The following is a partial
timeline of the history of golf
.
1851?1860
[
edit
]
1851
The
Prestwick Golf Club
is founded.
1856
Pau Golf Club
is founded, the first in
continental Europe
.
[1]
A rule change is enacted that, in match play, the ball must be played as it lies or the hole be conceded. It is the last recorded toughening of the rules structure.
1857
The Golfer's Manual
, by "A Keen Hand" (
H. B. Farnie
), is published. It is the first book on golf instruction.
The Prestwick Club institutes the first Championship Meeting, a foursomes competition at
St Andrews
attended by eleven golf clubs. George Glennie and J.C. Stewart win for Blackheath.
1858
The
Royal Curragh Golf Club
is founded at Kildare, the oldest
golf
club in
Ireland
.
The format of the Championship Meeting is changed to individual match play and is won by Robert Chambers of Bruntsfield.
Allan Robertson
becomes the first golfer to break 80 at the Old Course, recording a 79.
The
King James VI Golf Club
is founded in
Perth, Scotland
.
1859
The first Amateur Championship is won by George Condie of Perth.
Death of Allan Robertson, the first great professional golfer.
1860?1870
[
edit
]
1860
The
Prestwick Club
institutes a Professional Championship played at Prestwick; the first Championship Belt is won by
Willie Park, Snr.
1861
The Professionals Championship is opened to amateurs, and
The Open Championship
is born. The first competition is won by
Old Tom Morris
.
1864
The
North Devon Golf Club
is founded at
Westward Ho!
1865
The
London Scottish Golf Club
is founded on
Wimbledon Common
.
1867
The
Ladies' Golf Club at St. Andrews
is founded, the first golf club for women.
1868
Young Tom Morris
, age 17, wins the first of four successive Open Championships. His streak would include an 11-stroke victory in 1869 and a 12-stroke victory in 1870 (in a 36-hole format). His 149 in the 1870 Open over 36 holes is a stroke average that would not be equalled until the invention of the rubber-cored ball.
1869
The
Liverpool Golf Club
is founded at Hoylake, later Royal Liverpool.
1870?1880
[
edit
]
1870
Young Tom Morris
wins his third consecutive
Open Championship
, thus winning permanent possession of the Belt.
The
Royal Adelaide Golf Club
is founded, the first golf club in
Australia
.
1871
The Forfar Golf Club is formed, Tom Morris Snr lays out the course.
The Otago Golf Club is formed, the first club in New Zealand.
1872
The Open Championship is reinstituted when Prestwick, St. Andrews and the
Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers
offer a new trophy, with the Open Championship to be hosted in rotation by the three clubs.
Young Tom Morris wins his fourth consecutive Open Championship.
1873
The Christchurch Golf Club is formed, the second club in New Zealand.
The
Royal Montreal Golf Club
is formed, the oldest surviving golf club in Canada and North America.
The Open Championship is held for the first time at the Old Course.
1874
The
Royal Quebec Golf Club
is formed in Quebec City, and remains the second oldest surviving golf club in Canada and North America.
1875
The
Oxford
and
Cambridge
University Golf Clubs are founded.
Young Tom Morris dies at age 24. He did not emotionally recover from the death of both his wife and their daughter in childbirth earlier that year.
1876
The
Toronto Golf Club
is established, the third oldest golf club in Canada and North America.
Originally located on the Fernhill property in Toronto, the Club moved to its current location on the banks of the Etobicoke River in 1911.
1877
Jamie Anderson
wins the first of three consecutive
Open Championships
.
1878
The first University Match is played on the
London Scottish Golf Club
course at Wimbledon, won by Oxford.
1880?1890
[
edit
]
1881
Royal Belfast
is founded.
The use of moulds is instituted to dimple the gutta-percha ball. Golfers had long noticed that the guttie worked in the air much better after it had been hit several times and scuffed up.
1882
Great Yarmouth Golf Club
is founded by Dr. Thomas Browne R.N, who moved to the area to work at the
Royal Naval Hospital
1883
Bob Ferguson
of
Musselburgh
, losing The Open in extra holes, comes one victory shy of equalling Young Tom Morris' record of four consecutive titles. Ferguson ends up later in life penniless, working out of the Musselburgh caddy-shack.
1884
The Edgewood Club of Tivoli is founded in Tivoli, New York with two golf holes. The course was incrementally expanded to nine holes by 1916. This club is the oldest existing U.S. golf club with continuous golf in the same location.
[2]
1885
The Amateur Championship
is first played at
Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake
.
The London Metal Exchange Golf Association (LMEGA) is formed.
The
Royal Cape Golf Club
is founded at Wynberg,
South Africa
, the first club in Africa.
1886
John Hamilton Gillespie
lays out a two-hole golf course in
Sarasota, Florida
.
A.J. Balfour
is appointed Chief Secretary (Cabinet Minister) for Ireland; his rise to political and social prominence has an incalculable effect on the popularity of golf, as he is an indefatigable player and catalyzes great interest in the game through his writing and public speaking. Alexander H. Findlay, later to become the Father of American Golf, was the first in the world to score a 72 in competition for 18 holes at the Mercantile Golf Club in Montrose, Scotland.
1887
The Art of Golf
by
Sir Walter Simpson
is published.
The
Quogue Field Club
was founded in
Quogue, New York
. The original course had 18 holes, but after the Hurricane of 1938 the club lost 3 holes to the bay and had to reduce the course to 9 holes from that point forward.
1887
The
Foxburg Country Club
is founded in
Foxburg, Pennsylvania
.
1887
Essex County Country Club in West Orange, NJ was incorporated in May 1887, a Constitution was adopted in January 1888 which established the Club
1888
Kebo Valley Golf Club opens in Maine
The
Town & Country Club
is founded in
St. Paul, Minnesota
.
The
Saint Andrew's Golf Club
, consisting of a three-hole course, is founded in
Yonkers, New York
.
The Karachi Golf Club is founded (Karachi, Sindh, India)
The Royal Malta Golf Club is founded (became Royal in 1903)
1890?1900
[
edit
]
1890
John Ball
, an English amateur, becomes the first non-Scotsman and first amateur to win The Open Championship.
The concept of playing a match under handicap against the number of shots a hypothetical golfer playing perfect golf at every hole was conceived by Hugh Rotherham, a member at Coventry Golf Club. Rotherham called this a "Ground Score." This idea was suggested to Dr. Thomas Browne, honorary secretary of the
Great Yarmouth Club
, and it was introduced on a match play basis at the club. During one such competition, one golfer was playing incredibly well and was hailed a Bogey Man to Dr Browne. The phrase 'a bogey' was invented and the ground score became known as a '
bogey.
henceforth.' At the time, "Hush, here comes the Bogey man" was a popular music hall song of the day. With the invention of the rubber-cored ball, golfers are able to reach the greens in fewer strokes, and so bogey has come to represent one over the par score for the hole.
Berkhamsted Golf Club (Founded 1890)
1891
The Golfing Union of Ireland is founded on 12 October 1891 and is the oldest Golfing Union in the world.
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
is founded on
Long Island
.
The Royal Golf Club of Las Palmas in Gran Canaria is founded; it is the oldest Club in Spain.
The Cannes Golf Club is founded in Cannes by Grand Duke Michael of Russia. The first golf club in the French Rivera. It is here that Michael taught Prince Albert to play golf.
1892
The
Oakhurst Golf Club
is founded at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It hosted the Oakhurst Challenge, the oldest known golf tournament in the U.S. The Oakhurst Challenge Medal is recognized as the oldest known prize for golf in the U.S. The first hole at
The Homestead
survives from this course and is the oldest surviving golf hole in
America
.
Glen Arven Country Club golf course established in Thomasville, Georgia USA; the oldest course still in use in Georgia.
Gate money is charged for the first time, at a match between Douglas Rollard and Jack White at Cambridge. The practice of paying for matches through private betting, rather than gate receipts and sponsorships, survives well into the 20th Century as a "
Calcutta
," but increasingly gate receipts are the source of legitimate prize purses.
The Amateur Golf Championship of India and the East is instituted, the first international championship event.
1893
The
Ladies' Golf Union
of Great Britain and Ireland is founded and the first
British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship
won by
Lady Margaret Scott
at
Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
.
[3]
The Irish Ladies' Golf Union is founded and is the oldest Ladies Golf Union in the world.
The
Chicago Golf Club
opens the United States' first 18-hole golf course on the site of the present-day
Downers Grove
Golf Course. The Chicago Golf Club moved to its current location in 1895.
Victoria Golf Club is formed and remains the oldest course west of the Mississippi on its original site.
1894
The Open is played on an English course for the first time and is won for the first time by an Englishman,
J.H. Taylor
. Taylor, along with
Harry Vardon
and
James Braid
(together known as the
Great Triumvirate
) would dominate the Open Championship for the next two decades.
The
United States Golf Association
is founded as the Amateur Golf Association of the United States. Charter members are the Chicago Golf Club,
The Country Club
,
Newport Country Club
, St. Andrew's Golf Club, and
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
.
The Richmond County Country Club was founded on Staten Island, NY. It is the only private golf course in NYC.
1894 The Otsego Golf Club, Springfield Center, New York, officially opened with 12 holes. Founded by Henry L. Wardwell and Leslie Pell-Clarke, the Otsego Golf Club has operated continuously since 1894 and is a nine-hole course today.
Tacoma
Golf Club is founded, the first golf club on the US Pacific Coast.
1895
1895 - Istanbul Golf Club "IGK" formerly known as Constantinople Golf Club is founded - the first golf club in Turkey
The
U.S. Amateur
is instituted, with
Charles B. Macdonald
winning the inaugural event. The first
U.S. Open
is held the following day, with
Horace Rawlins
winning.
May 1, 1895 - Brooklawn Country Club in Bridgeport, Connecticut, is founded as a nine-hole course. The club operates in the same location today, although the location is now part of Fairfield, Connecticut. The course is now 18 holes, redesigned by A.W. Tillinghast in 1929.
July 6, 1895 -
Van Cortlandt Park
Golf Course opens - the first public golf course in America.
The pool cue is banned as a putter by the USGA.
The
U.S. Women's Amateur
is instituted. Mrs. Charles S. Brown (nee Lucy N. Barnes)
[4]
is the first winner.
Cherokee Golf Course in Louisville, Kentucky, was laid out in Cherokee Park and played. Play picked up considerably by 1897 and in 1900 The Committee on Cherokee Park to make the links "safe" to the public was sanctioned. A caretaker for the Cherokee Park Greens was hired for $25 per month. Cherokee Park is part of the Olmsted Park system. Mr Olmsted did not want golf in this park, but the public created, played and the course was ultimately sanctioned and is played today. Cherokee GC is one of the oldest municipal and public golf courses in America.
1896
Harry Vardon
wins his first British Open.
Wee Burn Country Club is founded in Darien, Connecticut. A difficult links-style course that pays homage to the home nation of the game?Scotland. "Wee Burn" means "small river" in traditional Scottish dialect.
1897
The first
NCAA Championship
is held. Louis Bayard, Jr. is the winner.
Golf
, America's first golfing magazine, is published for the first time.
1898
The term "birdie" is coined at Atlantic C.C. from "a bird of a hole."
Freddie Tait
, betting he could reach the
Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club
clubhouse from the clubhouse at
Royal St George's Golf Club
- a three-mile distance - in forty shots or less, puts his 32nd stroke through a window at the Cinque Ports club.
The Haskell ball is designed and patented by Coburn Haskell. It is the first rubber-cored ball.
Church Stretton Golf Club
is founded, the oldest 18-hole course in
Shropshire
and one of the highest courses in
England
and the
United Kingdom
.
1899
The
Western Open
is first played at The Glen View Club in Golf, Illinois, the first tournament in what would evolve into the
PGA Tour
.
Vesper Country Club
is formed in
Tyngsboro, Massachusetts
.
1900?1910
[
edit
]
1900
Walter Travis
wins the first of his three U.S. Amateurs.
Harry Vardon wins the U.S. Open, the first golfer to win both the British and U.S. Opens.
Golf is placed on the
Olympic
calendar for the 2nd Games at
Paris
.
1901
The
PGA
- Professional Golfers' Association (Great Britain & Ireland) is established.
Walter Travis wins his second U.S. Amateur, and becomes the first golfer to win a major title with the Haskell ball, the first rubber-cored golf ball. When
Sandy Herd
wins the British Open and
Laurie Auchterlonie
the U.S. Open the next year with the Haskell, virtually all competitors switch to the new ball.
Sunningdale, a course built amidst a cleared forest, opens for play. It is the first course with grass grown completely from seed. Previously, golf courses were routed through meadows, which frequently created drainage problems as the meadows were typically atop clay soil.
The first course at the Carolina Hotel (later the
Pinehurst Resort & CC
) in
Pinehurst, North Carolina
, is completed by
Donald Ross
. Ross will go on to design 600 courses in his storied career as a golf course architect.
Walter Travis publishes his first book,
Practical Golf
, a tome that received a rave review in
The New York Times
.
1902
England and Scotland inaugurate an Amateur Team competition, with Scotland winning at Hoylake.
The first grooved-faced irons are invented.
1903
Walter Travis becomes the first three-time U.S. Amateur champion.
Robert Maxwell
won the 1903 British Amateur Championship, held at
Muirfield
, by the score of 7&5 over
Horace Hutchinson
.
Oakmont Country Club
is founded in
Oakmont, Pennsylvania
, designed by Henry Fownes. It is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of penal-style golf architecture.
1904
Walter Travis becomes the first American to win the
British Amateur
using the center-shafted, Schenectady putter.
Golf makes its second and final Olympic appearance at the
Olympic Games
in
St. Louis
.
1905
John Hamilton Gillespie
opens a nine-hole course in
Sarasota
.
Women golfers from Britain and the United States play an international match, with the British winning 6 matches to 1.
The first dimple-pattern for golf balls is patented by William Taylor in England.
The Complete Golfer
by Harry Vardon is published. It promotes and demonstrates the Vardon or overlapping grip.
The Toronto Golf Club hosts the Canadian Open and then again in 1909, 1914, 1921 and 1927.
1906
Goodrich introduces a golf ball with a rubber core filled with compressed air. The "Pneu-matic" proves quite lively, but also prone to explode in warm weather, often in a golfer's pocket. The ball is eventually discontinued; at this time the Haskell ball achieves a dominance of the golf ball market.
1907
Arnaud Massy
becomes the first golfer from Continental Europe to win The Open Championship.
1908
Mrs. Gordon Robertson, at Princes Ladies GC, becomes the first female professional.
The Mystery of Golf
by
Arnold Haultain
is published.
The golf magazine
The American Golfer
is launched by Walter Travis.
A dispute over the format of the competition leads to the cancellation of the golf tournament at the
1908 Summer Olympics
.
The
Great Southern Golf Club
was the first golf course was in Mississippi.
Fort Wayne Country Club in Fort Wayne, IN was formed.
1909
The USGA rules that caddies, caddymasters and greenkeepers over the age of sixteen are professional golfers. The ruling is later modified and eventually reversed in 1963.
1910?1920
[
edit
]
1910
The R & A bans the center-shafted putter while the USGA keeps it legal - marking the beginning of a 42-year period with two official versions of The Rules of Golf.
Steel shafts are patented by
Arthur F. Knight
.
1911
The United States gets its first national standardized
handicapping
system.
John McDermott
becomes the first native-born American to win the U.S. Open. At 19 years of age, he is also the youngest winner to date.
1912
John Ball
wins his eighth British Amateur championship, a record not yet equalled.
1913
Francis Ouimet
, age 20, becomes the first amateur to win the U.S. Open, defeating favorites Harry Vardon and
Ted Ray
in a play-off.
The first professional international match is played between France and the United States at
La Boulie Golf Club
, France.
1914
Formation of The Tokyo Club at Komozawa kicks off the
Japanese
golf boom.
Harry Vardon wins his sixth Open Championship, a record to this day (
Peter Thomson
and
Tom Watson
have since won five Opens each).
1915
The Open Championship is discontinued for the duration of the
First World War
.
1916
The
PGA of America
is founded by 82 charter members and the
PGA Championship
is inaugurated.
Jim Barnes
is the first champion.
The first
miniature golf
course opens in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Francis Ouimet is banned from amateur play for his involvement with a sporting goods business. The ruling creates a stir of protest and is reversed in 1918.
1917
The PGA Championship and the U.S. Open are discontinued for the duration of the First World War.
1919
The R & A assumes control over The Open Championship (British Open) and The Amateur Championship (British Amateur).
Pebble Beach Golf Links
opens as the Del Monte G.L. in
Pebble Beach, California
.
1920?1930
[
edit
]
1920
The USGA founds its famed Green Section to conduct research on turfgrass.
The first practice range is opened in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
The Professional Golfer of America
is first published which, today known as
PGA Magazine
, is the oldest continually-published golf magazine in the United States.
A golf tournament is scheduled for the
1920 Summer Olympics
in Antwerp but it is ultimately cancelled.
1921
The R & A limits the size and weight of the ball.
1922
Walter Hagen
becomes the first native-born American to win The Open Championship. He subsequently becomes the first professional golfer to open a golf equipment company under his own name.
The
Walker Cup
Match is instituted. Two direct descendants of Walker Cup founder
George Herbert Walker
would become
President of the United States
—his grandson
George H. W. Bush
, the 41st President, and his great-grandson
George W. Bush
, the 43rd President.
The
Prince of Wales
is elected Captain of the R & A.
The
Texas Open
is inaugurated, the second-oldest surviving PGA Tour event.
Pine Valley Golf Club
opens in New Jersey.
1923
The West and East courses at
Winged Foot Golf Club
in
Mamaroneck, New York
open for play, designed by
A.W. Tillinghast
.
1924
Joyce Wethered
wins her record fifth consecutive English Ladies' Championship.
The Olympic Club
in
San Francisco
opens for play.
The USGA legalizes steel shafted golf clubs. The R & A does not follow suit until 1929, widening the breach in The Rules of Golf.
1925
The first fairway irrigation system is developed in
Dallas, Texas
.
Deep-grooved irons are banned by both the USGA and the R & A.
1926
Men's golf in Great Britain and Ireland gets its first standardized
handicapping
system.
Jess Sweetser
becomes the first native-born American to win the British Amateur.
Bobby Jones
wins the British Open.
Gate money is instituted at the British Open.
Walter Hagen defeats Bobby Jones 12 and 11 in a privately sponsored 72-hole match in Florida.
The
Los Angeles Open
is inaugurated, the third-oldest surviving PGA Tour event. It is also the first tournament to offer a $10,000 purse.
1927
The inaugural
Ryder Cup
Matches are played between Britain and the United States.
Creeping bentgrass is developed for putting greens by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
.
1928
Cypress Point Club
opens, designed by
Alister MacKenzie
.
1929
Walter Hagen wins The Open Championship for the fourth time.
Seminole Golf Club opens in
Palm Beach, Florida
, from a design by Donald Ross.
Cobleskill Golf & Country Club opens in upstate New York. It remains the only golf course in Schoharie County.
1930?1940
[
edit
]
1930
Bobby Jones
completes the original
Grand Slam
, winning the U.S. and British Amateurs and the U.S. and British Opens in the same year. Since Jones is an amateur, however, the financial windfall belongs to professional
Bobby Cruickshank
, who bets on Jones to complete the Slam, at 120-1 odds, and pockets $60,000. Jones, perhaps satisfied that he has achieved all he can in the game, retires from competition aged 28 to practice law full-time (and to found a new club that would become known as
Augusta National
).
The Minehead Club makes Captaincy elective. They had been the last club to award the Captaincy to the winner of the annual competition.
The Duke of York (later
King George VI
) is elected Captain of the R & A.
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
opens its modern course on
Long Island, New York
.
Bob Harlow is hired as manager of the PGA's Tournament Bureau, and he first proposes the idea of expanding "The Circuit," as the Tour is then known, from a series of winter events leading up to the season ending
North and South Open
in spring, into a year-round Tour.
In 1926 under the approval of Gov. Wallace R. Farrington and guidance of longtime local politicians Eddie Tam and then chairman Sam Kalama, a plan for constructing
Waiehu Municipal Golf Course
was born. Maui County engineers went to work on creating 9 holes of municipal golf along the coast of Maui's Waihee north shore beach. The golf course was completed in
1930
making it Maui's first and only municipal golf course for the working class men and women of Maui. Golf was such a huge success on Maui that the course was later expanded to 18 holes, it still exists today as a hidden Maui County treasure.
1931
Billy Burke
defeats George Von Elm in a 72-hole playoff at
Inverness
to win the 1931 U.S. Open, in the longest playoff ever played. They were tied at 292 after regulation play, and both scored 149 in the first 36-hole playoff. Burke is the first golfer to win a major championship using steel-shafted golf clubs.
The USGA increases the minimum size of the golf ball from 1.62 inches to 1.68 inches, and decreases the maximum weight from 1.62 ounces to 1.55. The R & A does not follow suit. The lighter, larger "balloon ball" is universally despised and eventually the USGA raises the weight back to 1.62 ounces.
1932
The first
Curtis Cup
Match is held at
Wentworth
in England.
The concave-faced wedge is banned.
Gene Sarazen
is credited with the introduction of the sand-wedge. Sarazen wins both the British and U.S. Open titles in 1932, becoming only the second man (after Bobby Jones) to achieve the feat.
Walter Hagen
wins a fifth
Western Open
. At the time, and until the 1950s, the Western Open was considered among the most important tournaments, behind only the National Opens and the PGA Championship (of which Hagen won eleven in total) in status.
1933
The Prince of Wales
reaches the final of the Parliamentary Handicap Tournament.
Augusta National Golf Club
, designed by Alister MacKenzie with advice from Bobby Jones, opens for play.
Craig Wood
hits a 430-yard (393 m) drive at the Old Course's fifth hole in the British Open; this is still the longest drive in a major championship. Wood loses a playoff for the championship to
Denny Shute
.
Gene Sarazen
finishes third, and later in the year wins the PGA Championship.
Hershey Chocolate Company
, in sponsoring the Hershey Open, becomes the first corporate title sponsor of a professional tournament.
The
Golf Club Managers' Association
is formed in the UK (originally called the Association of Golf Club Secretaries). Two years later it launches Course and Club House magazine (now called Golf Club Management), the third oldest golfing magazine in the world that is still running.
1934
The first
Masters
is played.
Horton Smith
is the first champion. In this inaugural event, the present-day back and front nines were reversed.
Olin Dutra
wins the U.S. Open by a shot from
Gene Sarazen
.
Henry Cotton
wins his first British Open, at Royal St. George's, and shoots a 65 in his second round, a feat that was commemorated by the "Dunlop 65" golf ball.
Sid Brews
, winner of the
South African
,
French
and
Dutch
Opens in 1934, enjoys his best finish at a British Open, in second place.
The official U.S.
PGA Tour
is created, built around events like the major championships, Western Open and
Los Angeles Opens
which pre-dated it.
Paul Runyan
is the first official Money List leader.
1935
Glenna Collett Vare
wins the
U.S. Women's Amateur
a record sixth time.
Pinehurst #2 is completed by
Donald Ross
, generally described as his masterpiece.
Gene Sarazen
double-eagles the par-5 15th hole to catch the leaders at The Masters. His "Shot Heard Round the World" propels him to victory, and due to the coverage of his feat, propels both the game of golf and Augusta National to new heights of popularity.
1936
Johnny Fischer becomes the last golfer to win a major championship (the
U.S. Amateur
) with hickory-shafted clubs.
Harry Cooper
finishes second at both the Masters and the U.S. Open, where he breaks the all-time tournament record only for
Tony Manero
to better it. Cooper would finish in the top four of major championships eleven times in his career without winning one.
1937
The
Bing Crosby
Pro-Am
is inaugurated in San Diego. A few years later it moves to the Monterey Peninsula, where it remains to this day.
Henry Cotton
wins his second British Open at
Carnoustie
, from a field that includes the entire U.S. Ryder Cup side, including Snead, Nelson, Hagen, Sarazen and Guldahl.
1938
The British amateurs score their first victory over the United States in the
Walker Cup
Match at the Old Course.
Ralph Guldahl
retains his U.S. Open crown, becoming only the fourth man to win back-to-back titles.
The Palm Beach Invitational becomes the first tournament to make a contribution to charity-$10,000.
The 14-club rule is instituted by the USGA.
The USGA also begins a two-year trial of the first major modification to the
stymie
. An obstructing ball within 6 inches (15 cm) of the hole could be marked and moved regardless of the distance between the balls. The USGA made this rule permanent in 1941, but
the Royal and Ancient Golf Club
never made this change.
1939
Byron Nelson
wins the U.S. Open at Philadelphia Country Club after a 3-man playoff against
Craig Wood
and
Denny Shute
.
Sam Snead
, needing a 5 at the last hole to win the championship, takes 8, and misses even making the playoff. The U.S. Open would remain the only major championship Snead never won.
1940?1945
[
edit
]
1940
The British Open and Amateur are discontinued for the duration of the
Second World War
. Golf courses all over the United Kingdom are converted to airfields or otherwise given over to anti-air and anti-invasion defences.
1942
The U.S. Open is discontinued for the duration of the war. A world-wide shortage of rubber, a vital military supply, creates a shortage and huge price increase in golf balls.
Sam Snead
manages to complete an entire four-day tournament playing one ball, but the professional circuit is severely curtailed.
The U.S. government halts the manufacture of golf equipment for the duration of the war.
1943
The PGA Championship is cancelled for the year, and The Masters is discontinued for the duration of the war.
1944
The PGA expands its tour to 22 events despite the absence of many of its star players due to military service.
1945
Byron Nelson
wins 18 tournaments in a calendar year to set an all-time PGA Tour record-including a record 11 in a row and a record 19 consecutive rounds under 70. His total prize earnings during his 11-win streak, $30,000, is less than last place money for the PGA Tour Championship by 1992.
The
Tam O'Shanter Open
offers a then-record purse of $60,000.
In Japan, the Shimofusa Country Club (also known as the Musashino Country Club), once the premier golf course in the Tokyo area, is appropriated by the
Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
and converted into a fighter airfield as part of efforts to combat allied air raids. Post-war it will eventually become
Shimofusa Air Base
.
References
[
edit
]
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Overview
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Technical
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Facilities
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Governing
organizations
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Majors
(
Grand Slam
,
Triple Crown
)
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International
events
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Rankings
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Golfers
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Lists of
golf courses
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by country
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by designer
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Countries
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Years
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Miscellaneous
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Variations
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Media
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