A MONSTER BRINGS BACK A LEGEND
This past week-end, I watched with great interest the last round of the 2008 PGA Golf Tournament held at Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan. One reason I watched so intently is that I love golf and especially the "Majors" and since Tiger Woods is out for the season with a knee injury, the competition has gotten much more interesting. Another reason for my interest is my fascination with Oakland Hills Country Club and hence the reason for this little story. The tournament, by the way, was very exciting and Padraig Harrington won his second major in a row (he won the British Open a few weeks ago) by breaking the hearts of Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis. That dude can play golf ... even if he is from Ireland! I don't think he even blinked his eyes for the last 3 holes.
Padraig Harrington wins 2008 PGA Tournament with score of 277
Why am I so interested in this golf course way up in Michigan one might ask? Well, that's the whole purpose of this blog. Please allow me to continue!
A good buddy of mine (and a golfing buddy) happened upon a cannister of film several years ago. He is a collector of "stuff" anyway and he talked a couple of "good old boys" into selling the cannister of film to him. He took this old cannister of 35mm film to an expert and had the film developed and the pictures printed. One Saturday morning he brought the prints by my house and that's when my mind became engaged in this process. The black and white prints looked as if they were shot yesterday, but obviously they were very dated as was evident from the dress of the people in the photographs. They were pictures of a golf tournament and on the vest of one of the caddies in a picture we could read the words "National Open" and "Oakland Hills Country Club" there was a date that we later determined to be "1937"!
A sports trivia nut friend was eating Easter lunch at my home one rainy Easter day, so I thought I'd pull out the pictures and give him a look. He quickly said the the National Open was the old name for the U.S.Open and that the guy in so many pictures was Ralph Guldahl who won the Open in 1937 and 1938 and the Masters in 1939 (more later on his career)! Guldahl was in fact one of only 5 people to win consecutive U.S. Opens.
The mystery was solved. The pictures were taken in 1937 at Oakland Hills Country Club at the Open Championship ... the first year that Ralph Guldahl won. We even know who took the pictures (obviously a great photographer), but we have decided to save that information for another time. I will give you one hint ... he was no stranger to golf courses!
Armed with this information, I began searching the internet (what a great invention of Al Gore) to discover more about Ralph Guldahl and Oakland Hills Country Club. What follows is a snyopsis of what I learned. Now you can see why I was so excited to watch the PGA Championship last Sunday as it was played at Oakland Hills.
----------------------------
OAKLAND HILLS COUNTRY CLUB
OHCC (the South Course) opened formally on July 13, 1918, but it already enjoyed a degree of prestige. It was designed by the foremost golf course architect of his day - Donald Ross. Also, Walter Hagen, its first professional, had already won the United States Open and an old chicken coop served as Hagen's pro shop! 140 memberships were sold at the price of $250.00 each.
The Clubhouse, which still stands today, formally opened in August, 1922 at a cost of $650,000.00 unfinished!.
Oakland Hills' South Course is now world-renowned and is consistently picked among the top ten tests of golf in the world.
Many tournaments have been held at Oakland Hills, but the one which gave it the reputation as "The Monster" was the 1951 Open. The result was a tournament in which only two subpar rounds were shot during the entire 72 hole affair. Comments from the pros about the difficulty of the course brought about the natural result that from that point on the USGA no longer permitted the host clubs to control the layout for an Open tournament.
PICTURES OF #18 GREEN FROM ALMOST THE SAME SPOT IN 1937 AND 2008
--------------------------------
RALPH GULDAHL
(B. Nov. 22, 1911 / D. June 11, 1987)
(Obituary of Ralph Guldahl,75, from The New York Times; June 14, 1987. Written by Robert Thomas,Jr.)
Ralph Guldahl, the tall self-taught Texan who dominated professional golf in the late 1930's only to give up the tour for lack of interest, died in his sleep early Thursday at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks. He was 75 years old and was the professional at the Braemar Country Club in Tarzana, California.
In a sport whose history is laced with such instantly recognizable names as Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, the name Ralph Guldahl is hardly a household word today. But in a span of four years he won the prestigious Western Open in 1936, 1937 and 1938; the United States Open in 1937 and 1938, and, after two straight second-place finishes, the Masters in 1939. He also played on three consecutive Ryder Cup teams, in 1937,1939 and 1941.
His consecutive victories in the United States Open have been matched by only four other men: Willie Anderson (1903,1904 and 1905), John McDermott (1911-1912), Bobby Jones (1929-1930) and Ben Hogan (1950-1951).
Mr. Guldahl was born in Dallas, where he developed an unorthodox swing with an explosive backswing and sledgehammer down stroke. It may not have looked pretty, but it worked. Mr. Guldahl, who at 6 feet 3 inches was taller than most champion golfers, turned professional in the middle of a tournament in 1930, and in January 1931, just two and a half months past his 19th birthday, won a tournament in Santa Monica, California, making him what is believed to be the youngest man ever to win a tournament on the pro tour. In his first United States Open, in 1933, he came in second.
Despite the auspicious beginning, Mr. Guldahl, who had a practice of combing his thick curly hair after almost every shot, quickly lost interest in competition. In 1935, after the birth of his son, Ralph Jr., he quit the tour.
The layoff apparently helped. When he returned a year and a half later he was almost invincible, much to the special chagrin of Sam Snead. In the final round of the 1937 Open, Guldahl was on the 10th tee when Snead, playing his first Open, eagled the 18th
hole and finished with a 283 and a seemingly certain victory. Guldahl finished with a 281, and Snead never won and Open.
In the 1939 Masters, Guldahl was again on the 10th tee when Snead holed out the 18th for a 280. A couple of birdies and an eagle later, Guldahl finished with a 279. Although he played sporadically in the late 1940's, Guldahl was never a serious contender on the tour after World War II. As he later explained, "I never did have a tremendous desire to win."
His achievements earned him induction into the American Golf Hall of Fame in 1972 and the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981.
In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife, Maydelle.
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QUOTES
Sam Snead: "If Guldahl gave someone a blood transfusion, the patient would freeze to death."
Sam Snead: "When Ralph was at his peak, his clubhead came back on the line and went through on the line as near perfect as anyone I've ever seen."
Ralph Guldahl: "Behind my so called paker face, I'm burning up."
Padraig Harrington wins 2008 PGA Tournament with score of 277
Why am I so interested in this golf course way up in Michigan one might ask? Well, that's the whole purpose of this blog. Please allow me to continue!
A good buddy of mine (and a golfing buddy) happened upon a cannister of film several years ago. He is a collector of "stuff" anyway and he talked a couple of "good old boys" into selling the cannister of film to him. He took this old cannister of 35mm film to an expert and had the film developed and the pictures printed. One Saturday morning he brought the prints by my house and that's when my mind became engaged in this process. The black and white prints looked as if they were shot yesterday, but obviously they were very dated as was evident from the dress of the people in the photographs. They were pictures of a golf tournament and on the vest of one of the caddies in a picture we could read the words "National Open" and "Oakland Hills Country Club" there was a date that we later determined to be "1937"!
A sports trivia nut friend was eating Easter lunch at my home one rainy Easter day, so I thought I'd pull out the pictures and give him a look. He quickly said the the National Open was the old name for the U.S.Open and that the guy in so many pictures was Ralph Guldahl who won the Open in 1937 and 1938 and the Masters in 1939 (more later on his career)! Guldahl was in fact one of only 5 people to win consecutive U.S. Opens.
The mystery was solved. The pictures were taken in 1937 at Oakland Hills Country Club at the Open Championship ... the first year that Ralph Guldahl won. We even know who took the pictures (obviously a great photographer), but we have decided to save that information for another time. I will give you one hint ... he was no stranger to golf courses!
Armed with this information, I began searching the internet (what a great invention of Al Gore) to discover more about Ralph Guldahl and Oakland Hills Country Club. What follows is a snyopsis of what I learned. Now you can see why I was so excited to watch the PGA Championship last Sunday as it was played at Oakland Hills.
----------------------------
OAKLAND HILLS COUNTRY CLUB
OHCC (the South Course) opened formally on July 13, 1918, but it already enjoyed a degree of prestige. It was designed by the foremost golf course architect of his day - Donald Ross. Also, Walter Hagen, its first professional, had already won the United States Open and an old chicken coop served as Hagen's pro shop! 140 memberships were sold at the price of $250.00 each.
The Clubhouse, which still stands today, formally opened in August, 1922 at a cost of $650,000.00 unfinished!.
Oakland Hills' South Course is now world-renowned and is consistently picked among the top ten tests of golf in the world.
Many tournaments have been held at Oakland Hills, but the one which gave it the reputation as "The Monster" was the 1951 Open. The result was a tournament in which only two subpar rounds were shot during the entire 72 hole affair. Comments from the pros about the difficulty of the course brought about the natural result that from that point on the USGA no longer permitted the host clubs to control the layout for an Open tournament.
PICTURES OF #18 GREEN FROM ALMOST THE SAME SPOT IN 1937 AND 2008
--------------------------------
RALPH GULDAHL
(B. Nov. 22, 1911 / D. June 11, 1987)
(Obituary of Ralph Guldahl,75, from The New York Times; June 14, 1987. Written by Robert Thomas,Jr.)
Ralph Guldahl, the tall self-taught Texan who dominated professional golf in the late 1930's only to give up the tour for lack of interest, died in his sleep early Thursday at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks. He was 75 years old and was the professional at the Braemar Country Club in Tarzana, California.
In a sport whose history is laced with such instantly recognizable names as Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, the name Ralph Guldahl is hardly a household word today. But in a span of four years he won the prestigious Western Open in 1936, 1937 and 1938; the United States Open in 1937 and 1938, and, after two straight second-place finishes, the Masters in 1939. He also played on three consecutive Ryder Cup teams, in 1937,1939 and 1941.
His consecutive victories in the United States Open have been matched by only four other men: Willie Anderson (1903,1904 and 1905), John McDermott (1911-1912), Bobby Jones (1929-1930) and Ben Hogan (1950-1951).
Mr. Guldahl was born in Dallas, where he developed an unorthodox swing with an explosive backswing and sledgehammer down stroke. It may not have looked pretty, but it worked. Mr. Guldahl, who at 6 feet 3 inches was taller than most champion golfers, turned professional in the middle of a tournament in 1930, and in January 1931, just two and a half months past his 19th birthday, won a tournament in Santa Monica, California, making him what is believed to be the youngest man ever to win a tournament on the pro tour. In his first United States Open, in 1933, he came in second.
Despite the auspicious beginning, Mr. Guldahl, who had a practice of combing his thick curly hair after almost every shot, quickly lost interest in competition. In 1935, after the birth of his son, Ralph Jr., he quit the tour.
The layoff apparently helped. When he returned a year and a half later he was almost invincible, much to the special chagrin of Sam Snead. In the final round of the 1937 Open, Guldahl was on the 10th tee when Snead, playing his first Open, eagled the 18th
hole and finished with a 283 and a seemingly certain victory. Guldahl finished with a 281, and Snead never won and Open.
In the 1939 Masters, Guldahl was again on the 10th tee when Snead holed out the 18th for a 280. A couple of birdies and an eagle later, Guldahl finished with a 279. Although he played sporadically in the late 1940's, Guldahl was never a serious contender on the tour after World War II. As he later explained, "I never did have a tremendous desire to win."
His achievements earned him induction into the American Golf Hall of Fame in 1972 and the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981.
In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife, Maydelle.
------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
QUOTES
Sam Snead: "If Guldahl gave someone a blood transfusion, the patient would freeze to death."
Sam Snead: "When Ralph was at his peak, his clubhead came back on the line and went through on the line as near perfect as anyone I've ever seen."
Ralph Guldahl: "Behind my so called paker face, I'm burning up."
posted by George Goddard at
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