There's been a lot of golf on TV lately - we recently had the PGA championship, and start and continuation of the FedEx playoffs, and next week will be the President's Cup. Plenty for any golf junkie, way too much for that same golf junkie's wife.
All this golf has got me to thinking. If you could play with any 3 other players in the ultimate foursome, who would they be? I know, I know, way too wide open a question so let's boil it down a bit. For today's discussion, let's whittle it down: Your 3 partners have to be deceased (but you don't have to be - unless of course you want to be but then that kind of complicates the debate plus I have no idea how you'll write this, etc.).
They can be from any era, well known or obscure, etc., - you get the rules.
For me, 2 of the 3 are really easy.
#1 far and away would be Ben Hogan. I've been fascinated with Ben Hogan about the time he stopped playing competitively in the 1960's. I remember my Dad talking about him and how private he was with his time after retiring - rarely giving interviews, just content to hit balls at his club in Fort Worth, TX - Shady Oaks. You just never heard much about him other then he made some kick-ass clubs and any player worth a damn at that time played Hogan irons.
Ben Hogan become more of a fascination to me when I read his book "Five Lessons - The Fundamentals of Golf". It was unlike any golf instructional book I had ever seen. The attention to detail, the illustrations, and the theory make it a must-read on any serious golfer's list even to this day. It was also around this time that some of the mystery surrounding the man became to disappaite and you began to get a sense of who he was and what he was all about. His Five Lessons book became one you just had to have in your collection.
One of the definitive reads later on was "Ben Hogan: An American Life" by James Dodson. It was in this account of his life where I learned about his Dad's terrible suicide in the room next door when Ben was a small boy and the extreme poverty he grew up with. Remarkably, Ben was born in 1912 - the same year that 2 other well known golfers were born, Sam Snead and Bryon Nelson. Fascinating that history worked out that way. 3 of the greatest golfers the world had ever seen and all 3 were born the same year.
Outside of an already successful career up to that point, Ben is probably best known for the terrible auto accident he and his wife Valarie suffered on a foggy west Texas highway in 1949. This accident not only should've killed Ben but by throwing him self in front of his wife during the collision to protect her, in all likelihood saved his life. While he had no business ever playing golf again, much less walking, it was less than a year later that Ben completed for the Los Angeles Open title - a title he eventually lost in a playoff. When you read his about his career accomplishments, you have to simply shake your head at the grit and resolve this man displayed throughout his entire career. His early days as a pro simply trying to make it, his glory days with the "Hogan Slam" and his post-accident days.
So you can see why it's easy to be a fan of "The Hawk" Hogan but I think my appreciation goes deeper than than. It was said he "dug his game from the dirt" and it was on the range that he learned how to battle the wicked hook that nearly cost him his career at an early age. Story after story exist about how he would position his caddies out to in the range to shag balls (this was long before today's method of beating balls to later be picked up by the ball picker). The shag balls belonged to the golfer so he wanted to keep close tabs. Anyway, he would position his caddy to the precise location and then proceed to hit iron after iron to that location - never making the caddy move more than a step or 2 one direction or another. This focus and concentration are unlike anything we've seen since.
I think it's Ben's pursuit of perfection is what fascinates me even to this day. To have the courage, drive, and discipline to do what was necessary to be the best he could be is something lost to today's athlete - especially when compared with the adversity he faced. Too much fame, too much money, too much prestige, I guess.
Yes, I know Ben was a man a few words while on the golf course but to have the opportunity to watch him approach a golf course, dissect it, and then hit the shots necessary to conquer it would have been a remarkable sight to see.
Golfer #2 is a little closer to home - it would be my Dad, Ed King. Dad taught me to play at an early age. Ever since I was a little kid, I always remembered seeing a wedge kept in the backyard by the grill where Dad would continually work on his swing while grilling whatever was for dinner that night. He was the proverbial tinker-er and was always trying this or trying that with his golf swing. He taught me how the "how's and why's" of putting lead tape on a club. i still have his old wooden shaft putter that is older than I am. He would use that putter to "pop" his putts as was required during those days of longer, slower greens.
Keep in mind he wasn't a very big man - Dad was 5' 4" and weighed a 130 pounds and that was right after a soaking rain storm. He didn't hit the ball very far but could chip and putt with the best of them. I think that was from all the time spent practicing at the muni's he played at as a kid growing up in Sioux City when he couldn't afford to hit range balls. Like most sports he played (bowling comes to mind), Dad was a precision player and enjoyed the mental side of the game more so than the brute muscle of the game. He could hit a cut or a draw, hit it high or low as dictated by the shot at hand. For an amateur, he had all the shots. I remember more than one occasion walking over to the city park near our house so he could hit balls and I would shag them down.
Yes, Dad would spend hours working with me on my swing, Teaching me subtlety that meant nothing at the time but I sure wish I had a diary now. Any clubs I owned were simply sawed down versions of full sized irons - either my Dad would make them or our good family friend Bob Marchand would make them. Bob was the local head pro and greenskeeper (back in the days were one person typically did both jobs) at the local 9-hole club in Yankton, Hillcrest Country Club. It wasn't until I was around 12 years old that I got my first set of clubs - a half set (3, 5, 7, 9, Driver, 3-Wood, and putter set) made by Austad out of Sioux Falls. Yes, I had truly arrived that day!
Out side of the bowling alley I grew up in as part of the family business, my mornings, days, and nights at Hillcrest or the State Hospital Public course were some of the best memories I have growing up. Even to this day it brings s smile to my face to go back home to Yankton and get the opportunity to play at Hillcrest. In 50 years the course has changed tremendously and in 50 years it's barely changed at all.
Dad was a tough taskmaster on the golf course. If he saw a flaw in your game or more importantly, in your attitude, you would know about. I think the day he saw me throw a club in frustration started a long "time out" from golf until I got my head on straight. It's a lesson I've learned to this day and I think it's helped keep my temper in check and provided an appropriate perspective during a round. I hate to lose and will fight to my last breathe to beat you in a match, but once it's over, let's shake hands and enjoy ourselves over a cold beverage.
My last round with Dad was sometime in the late 90's before his health really started to fail. We played at Shadow Ridge CC in Omaha with my brothers on a windy, cold spring day. He so enjoyed playing with his boys - Pat, Chris, and me. The golf wasn't always very good but the bullshit would fly and no one was immune from a jab. God those were fun matches and I miss them dearly.
I learned to caddy for my Dad during those early days - whether it was an early Sunday morning round, a Thursday stag day, or some nearby small town "Open Tournamenet" that we would travel to. He taught me where to stand and where not to stand. The right and wrong way to tend a pin. How of find a ball in the rough, and now to fix a pitch mark on a green. How to be polite, and maybe most importantly, how to be a gentleman on the golf course.
Quick story - I remember caddying at a state tournament event for him one summer and marveling at some of the local talent at the time. I distinctly remember caddying for Dad at the State Match Play tournament in Rapid City this one summer (1968?) and playing with us in the practice round were 2 hotshot young players from central South Dakota - Curt and Tom Byrum. Both Byrum boys went on to play the Tour and Curt can be heard today as one of the announcers on the Golf Channel while Tom continues to play on the senior tour. Obviously a big deal for me, a kid from small-town South Dakota. Since it was only a practice round, Dad let me play a couple of holes with these guys and to this day I remember what a thrill it was. By the way, Dad got 2nd place in his flight that year - he played great golf and I had a blast being part of the tournament action.
So there's 2 of my 3 I would love to have 1 more round with. The stories I would hear......as I somehow think my Dad and the great Ben Hogan would have hit it off - maybe they just remind me of each other
So now we have 3 of the 4 and I'm hard pressed to pick my fourth. Remember it's someone no longer with us. There are lots of great players through time that would be awesome to play with - Gene Sarazen, Seve Bellestaros, Sam Snead, Bryon Nelson, Jimmy Demaret, etc. - they all come to mind. What other great players have I missed?
For now though, I think I'll stick with my threesome and enjoy my special day that way.
Thanks Dad for passing along your love of the game, I think if you each Saturday morning when I play with my neighbor first thing. Just the 2 of us heading out on a Saturday morning - not much said, just the enjoyment of a quiet round of golf as the sun comes up. Somehow I would always be buying you the post-game beverage because I just know you would chip it dead for par on the last hold just like you did to me a million times before. Mr. Hogan, I too would hope you would enjoy our weekly match - not for the quality of play nor the prestige of the victory but simply for our love of the game
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