return to front page
The Putter & Other Problems
"Golf is a game that crates emotions that sometimes cannot be sustained with the club still in one's hand." Bobby Jones
To those of you who watch the Golf Channel are well aware of the Great Bobby Jones. You see him as a fine mild mannered Southern Gentleman. I hate to tell this, but he was one of the premier club throwers of all times. Jones used to play with a Mr. Byers. Jones was a youngster and Byers a veteran. They both expressed their feelings the same way. When they hit bad shots, they threw the club. Bobby Jones said that he beat Mr. Byers because he ran out of clubs first.
The putter, that Bobby Jones made famous, was named "Calamity Jane." Calamity Jane was a plain goose- neck blade putter. It had a wood shaft with three separate windings on the shaft between the head and the grip. Originally the windings were put on the shaft in order to hold the shattered shaft together after a temper tantrum. These windings became a trade-mark of the putter, and new Calamity Jane putters made by Spaulding, all had the three windings.
By the standards of today, you would not give this putter a second look, but in those days the greens that he putted on in the South were all common Bermuda. Calamity Jane had a little loft on the face, and the putting stroke was very different than the one that is used on the carpet like greens of today. If you have ever watched old golf shows, you will notice the putted ball appear as if it would go completely off of the green, but come to a screeching halt. The putting stances and strokes were quite different than that of today. Having been raised in that era, I owned a Calamity Jane at one time. I was not any different than the golfers of today, I had to own a putter just like the one that was used in winning a Major tournament. I owned the Horton Smith putter. As well as Paul Runyan's "Little Poison" putter. Not one of them worked.
During my youth, finding a replacement for a broken club was beyond my financial status, so considerable thought was given before breaking a club. After becoming a professional, setting a good example was high on the priority list. There were countless moments when I had to suffer in silence. Sometimes I would spit on the ground, and where I spit, grass never grew again.
In 1946 in Connecticut, I did dispose of a putter that would not behave, but it was premeditated, and not in a fit of temper. It was a copy of the Horton Smith Putter that one of my members had made in his machine shop. It was beautiful, and my name was engraved in the back of the blade. I might have been experiencing a putting slump at the time, but I was three putting hole after hole. As we were approaching a green on the back nine, I announced that if I three putted that green, the putter and I were going to have a parting of the ways. After three putting, the putter took a little trip with me up to the next tee, which was elevated and overlooked a heavily wooded valley. I air-mailed that putter as far as I could down into the woods. Many years later I went back to that course, and that forest had become a housing project, and my name was on the putter.
Ky Lafoon, a well known professional back in the thirties and forties, had a constant war going with his putters. On one occasion he tied his putter to the rear of his car and dragged it behind him until there was nothing left but the grip. He was also observed holding his putter under waters saying, "Drown you S,O.B, drown."
Otey Chrisman, who was a long time friend of mine, broke so many putters that he finally went into the putter manufacturing business. He, like Bobby Jones, was always holding his putter shafts together with windings. He was a delightful person. He was a Deacon in the Church, was an accomplished organist, and always led our PGA meetings with a prayer. On the golf course he was a changed man. When you were paired with him in a tournament you would spend more time trying to humor him along than you did with your own golf game.
On one occasion, while playing in a tournament in Florida, Otey and I had a little side bet and were tied going into the final round. My tee time was three groups ahead of his, and before I teed off we were discussing the wind conditions. Otey asked me what I though I would shoot, and I told him that I would be lucky to break eighty with the wind conditions. He said that if I didn't think I would break eighty, I might just as well pay him now. I told him that with the windy conditions that morning, I didn't believe he would finish. I was teeing off on number 4 when I saw Otey's car heading for home. He had hit two balls in the water on the first hole and quit. This is an amazing game.
The majority of sports require considerable physical action that helps prevent nerves from taking over. The initial plays in most sports are very important, and getting off to a good start is important. Football teams will, as a rule, run a few ground plays before going to the air. Bodily contact erases your nervousness, but in golf, it is you, and your mind. Great players have the ability to bounce back after mistakes, while other players tend to compound their mistakes. It becomes a constant mental game.
An important businessman once told me, that when he wanted to hire an employee for an important job, and if a golfer, he would take him on the golf course, and at the end of the round, would know everything about that man. If the candidate did not play golf, he would ask him if he was married. If the answer was "Yes.", he would ask who was boss in the family. If the man said, "I am", he would not hire him, because if he would lie about that, he would lie about other things.