strokes under par at the Walt Disney World Golf Classic in 1988. I say just happened, although scores like that just don't happen very often. They are a very rare happening, and when they do happen you would think something good would come of them. Not so for Chip Beck; some other guy shot the same score and beat him in a playoff. Now wouldn't that make you feel a little bit goofy? Goofy scores, goofy guys, goofy outcomes....they are all there at the Walt Disney World Golf Classic, and the only other thing you really need there is Goofy himself. That would just make your day, wouldn't it, Chip Beck? But of course, Goofy is to Walt Disney as "Rib o' th' Green" is to golf. If they aren't there, then something is missing. I grew up with Goofy at the same time I grew up with golf. I don't imagine many readers remember the old cartoon in which Mickey Mouse is playing golf and Goofy is his caddy (who else?). They go along pretty well over the first few holes until Mickey finds himself in a very deep sand trap cut right into the edge of a large green. He asks Goofy for his "sand iron", takes a huge swipe at the ball, sends up a shower of sand, but doesn't even move it. He takes another swipe: same result. He tries it a third time unsuccessfully, throws the club back at Goofy, and asks for a different one. Goofy gives him a "mashie". Mickey takes a couple more swipes, sends up a couple more showers of sand, and throws the club back at Goofy again. Goofy gives him another club, then another club, then another. Finally, after almost all of the clubs have been used and almost all of the sand is out of the trap, Mickey asks for the putter. He takes a graceful swing, catches the ball cleanly, and rolls it over the edge of the green and into the cup. By this time, Goofy is lying prostrate on the ground - almost covered with sand - with broken clubs lying all around him. His eyes are bulging, his teeth are gnashing, and through it all he is muttering: "....it's only a game....it's only a game....it's only a game!" Are you listening, Chip? The Walt Disney World Golf Classic is played over three courses located within the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom: The Magnolia Course, the Palm Course, and the Lake Buena Vista Course. The yardages for the professional players are, respectively: 7190, 6957, and 6655; the course ratings are: 73.9, 73.0, and 72.7; and, the slopes are : 133, 129, and 128. Concerning prestige on the P.G.A. Tour, this tournament is rated twenty-third, course difficulty is rated forty-third, and the overall rating with all factors evaluated (including quality of winners) is twenty-eighth. Not bad for a tournament which some jokesters might refer to as "Mickey Mouse". Taken together, these three courses have been described as "....almost as blue and white as (they are) green." There are an even 300 bunkers on them and an odd 25 lakes. And I understand that all of the flags are yellow, probably with the name of the tournament inscribed in logo. (Whatever became of red flags with white numbers?) If there were four courses here the four-round tournament would likely be played on a different course each day, but since there are only three, the cut is made after everyone has played the three courses and the survivors return to Magnolia. It must be a fine course, so let us examine it in depth. Number 1 is a par 4 of 428 yards with water all along the right side of the fairway and a trap on each side of the green. Number 2 is a par 4 of 417 yards, dogleg to the right, with eight traps. Number 3 is a par 3 of 160 yards with traps North, South, East and West circling a very round green. Number 4 is a par 5 of 552 yards with thirteen traps all over the place. Number 5 is a par 4 of 448 yards with three irregular traps surrounding a rather large green. Number 6 is a par 3 of 195 yards with a huge lake to hit over from the tee to a kidney shaped green which is quite undulated. Number 7 is a par 4 of 410 yards with a lake to hit over from the tee again and three traps to hit over to get on the green. Number 8 is a par 5 of 614 yards, dogleg left, with six traps around a kidney shaped green for the third shot. Number 9 is a par 4 of 431 yards with a big lake all along the left side of the green. Suffice it to say that the back nine is much like the front nine with very similar features. An obviously goofy feature of this tournament is the annual Hummingbird Bass and Golf Contest which teams sixteen professionals with sixteen fishermen. The twosomes play the back nine of the Palm Course (golfers through the fairway and fishermen through the greens), after which everyone goes fishing. Every golf stroke is then subtracted from all the weights of all the fish caught by each team, so it really turns out to be a low score big weight competition. Is it better to be a good golfer, a good fisherman, or both? As with most things, probably a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a little bit of luck besides. Finally, if Chip Beck ever plays in this tournament again, I know of a funny looking guy who would make the perfect caddy for him in this "goofy" tournament. He has long, floppy ears, a bulbous nose, and very big feet. But the best thing about him is that he will do anything you ask him to. Now isn't that goofy?
WINGED FOOT by Ed De Bell
The first time I viewed Winged Foot was from the passenger window of a DC3 in the nineteen-fifties when I was travelling from Upstate New York to New York City. I had noticed a number of beautiful golf courses as we were flying over Long Island on the approach to the airport, and so I inquired of the stewardess what they were. "Well, I think that one just below the wing tip of the aircraft is Winged Foot. It looks like one huge course, but I think it's more than one. I don't know how many holes it has, but they sure are pretty, an' I love the way they go back an' forth an' in an' out. It'd good to walk it some time." I agreed that there were some people who would love to do just that. Years ago - long before the fifties - a famous writer once remarked that "Golf is a good walk spoiled".... but I disagree. I contend that golf is a good walk enhanced. And that enhancement is hugely visible at Winged Foot. Winged Foot - whose symbol is a foot with a wing - was designed for members of the New York Ahtletic Club in 1923 by "eccentric" golf course architect A. W. Tillinghast. They instructed him to "give us a man sized course" which would be attractive to walk upon and challenging to play. After removing scores of trees, tons of rock, and lots of weeds, he designed a course which is not only very pleasing to the eye but also very disagreeable to the card. Winged Foot is considered "one of the toughest courses in the United States, and also one of the most demanding. It measures 6,956 yards from the championship tees and almost all of the par fours are over 400 yards long. Most amateurs and many professionals find it quite frustrating to get on these greens in two shots, a fact which makes this course so difficult. The bulk of the victories here have been with big scores, including Bobby Jones in 1929, Billy Casper in 1959, and Hale Irwin in 1974. The members of this athletic club must be very proud of their testing course. The course to which I have been referring is the West Course. It is the one which is used for all the major championships - including four United States Opens - but it is arguably no more difficult than the East Course As the airline stewardess said, it is all "one huge course"....and quite intimidating no matter where you are. The individual holes on the West Course are interesting as well as unique. The first - Genesis - is a relatively straight par four of 446 yards with large traps on either side of a long narrow green. The second - Elm - is a slight dog-leg to the right par four of 411 yards also with traps on either side of the green. A good hole to get your game - Babe in the Woods - is the shortest par three (166). Eight - Arena - is another long hitter's par four (442), and nine - Meadow - is a short hitter's par five (471), with all sorts of traps surrounding the going. Three - Pinnacle - is a moderately long par three of 216 yards with a kidney shaped green bordered again by two traps. Keep it straight on the first three holes. The fourth - Sound View - is a long (453) straightaway par four with the Old White Plains Road on one side and the fifth - Long Lane - a par five of 515 yards on the other. Six - The El - is the shortest par four on the course (324), and sevengreen to make up for the ones you missed on the early holes. The back nine begins with a par three - Pulpit - which is around 200 yards long. The green is protected by two kidney shaped bunkers and has copious trees around it....not to mention a house directly behind it. Is this a lay-up hole? Eleven - Billows - is the only other par four of less than 400 yards (386), but it has traps here and traps there and traps nearly everywhere. Twelve - Cape - is a dog-leg to the left par five and the longest hole on the course: 535. Thirteen - White Mule - is another par three of around 200 yards but without a house behind the green. No need to lay-up here. Fourteen and fifteen - Shamrock and Pyramid - are both par fours of equal length (417 & 418), and both slightly dog-legged. Sixteen - Hell's Bells - is the longest par four on the course: 457 yards and very few traps. The seventeenth hole - Well Well - has been described by Jack Nicklaus as a "textbook test of golf which really pits the player against the designer." Well, well, I am sure many other holes at Winged Foot deserve the same tribute, none the least of which is eighteen - Revelations. It has a slight dog-leg, the fairway is narrow, and the green has "fearsome" undulations. I guess it gets its name because after the golfer leaves the green his ultimate score might be a startling revelation. This year, Winged Foot will host the championship of the Professional Golfers' Association from August 14 to August 17. Would you like to walk the course with me? The P.G.A. has given the golfing world an abundance of services. Its committees include junior golf, caddies' welfare, education and training, rules, manufactures relations, resolutions, and a golf library. The Hall of Fame, the P.G.A. Magazine, and the National Golf Day committee are other significant undertakings. In 1997, as in other years, the tournament promises to be as eventful as it has ever been. Those who shoot at or under par at Winged Foot will certainly have passed the "textbook test of golf". As for the others, I hope it will not turn out to be "...a good walk spoiled." THE
OPEN AT CONGRESSIONAL by Edwin Be Bell
The United States Open Golf Championship will be held this year at The Congressional Country Club outside Bethesda, Maryland, on June 12, 13, 14, and 15. It will be the first time it has been played there since 1964. It will not be the first time the story of the golfer who played and won there in 1964 will be hold, however.... and certainly not the last. The Ken Venturi story as a young amateur from San Francisco; his sudden and unexpected decline after a few years as a professional; and, his re-emergence as a superb shotmaker at Congressional in the 1964 Open. Had it not been for unfortunate circumstances and physical anomalies, Ventury would have been rightly regarded as one of the finest golfers of this century. As it is, he will always be remembered as a consummate player and teacher of the game. The son of the course manager at the Harding Park Golf Club in San Francisco, Venturi began the game at an early age. His father literally brought him up with golf, and only a few years after he began playing he was shooting low scores and entering tournaments. As a youth, he was always one of the favorites in San Francisco City, the East Bay Regional, the Alameda Commuters, and the Northern California Junior. This writer grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area at the same time as Venturi, and he well remembers how popular and well thought of he was among all golfers, young and old, professional and amateur, from that era. And he had a very engaging personality. The writer recalls how, on one occasion when he was playing behind Venturi's foursome, Ken was looking over a long putt on the eighth green at the Alameda Golf Links when he suddenly developed a nose bleed. Most golfers would have tended to the bloody nose immediately, but not Venturi. He nonchalantly stepped up to the ball, took his stance, and rolled it into the cup. It was this kind of determination which he summoned when he won the Open at Congressional in 1964. In that Open, the Congressional was giving the players quite a bit of trouble. It wasn't that the fairways were too narrow or the rough too high, but a combination of other factors that caused many of the competitors to complain. That year, the Congressional, at over 7,000 yards, was the longest course in Open history. Several holes were considered intimidating, but two holes in particular were causing all sorts of bogeys. These holes, which were ordinarily played as par fives, had been changed to par fours, and many of the players were unable to reach the greens in two. And if they did, they then found the greens to be another challenge. They were extremely grainy - being a combination of Arlington Bent grass and Congressional Bent grass - and it took a good poke to get the ball to the hole going against the grain, to say nothing of how much to allow on sidehill putts. Low scores were not expected to be frequent. Also, on the Saturday morning of that year, the temperature was in the nineties - and this on a day when play was scheduled for thirty-six holes! It was the contention of the U.S.G.A. at that time that "....endurance as well as skill shall be a requisite of a national champion." They believed that only the soundest of swings could stand up under the attrition of thirty six holes in one day. The eventual champion would be the man with that swing. Venturi began his rush to prominence on the very first hole Saturday when his ten foot birdie putt hung on the lip of the cup and finally toppled in. He birdied the fourth, the sixth, and the eighth. At the ninth, he faced the longest hole on the course. But, after having hit two good fairway shots, he punched a firm wedge shot eight feet from the cup and ran down the putt, thereby reaching the turn in thirty strokes. He followed this with a brilliant four iron shot on the 188 yard twelfth to set up another birdie, put him six under par, and lift him to the top of the leader board. Ken Venturi was leading the United States Open! Venturi finished the morning round at 66, but toward the end of that round he began to falter as he missed short putts on seventeen and eighteen, and was near collapse from heat prostration. He spent the interval between rounds resting and drinking tea and taking salt tablets. It was decided he would need a doctor to walk with him during the afternoon round. Coming into the ninth hole - The Ravine Hole again - he was tied for the lead, but he was determined to birdie that hole again and take the lead outright. He hit a full one iron second shot just five yards in front of the ravine and right in the middle of the fairway - a perfect lie on the brink of disaster for a finesse wedge shot. He made the shot, he sank the putt, and he regained the lead. The last nine was all that was left. Hanging on tenaciously, Venturi needed only a seven on the last hole to win, having by that time increased his lead to four strokes. I well remember watching on television his characteristic splay-footed walk down the eighteenth fairway as the crowd cheered him on and he doffed his white cap for the first time that day. But the image that is ever strong in my mind is that on him sitting under a tree beside the last green and reminiscing about his never-to-be-forgotten saga of accomplishment. It was not so much what he did, but how he did it. And in 1997 - as in 1964 - will the winner of the Open at Congressional be remembered, like Venturi, not so much for what he accomplished, but for what he meant to the game of golf? We would all be richer in memories if that should happen. I would like to acknowledge Herbert Warren Wind, Golf writer emeritus, for his excellent analysis of the Open at Congressional in the chapter "The Third Man", which appeared in his book FOLLOWING THROUGH, for some of the information contained in the foregoing article. Thank you.
THE MAKING OF THE MASTERS by Ed DeBell
Bobby Jones, who many critics believe was the finest golfer the game has ever produced, is remembered more for his accomplishments in the world of championships than for his achievements in the world of academia. It is little known that he received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in English Literature, and it is even less known that one of his favorite novels at that time was "Joseph Andrews" by Henry Fielding. What was it in that work that appealed to Jones? Henry Fielding's novels were extremely well written. He emphasized realism as opposed to sentimentality, and he exposed frivolous manners and morals in favor of narratives which portrayed life as it really was. His work is characterized by quality writing, artful construction, and excellent craftsmanship. All of these elements were favored by Jones, who became a consummate writer himself - mostly on golf - and who emphasized these same attributes not only in his own writing, but also in his golf game, his course design, and his hosting of The Masters. But how did these characteristics manifest themselves in his life? The Augusta National Golf Club would not have come about had it not been for a curious twist of fate. In 1929, the United States Amateur Championship was, for the first time, played West of the Mississippi: at the Pebble Beach Golf Links. At the time also, Bobby Jones was considered "the most stupendous golfer the game had ever known" - as one critic put it: he would be defending the Amateur for the third time; he had won the United States Open for the third time just three months previous, and he was only twenty seven years old. . .at the height of his career. The tournament had virtually been conceded to him before it ever started. But someone else intervened. From Omaha, Nebraska - of all places - Johnny Goodman managed to make it to the California Coast and qualify for the Amateur. He had to come out as a drover on a cattle car and his qualifying score was much higher than Jones'. . . but there he was, in the first round of the tournament, playing against Jones. And he won the match! It was the only time Jones had lost so early in the Amateur, and it left him with a full week without golf at Pebble Beach. What was he going to do with all of that time? Unknown to Jones when he first went to Peabble Beach was the presence of one of the world's foremost golf course architects close by. His name was Mr. Alister Mackenzie, and he was the designer of two other famous courses close to Pebble Beach: the well-known Cypress Point and the little known Pasatiempo. Jones had, for many years, thought of creating his own dream course, but he wanted one which had his ideas incorporated into it along with the theories of a highly regarded architect. Dr. Mackenzie was the man, and Jones soon realized that, together, the two of them could bring this vision to a reality. But where was this dream course going to be? Since he was a native of Atlanta and a resident of Georgia, Jones felt this course should be located somewhere in that site and preferably close to his home town. He wanted it to "embody the finest (features of the) holes of all the great courses. . . I have played, a course which may possibly be recognized as one of the great golf courses of the world." On the last dayof June in 1931 the Augusta Chronicle ran a story that the 365 acres of the Fruitlands Nursery, owned by Prosper Berkmans - son of a Belgian Baron - had been sold to a consortium of buyers who were ". . . to build (an) ideal golf course on Berkmans' place." The article then continued with details of the project, pictures of the site, and particulars of the sale. If this were to be Jones' dream course, who was going to pay for it? To help underwrite the financing, Jones appointed Clifford Roberts - an old friend and soon-to-become administrator of the tournament, to handle the business transactions. Roberts immediately approached financier Alfred Bourne, who pledged $25,000 to the undertaking. A Mr. Walton Marshall matched this with another $25,000, and in no time at all people with Winter homes in Augusta were volunteering $10,000, $5,000, and whatever they could afford to the venture. The dream course was on its way, but how long would it take to build? Mackenzie lost no time in getting the course started. His architectural creed was "to build courses for the most enjoyment (of) the greatest number." This was accomplished by restricting bunkers, eliminating roughs, and creating large greens. The result is what is referred to as "utter minimalism." After most of the course had been laid out, Jones took over by hitting thousands of experimental shots from every conceivable location in order to determine if each fairway had the proper sweep, each bunker the stiffest challenge, and each green the capability of accepting a good shot. He wanted his course to provide the ultimate challenge and satisfaction "to the greatest possible capabilities of (the) players." And who would those players be? In order not to offend anyone, Jones established a set of guidelines concerning who would be invited to the tournament. Those players would be the winners of past and present national championships as well as golfers who had displayed outstanding performances during the previous year. As a consequence, an invitation to The Masters is a coveted honor. Jones continued to host the tournament until shortly before his death at age sixty-nine and, for every year that he was the host he improved this tournament in some small way. So, as with almost everything that is undertaken in the realm of human endeavor, The Masters - as we know it today - certainly did not come about overnight, or even in just a few short years. From the time the wish to have his own dream course came upon Bobby Jones, to the time when The Masters became one of the biggest attractions in sport, there ensued a multiplicity of circumstances, challenges, and successes. When all were ultimately blended together, they created a phenomenon that prevails today as a majestic experience to all who are exposed to it. The Masters is well worth watching. I would like to acknowledge Charles Price, former Editor-in-Chief of Golf Magazine, for his historical analysis of The Masters entitled "A Golf Story" for most of the particulars contained in the foregoing article. Thank you.
1-214-377-8421
We accept Visa and Mastercard for your convenience.
|
Antique Golf Collectibles, A Price and Reference Guide. Post Paid $30.00* 1997, by Chuck Furjanic. Prices for Average, Above Average and Superb pricing for golf clubs, balls, books, ceramics and all other golf collectibles. Signed by the author.
Click the cover to see it closeup! |
|
Home | Email
Comments / Place Orders | Display Racks
| Books | Putters Made In
Great Britain | Aluminum Mills Type Mallet Putters
| Putters Made In America | Irons
Made In Great Britain | Irons Made In America
| Sets Of Clubs | Spliced
Neck Woods | Anti-Shank Irons | Illegal
Deep Groove Irons | Pretty Face Woods | Juvenile
Clubs | Brass Head Putters | Signature
Clubs | Ladies Clubs | American
Socket Woods | Great Britain Socket Woods
| Gutta Percha Balls | Bramble
Pattern Balls | Odd Pattern Balls | Signature
Balls | Mesh Pattern Balls | Misc
Ball Related Collectibles | Prints | Misc
Golf Collectibles
Visitor # since April 27, 1998!
This website designed by Barry Smith of Binary Data Services
Copyright 1998 All Rights Reserved
