USGA Golf Time Line Chronology

USGA Golf Time Lie Chronological History

The foundation of the United States Golf Association on Dec. 22, 1894 marked the formal organization of American golf, establishing a centralized body to write the Rules, conduct national championships and establish a national system of handicapping. The USGA also plays a prominent role as the game's historian in the United States, collecting, displaying and preserving artifacts and memorabilia at its Museum and Archives in Far Hills, N.J.

USGA History: 1894 - 1910

1894
In September, William G. Lawrence wins a "national amateur championship" at Newport (R.I.) Golf Club. In October, Laurence B. Stoddard wins a "national amateur championship" at St. Andrew's Golf Club.
C.B. Macdonald, runner-up in both events, calls for the formation of a governing body to run a universally recognized national championship.
The Amateur Golf Association of the United States - soon to be called the United States Golf Association - is formed on Dec. 22. Charter members are Newport Golf Club, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, The Country Club (Brookline, Mass.), St. Andrew's Golf Club (Yonkers, N.Y.), and Chicago Golf Club.
America's first golf magazine, The Golfer , is published in New York, N.Y.

1895
Charles B. Macdonald wins the first official U.S. Amateur championship at Newport Golf Club. The first U.S. Open is held the next day at the same club, almost as an afterthought to the Amateur. Horace Rawlins wins the $150 first prize over a field of 11.
Mrs. Charles S. Brown (Lucy Barnes) wins the first U.S. Women's Amateur championship at the Meadow Brook Club in Hempstead, N.Y.
Golf in America: A Practical Manual , by James Lee, is the first golf book written in the U.S.

1896
James Foulis wins the second official U.S. Open, held at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
John Shippen, an African-American professional, and his friend Oscar Bonn, a Shinnecock Indian, compete in the U.S. Open despite a threatened boycott by the other contestants. Shippen finished fifth.

1897
Yale wins the first collegiate golf championship.
Joe Lloyd is victorious in the third U.S. Open, held at Chicago Golf Club.
H.J. Whigham wins his second U.S. Amateur

1898
Beatrix Hoyt wins her third straight U.S. Women's Amateur at Ardsley Club in New York. Two years later, she retires at the age of 20.
Coburn Haskell and Bertram Work design and patent a wound-rubber golf ball, which flies farther than the gutta-percha ball.
The United States Open expands to 72 holes from 36 and is held for the first time at a separate course from the Amateur.
The term "birdie" is coined at Atlantic City Country Club in New Jersey when Ab Smith says a fellow member hit a "bird of a shot" and suggests a double payoff for scoring one under par on a hole.

1900
British star Harry Vardon shows Americans how to play the game. In the country for an exhibition tour, he wins the U.S. Open over fellow Englishman J.H. Taylor. Vardon becomes the first sports figure in history to endorse a product, using his "Vardon Flyer" ball througout the tour.
Americans Charles Sands and Margaret Abbott win gold medals in golf in the Olympic Games in Paris.
Walter J. Travis, who took up golf in 1896 at age 35, wins the U.S. Amateur.

1901
Walter Travis wins his second straight U.S. Amateur Championship and publishes an instruction book,Practical Golf . He's the first to win a major championship playing a Haskell wound-rubber ball.
Willie Anderson ties Alex Smith with a record-high 331 in the U.S. Open and takes the playoff with an 85.
Pinehurst resort in North Carolina opens the first nine holes of its No.2 course.

1902
Willie Anderson wins the Western Open with a 299 total; the first time 300 is broken for 72 holes in an American event.

1903
Walter Travis, known as "The Old Man," wins his third U.S. Amateur at age 41.
Oakmont Country Club opens near Pittsburgh, Pa., quickly gaining a reputation as one of the nation's toughest tests because of its penal style of architecture.
Willie Anderson sets a U.S. Open record with a 72 in the final round and a 303 total.
Americans claim Australian-born Walter Travis as the first of their own to win the British Amateur. He uses the center-shafted Schenectady putter.

1905
Twenty-five-year-old Willie Anderson wins his third consecutive U.S. Open and fourth in five years. It is also his last Open victory; he dies in 1910.
Harry Vardon publishes The Complete Golfer , which explains, among other things, the Vardon grip.

1906
Three-time runner-up Alex Smith finally wins the U.S. Open, becoming the first to break 300 for the 72-hole championship. His brother, Willie, is second.
In Great Britain, William Taylor applies for a patent on a dimple design for golf ball covers.

1907
Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina adds the back nine holes to its No.2 course. It is the seminal work of Donald Ross, who goes on to design hundreds of courses in the United States.
Margaret Curtis beats her sister Harriot in an all-in-the-family final of the U.S. Women's Amateur.

1908
Jerry Travers wins his second consecutive U.S. Amateur.
Three-time U.S. Amateur champion Walter Travis shows he's jack-of-all-trades by founding American Golfer magazine and serving as its first editor. He's also a golf course designer.

1909
Robert Gardner becomes the youngest U.S. Amateur champion at age 19.
New U.S. President William Howard Taft is the first golf-loving occupant of the White House.
The USGA rules that caddies, caddie-masters and greenkeepers past the age of 16 are professionals. The age would be raised to 18 in 1930, 21 in 1945, until the ruling was rescinded in 1963.

1910
Arthur F. Knight obtains a patent for a seamed, tubular, steel golf shaft. Steel shafts, however, are still illegal.
The R&A bans the center-shafted putter, while the USGA keeps it legal, marking the first time that the USGA diverges from an R&A equipment ruling.
Alex Smith wins his second U.S. Open by beating his other brother, Macdonald.

1911

Johnny McDermott signals the end of dominance by Scottish-born professionals in early American golf by becoming the first native to win the U.S. Open. At 19, he's also the youngest winner ever.
Englishman Harold Hilton is the first player to win the British and U.S. Amateur in the same year.
The USGA increased yardage for determining par:
Three - up to 225 yards
Four - 225 to 425 yards
Five - 426 to 600 yards
Six - 601 yards and over

1912

JOHNNY MCDERMOTT WINS HIS SECOND CONSECUTIVE US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP IN CHICAGO.

John Ball wins his eighth British Amateur championship - still a record number of victories in a major event.
The USGA introduces a handicap limit of six on entrants for the U.S. Amateur.

1913

Twenty-year-old American amateur Francis Ouimet stages the game's biggest upset, beating English stars Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a playoff to win the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. The resultant headlines spark a surge of interest in the game in America.
Jerry Travers wins his fourth U.S. Amateur.

1914

Harry Vardon wins his sixth British Open, one more than each of the other two members of the "Great Triumvirate," J.H. Taylor and James Braid.
Walter Hagen, a stylish 21-year-old professional, wins the first of his two U. S. Open titles, leading after every round.
Francis Ouimet becomes the first with career U.S. Open and Amateur titles, beating Jerry Travers in the final of the U.S. Amateur.

1915

Jerry Travers adds the U.S. Open to his four U.S. Amateur crowns, then retires at age 28.
All British and Canadian championships are suspended because of World War I. They resume in Canada in 1919 and Britain in 1920.

1916

The amateur run on the U.S. Open continues. Chick Evans is the third amateur to win in four years, shooting a record 286. He is also the first to capture the U.S. Open and Amateur titles in the same year.
Fourteen-year-old Bobby Jones makes his U.S. Amateur debut, reaching the quarterfinals at Merion Cricket Club.
The Professional Golfers' Association of America is formed in January. In October, Jim Barnes wins the first PGA Championship, taking the $500 first prize.

1917

The USGA championships (U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women's Amateur) and the PGA Championship are suspended in 1917 and 1918 because of World War I.
Bobby Jones, 15, wins the Southern Amateur.
Par yardage is again changed:
Three - up to 250 yards
Four - 251 to 445 yards
Five - 446 to 600 yards
Six - more than 600 yards

1918

George Crump, founder and designer of Pine Valley Golf Club, dies; only 14 holes of the New Jersey course have been completed. The remaining holes open within a few years.
Among the fund-raising tours by professional and amateur golfers for the war effort, the Dixie Kids -- featuring Atlanta teenagers Perry Adair, Watts Gunn, Bobby Jones and Alexa Stirling -- raise $150,000 for the Red Cross.

1919

Pebble Beach Golf Links opens on California's Monterey Peninsula.
The first golf book to use high-speed sequence photography - Picture Analysis of Golf Strokes , by Jim Barnes - is published.

1920

Harry Vardon, 50, competing in his third U.S. Open, plays the last seven holes in even fives to finish second, one stroke behind his English countryman, 43-year-old Ted Ray. Ray becomes the oldest man to win the Open (a record that will stand until 1963).
Alexa Stirling wins her third consecutive Women's Amateur (1916, 1919, 1920 -- the championship wasn't held in 1917 and 1918).
The USGA creates the Green Section for turfgrass research.
The USGA and R&A agree to a standard ball - 1.62 inches in diameter and 1.62 ounces.

1921

Jim Barnes romps to a nine-stroke win in the U.S. Open and President Warren Harding, a USGA Executive Committee member, presents the trophy at Columbia Country Club near Washington, D.C.
Jock Hutchison wins the British Open using deep-grooved irons; they were banned four years later.

1922

A Cinderella story: 20-year-old Gene Sarazen, a sixth-grade dropout from a working-class family, wins the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.
An admission fee ($1) is charged for the first time at the U.S. Open.
Walter Hagen becomes the first American-born player to win the British Open.
Intended for all interested countries, the first Walker Cup match between amateurs from the United States and Great Britain (the only taker) is held at National Golf Links of America in Southampton, N.Y. The United States wins.
Public-course golfers get their own tournament - the USGA's Amateur Public Links Championship.
Glenna Collett wins her first of six U.S. Women's Amateur titles.
Walter Hagen is the first professional to found a golf equipment company under his name.

1923

Winged Foot Golf Club opens, with 36 holes designed by A.W. Tillinghast. Designers like Tillinghast, Alister MacKenzie and Donald Ross make the 1920's the Golden Age of golf architecture.
After several near-misses in the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur, Bobby Jones, 21, claims his first major title by beating Bobby Cruickshank in a playoff for the U.S. Open.
The Texas Open, in its second year, has golf's biggest purse yet - $6,000. Walter Hagen wins. The tournament is part of a growing winter circuit for the professionals.
Gene Sarazen beats Walter Hagen in a classic 38-hole final at the PGA Championship when a tree stops Sarazen's ball from going out of bounds on the deciding hole.

1924

Steel-shafted clubs are permitted in the United States by the USGA as of April 11; the R&A continues to ban their use in Great Britain until 1929.
Bobby Jones wins the first of his five U.S. Amateur titles, at Merion Cricket Club in Ardmore, Pa.
Walter Hagen's unmatched reign begins in the PGA Championship - he wins the first of four consecutive titles.
The USGA introduces sectional qualifying rounds for the U.S. Open.

1925

Willie Macfarlane shoots a record 67 in the second round of the U.S. Open and goes on to defeat Bobby Jones in a playoff.
The first complete fairway irrigation system is installed at Brook Hollow Golf Club in Dallas, Texas.
The Havemeyer Trophy, which goes to the U.S. Amateur champion, is destroyed in a fire at Bobby Jones' home club, East Lake, in Atlanta.

1926

Bobby Jones is the first to win the U.S. and British Opens in the same year.
Walter Hagen beats Leo Diegel in the final of the PGA Championship. The night before, when a carousing Hagen is told his opponent had long since gone to bed, he replies, "Yes, but he isn't sleeping."
Walter Hagen wallops Bobby Jones, 12 and 11, in a 72-hole challenge match billed as the "World Championship."
Jess Sweetser is the first American to win the British Amateur since Walter Travis in 1904 - and the first United States native ever.

1927

Walter Hagen wins his fourth consecutive PGA Championship.
The United State Department of Agriculture says it has developed "the perfect putting green grass" -- creeping bent.
Bobby Jones wins the British Open and U.S. Amateur, and publishes Down the Fairway.
The United States whips Great Britain 9-1/2 to 2-1/2, in the inaugural Ryder Cup match at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts.

1928

Cypress Point Golf Club opens in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Walter Hagen wins the British Open. He would take his final title in the championship the following year at Muirfield.
Bobby Jones and Glenna Collett continue to dominate amateur golf. Jones wins the U.S. Amateur final by a 10 and 9 margin. Collett claims the Women's Amateur, 13 and 12.

1929

Great Britain evens the fledgling Ryder Cup series by winning on its home turf at Moortown, England.
Twenty-year-old Horton Smith sweeps out of Missouri to win eight professional tournaments, including four in a row in the spring.
The world's two best women amateurs meet in the British Ladies Amateur. Great Britain's Joyce Wethered beats America's Glenna Collett, 3 and 1, at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland, claiming her fourth British title.
The U.S. Amateur goes to the West Coast for the first time, at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Bobby Jones is the victim of a first-round upset.

1930

Bobby Jones wins the Grand Slam - the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Open and British Amateur - then retires at age 28.
Glenna Collett wins her third consecutive U.S. Women's Amateur.
The onset of the Depression brings a slowdown in golf-course construction, which lasts through the end of World War II.
Seventeen-year-old Ben Hogan registers as a professional at the Texas Open.

1931
The USGA mandates use of a larger and lighter ball (1.68 inches and 1.55 ounces). This so-called "balloon ball" is very unpopular, and after only one year the USGA increases the allowed weight to 1.62 ounces, keeping the size at 1.68 inches. Meanwhile, the R&A stays with the 1.62-inch, 1.62-ounce ball.
The concave-faced wedge is banned, but Gene Sarazen perfects his design of the sand wedge, with a wide flange, which will remain legal.
Bobby Jones films a series of instructional movies, How I Play Golf .
Billy Burke is the first to win a U.S. Open using steel shafts. It takes him seventy-two extra holes (two thirty-six-hole playoffs) to beat George Von Elm.

1932
Gene Sarazen wins the U.S. Open and British Open, with record scores of 286 and 283, respectively. He finishes the U.S. Open with a record 66.
The first Curtis Cup Match, between women amateurs of the U.S. and Great Britain, is won by the United States, 5-1/2 to 3-1/2.

1933
Augusta National Golf Club, founded by Bobby Jones, has its grand opening in January.
Johnny Goodman is the fifth, and most recent, amateur to win the U.S. Open.

1934
Horton Smith wins the first Augusta National Invitational. Its name will be changed to The Masters in 1939.
Lawson Little wins the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur, the "Little Slam," a feat he will repeat in 1935.
England's Henry Cotton ties the British Open record with a 67 in the first round and breaks it with a 65 in the second. His victory is the first by a Briton in eleven years.
Virginia Van Wie wins the U.S. Women's Amateur for the third consecutive year.
Joseph C. Dey, Jr., is appointed Executive Secretary of the USGA. He will hold the post for thirty-four years.
Helen Hicks becomes one of the first women to turn professional. There are no professional tournaments, but she promotes products for Wilson-Western Sporting Goods Company.

1935
Gene Sarazen strikes the most famous shot in the history of The Masters - a double eagle on Augusta National's fifteenth hole, which ties Craig Wood during the final round. Sarazen wins the playoff the next day.
Glenna Collett Vare wins her sixth U.S. Women's Amateur.

1936
Lawson Little turns professional instead of going for a third consecutive U.S. Amateur - British Amateur sweep.
Unheralded Tony Manero closes with a 67 to win the U.S. Open with a record 282.
In winning the U.S. Amateur, Johnny Fischer is the last to capture a national championship using hickory-shafted clubs.

1937
Sam Snead bursts onto the professional circuit with five victories.
The first Bing Crosby National Pro-Am is held at Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego. It will move to Pebble Beach in 1947.
Byron Nelson wins The Masters, making up six strokes on fellow Texan Ralph Guldahl on the twelfth and thirteenth holes of the final round.
Denny Shute wins his second consecutive PGA Championship.
The United States wins the Ryder Cup on British soil for the first time.

1938
A new USGA Rule limits players to fourteen clubs. Some players (e.g., Lawson Little) have been carrying as many as twenty-five. The Rule is designed to restore shot-making skill.
Sam Snead wins eight tournaments and shatters the earnings record with $19,534.
Ralph Guldahl wins his second consecutive U.S. Open, and third consecutive Western Open.
Patty Berg, twice a runner-up, wins the U.S. Women's Amateur at age twenty.

1939
The Ryder Cup is canceled because of the war in Europe.
Byron Nelson wins the U.S. Open in a playoff over Craig Wood and Denny Shute after Sam Snead makes an eight on the seventy-second hole.

1940
The Walker Cup is canceled because of the war. The British Open and Amateur are also canceled.
Ben Hogan wins his first individual title, the North & South Open, then takes the next two events as well.
Jimmy Demaret, the most colorful golfer of his generation, wins the first of three Masters titles despite Lloyd Mangrum's tournament-record round of 64.
Ed "Porky" Oliver would have tied for first in the U.S. Open, but he is disqualified from the playoff. While trying to beat a storm, Oliver and five other players start the final round before their scheduled starting times. Lawson Little defeats Gene Sarazen for the title.
Bryon Nelson beats Sam Snead, one up, in a match of titans for the PGA Championship.

1941
Craig Wood ends a string of frustrating runner-up finishes in major events by winning both The Masters and the U.S. Open.
The USGA develops a machine for testing golf-ball velocity at impact. Plans for limiting initial velocity are put on hold until after the war.

1942
A Rule change authorizes players to stop play on their own initiative if they consider themselves endangered by lightning.
The USGA cancels all its championships for the duration of the war. The PGA of America continues its Tour schedule, though it is an abbreviated one.
The United States government halts the manufacturing of golf equipment.
Sam Snead wins the PGA Championship. He had been granted a delay of several days before induction into the Navy so he could play in the event.
Byron Nelson beats Ben Hogan in a playoff for The Masters.
Ben Hogan wins the Hale America National Open, a charity event for the Navy Relief Fund and the USO. He shoots a second-round 62 en route to a 17-under-par total.

1943
The war takes a heavy toll on competitive golf. The PGA Tour is reduced to only three tournaments. There is no PGA Championship.
The Masters is canceled for the duration of the war.

1944
The PGA Tour is back up to 22 tournaments, though many players remain in military service.
The Tam O'Shanter Open offers a record purse of $42,000 and is won by Byron Nelson, who is exempt from military service because of a blood disorder.

1945
Byron Nelson wins a record 11 consecutive tournaments from March through August, and 18 during the year. While fields aren't at full strength, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan each are on hand for part of the year.
Ben Hogan sets a 72-hole scoring record with 261; two weeks later, Byron Nelson breaks it with 259.

1946
Ben Hogan wins 13 PGA Tour events, including the PGA Championship, but loses The Masters and U.S. Open by one stroke.
Sam Snead wins the British Open at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. On passing the course on a train on his way to the championship, Snead declares, "That looks like an old, abandoned golf course."
The first U.S. Women's Open is held, and the only one ever waged at match play. Patty Berg is the champion.
Byron Nelson retires at age 34 after winning six tournaments during the year.

1947

The USGA revises and simplifies the Rules of Golf, going from 61 Rules to 21. The R & A doesn't go along, however.
South African Bobby Locke storms onto the PGA Tour with six victories.
The U.S. Open is televised - but only locally - on KSD-TV in St. Louis.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias is the first American to win the British Ladies' Open Amateur. She turns pro later in the year.
Golf World magazine begins publishing.

1948

The first U.S. Junior Amateur is played, with Dean Lind beating future U.S. Open champion Ken Venturi in the championship match.
Bobby Locke wins the Chicago Victory National Championship by 16 strokes, establishing a PGA Tour record.
Ben Hogan captures the first of four U.S. Opens with a record score of 276. He also wins the PGA Championship.
Golf Journalmagazine - originally USGA Journal Combining Timely Turf Topics - appears.
African-American professionals Ted Rhodes and Bill Spiller finish in the top 25 at the Los Angeles Open, one of the few tournaments open to African-Americans. They remain excluded from most PGA Tour events under a rule that leaves the decision up to tournament sponsors

1949

Sam Snead wins The Masters by finishing 67-67. Later, he adds the PGA Championship.
Marlene Bauer, 15, wins the inaugural U.S. Girls' Junior Championship, and turns pro later in the year.
The Ladies Professional Golf Association, under dynamic tournament manager Fred Corcoran, replaces the struggling Women's Professional Golf Association.
Louise Suggs wins the U.S. Women's Open by 14 strokes

1950

Ben Hogan returns to the Tour a year after nearly being killed in an automobile accident and wins the U.S. Open at Merion in an 18-hole playoff.
Jimmy Demaret wins his third Masters.
Babe Zaharias wins the U.S. Women's Open by nine strokes.
Sam Snead wins 11 events on the PGA Tour.
1951

The USGA and R&A hold a joint conference and agree on a uniform Rules of Golf worldwide, effective the following year. The only remaining difference is the size of the ball (the R&A permits a diameter of 1.62 inches compared with the USGA's 1.68 inches). The stymie is abolished, center-shafted putters are legalized (in Britain center-shafted putters had been illegal since 1909), and the out-of-bounds penalty is made stroke and distance.
Ben Hogan wins The Masters and a second consecutive U.S. Open. The latter victory comes at Oakland Hills, deemed a "monster" after its redesign by Robert Trent Jones Sr., in 1950.
Golf Digest begins publishing.

1952

General Dwight David Eisenhower is elected U.S. President. During his eight years in office, his cottage at Augusta National becomes the "Little White House."
Jack Burke Jr. wins four consecutive events on the PGA Tour, second in history to Byron Nelson's 11.
Patty Berg shoots an LPGA-record 64 in the Richmond Open.
Julius Boros captures the U.S. Open. He also wins the biggest first-place prize, $25,000, at the World Championship.

1953

Ben Hogan takes the three majors he enters - The Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. It is his fourth U.S. Open title.
The first nationally televised tournament, the World Championship, ends with a moment of high drama when Lew Worsham holes out from 135 yards to eagle the final hole and win by one.
Tommy Armour's popular instruction book, How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time, published .

1954
The U.S. Open is televised nationally for the first time. Also new - the holes are roped for gallery control.
Babe Zaharias wins the U.S. Women's Open by twelve strokes a year after undergoing cancer surgery.
Sam Snead beats Ben Hogan in a playoff to win The Masters after amateur Billy Joe Patton falters on the final nine holes of regulation play.
The World Championship has the first $100,000 purse, with $50,000 going to the winner - five times more than the next largest first prize. Bob Toski earns the windfall.

1955
Unheralded Jack Fleck stuns Ben Hogan with his U.S. Open playoff win at The Olympic Club.
Arnold Palmer scores his first professional victory in the Canadian Open.
Life Magazine pays Ben Hogan $20,000 for a cover story revealing the "secret" he discovered nine years earlier which rid him of a hook.

1956
Jack Burke, Jr., makes up an eight-stroke deficit on amateur Ken Venturi to win The Masters. Burke also takes the PGA Championship.
Australian Peter Thomson wins his third consecutive British Open.
Cary Middlecoff captures his second U.S. Open title.
Yardage for guidance in computing par are increased to current levels:
Three - up to 250 yards
Four - 251 to 470 yards
Five - 471 yards and over

1957
Jackie Pung finishes as the apparent winner of the U.S. Women's Open, but is disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. Betsy Rawls takes the title.
Bobby Locke wins his fourth British Open with a record tying 279.
Great Britain triumphs in the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1933.
Ben Hogan publishes an instructional classic: Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf .
Charlie Sifford wins the Long Beach Open, an event "cosponsored" by the PGA.

1958
A new USGA system provides just one handicap for golfers, not "current" and "basic."
Arnold Palmer wins his first of four Masters titles.
At age twenty-three Mickey Wright sweeps the U.S. Women's Open and LPGA Championship.
The PGA Championship changes from match play to stroke play. Dow Finsterwald claims the title.
The USGA and R&A organize the World Amateur Golf Council, and hold the first World Amateur Team Championship at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. Bobby Jones serves as captain of the American squad.

1959
Mickey Wright wins her second consecutive U.S. Women's Open.
Bill Wright becomes the first African-American player to take a national championship, claiming the U.S. Amateur Public Links.
Nineteen-year-old Jack Nicklaus captures first of two U.S. Amateur titles.
Betsy Rawls wins 10 LPGA tournaments.

1960
Arnold Palmer, golf's most popular player, has his greatest year. He wins The Masters with birdies on the last two holes, the U.S. Open with a final-round 65, finishes second in the British Open, and wins eight PGA Tour events.
Betsy Rawls wins her fourth U.S. Women's Open.

1961
Mickey Wright wins three majors - the U.S. Women's Open, LPGA Championship, and the Titleholders - and 10 events in all.
The PGA of America drops the Caucasians-only clause from its constitution, allowing African-Americans to become members.
Arnold Palmer wins the British Open; his appearances in the event starting in 1960 convince more American players to make the trip.
Jerry Barber sinks monster putts of 40 and 60 feet on the last two holes to tie Don January for the PGA Championship; Barber then wins the 18-hole playoff by a stroke.
Anne Quast Sander wins the U.S. Women's Amateur by a record 14 and 13 margin over Phyllis Preuss.
There are now 5 million golfers in the United States, according to the National Golf Foundation.

1962
Rookie professional Jack Nicklaus beats hometown favorite Arnold Palmer to win the U.S. Open in a playoff at Oakmont Country Club near Pittsburgh.
Arnold Palmer wins The Masters, British Open, and seven PGA Tour events.
Mickey Wright wins 10 tournaments for the second consecutive year.
For the first time, water hazards are marked with painted lines at the U.S. Open.

1963
Arnold Palmer is the first player to surpass $100,000 in earnings in a single year.
Jack Nicklaus wins The Masters and PGA Championship.
At the age of 20 years, 6 months, Ray Floyd is the youngest player to win a PGA Tour event (the St. Petersburg Open) since 1928.
New Zealand's Bob Charles becomes the only left-hander to win one of the four major championships, claiming the British Open.
Mickey Wright wins 13 events on the LPGA Tour.
Clubmakers are experimenting with the casting method for making irons, enabling them to create a larger "sweet spot" than forged blades offer.

1964
Pete Brown becomes the first African-American to win an "official" PGA Tournament, taking the Waco Turner Open.
Ken Venturi wins the U.S. Open despite suffering from heat prostration during a 36-hole final day at Congressional Country Club outside Washington, D.C.
Mickey Wright wins her fourth U.S. Open, one of 11 tournaments she captures during the year.
Bobby Nichols wins the PGA Championship with a 72-hole total of 271.
Arnold Palmer, for the fourth time, wins The Masters.

1965
Sam Snead earns his 81st and final PGA Tour victory in the Greater Greensboro Open, while becoming the Tour's oldest winner ever at 52 years, 10 months.
The U.S. Amateur changes from match play to stroke play. The U.S. Open is held over four days instead of three; no more 36 holes on the final day.
Jack Nicklaus wins The Masters by nine strokes with a record 271 total. Tournament host Bobby Jones says Nicklaus "plays a game with which I am not familiar."
Gary Player joins Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen to become the third player in history to win all four majors when he captures the U.S. Open. The South African is the first foreign winner of the Open in 45 years. He donates his winners check back to the USGA in support of junior golf.
Peter Thomson earns his fifth British Open.

1966
Billy Casper wins the U.S. Open in a playoff after Arnold Palmer drops a seven-stroke lead over the last nine holes of regulation at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif.
Jack Nicklaus takes his third Masters in four years and second in a row. He also is the British Open champion, becoming the fourth player to win all four major events.

1967
Jack Nicklaus takes the U.S. Open with a record total of 275 at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey.
Catherine Lacoste of France becomes the only amateur to win the U.S. Women's Open.
Forty-five-year-old Charlie Sifford wins the Greater Hartford Open.

1968
Croquet-style putting, recently employed by Sam Snead, is ruled illegal by the USGA.
The Tournament Players Division is created within the PGA.
Roberto De Vicenzo loses The Masters when he signs an incorrect scorecard for one stroke higher than he actually shot. He would have been in an 18-hole playoff with Bob Goalby, who is declared the winner.
Lee Trevino is the first player to break 70 for all four rounds in a U.S. Open, winning with a record-tying 275 total.
Forty-eight-year-old Julius Boros is the oldest player to claim a major title, winning the PGA Championship.
Jo Anne Gunderson Carner wins her fifth U.S. Women's Amateur.
Arnold Palmer becomes the first player to top $1 million in career earnings.
Kathy Whitworth and Carol Mann each win 10 tournaments on the LPGA Tour.

1969
Jo Anne Carner is the last amateur to win an LPGA Tour event, the Burdine's Invitational.
Tony Jacklin is the first homebred player to win the British Open in 18 years.

1970
Mickey Wright retires from full-time competition at age 34, while Jo Anne Carner turns professional at age 30 after an outstanding amateur career.
England's Tony Jacklin wins the U.S. Open.
Jack Nicklaus wins the British Open in a playoff after Doug Sanders misses a 3-foot putt on the 72nd green.
Lanny Wadkins beats Tom Kite by one stroke to win the U.S. Amateur.
1971

Lee Trevino becomes the first player to win the U.S., British, and Canadian Open with his three victories in a four-week stretch. Tiger Woods would match that feat in 2000.
Astronaut Alan Shepard takes the game to new frontiers by hitting a 6-iron shot during a walk on the moon.
With his PGA Championship victory, Jack Nicklaus becomes the first player to win all the majors twice.
The number of golfers in the U.S. has doubled in the last 10 years - there are now 10 million.

1972

Jack Nicklaus wins The Masters and U.S. Open, then is thwarted in his bid for the Grand Slam by Lee Trevino in the British Open.
The Colgate-Dinah Shore Winners Circle debuts on the LPGA Tour, offering the first six-figure purse in women's golf -- $110,000.
Spalding introduces the two-piece Top-Flite ball, constructed with a solid core inside a durable synthetic cover.
Title IX legislation is passed by Congress, forcing colleges to provide more opportunities for female athletes. The expansion of women's college golf increases the talent pool of the LPGA Tour.
Carolyn Cudone wins her fifth consecutive USGA Senior Women's Amateur, a record for any USGA event.

1973

Johnny Miller becomes the U.S. Open Champion, firing a record 63 in the final round at Oakmont.
Tom Weiskopf takes five tournaments, including the British Open, in a two-month stretch.
Gene Sarazen, age 71, scores an ace on the "Postage Stamp" hole during the British Open at Royal Troon.
Ben Crenshaw bursts onto the PGA Tour by winning his first event as a member, the San Antonio Texas Open.
The U.S. Amateur returns to match play; the winner is Craig Stadler.
Kathy Whitworth is the LPGA Player of the Year for the seventh time in eight years.
The graphite shaft is introduced.

1974

Johnny Miller wins eight PGA Tour events.
Deane Beman becomes Commissioner of the PGA Tour.
The Tournament Players Championship makes its debut.
The Muirfield Village Golf Club, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Desmond Muirhead, opens near Nicklaus' hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
Sandra Haynie sweeps the U.S. Women's Open and LPGA Championship.

1975

Jack Nicklaus wins his fifth Masters in a classic battle with Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller. Nicklaus also takes his fourth PGA Championship.
Lee Elder becomes the first African-American to play in The Masters.
Nineteen-year-old Amy Alcott wins in just her third LPGA Tour event.

1976

Ray Floyd wins The Masters with a record tying 271 total.
Judy Rankin, with $150,734 in earnings, becomes the first LPGA Tour player to earn more than $100,000 in a season.
The USGA adopts the Overall Distance Standard for golf balls, limiting them to 280 yards under standard test conditions.
Jack Nicklaus leads the PGA Tour in earnings for the eighth and final time.

1977

Al Geiberger is the first PGA Tour player to break 60, shooting a 59 in the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic.
Tom Watson hits the big time, besting Jack Nicklaus in both The Masters and the British Open. Watson's 268 sets a British Open record.
The U.S. Open is the first American golf event to provide television coverage of all 18 holes.
A major championship is decided by sudden death for the first time when Lanny Wadkins beats Gene Littler in the PGA Championship at Pebble Beach.

1978

Nancy Lopez gives the LPGA Tour a boost by winning five tournaments in a row, and nine in all, during her first full season.
Gary Player takes his third Masters by shooting a 64 in the final round, then wins the next two events as well.
Jack Nicklaus's third British Open title gives him at least three wins in all four majors.
The Legends of Golf debuts, an event that will lead to the birth of the Senior Tour (now called the Champions Tour).

1979

TaylorMade introduces its first metal wood. In the next decade, metal woods will become predominant.
The USGA plants a tree overnight at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio to block a shortcut taken by several players in the first round of the U.S. Open.
Sixty-seven-year-old Sam Snead shoots a 66 during the Quad Cities Open.
Twenty-two-year-old Seve Ballesteros wins the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

1980

Jack Nicklaus captures the U.S. Open (his fourth) and PGA Championship (his fifth) at age 40. He shoots a U.S. Open record 272 in the Open at Baltusrol and ties the 18-hole record with a 63.
The USGA adds the U.S. Senior Open to its list of Championships. Roberto De Vicenzo is the inaugural Champion.
Tom Watson leads the PGA Tour money list for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year. He wins six U.S. events and the British Open.
The Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass, designed by Pete Dye, opens near Jacksonville, Fla. It is the first "stadium course," and the first course of the PGA Tour's TPC network.
The USGA introduces the golf ball Symmetry Standard to the Rules of Golf.

1981

Kathy Whitworth is the first woman golfer to top $1million in career earnings.
The USGA adds the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship for players 25 and older, an event in which career amateurs won't have to face college golfers, who often dominate the U.S. Amateur.
Tom Kite finishes in the top 10 in 21 of 26 tournaments and leads the PGA Tour money list.

1982

Tom Watson takes his only U.S. Open, chipping in on the 71st hole to beat Jack Nicklaus at Pebble Beach.
Juli Inkster takes her third consecutive U.S. Women's Amateur, the first to accomplish this feat in 48 years.
Kathy Whitworth breaks Mickey Wright's record for career LPGA victories by winning her 83rd event. She will later take five more.
Jan Stephenson wins the LPGA Championship, and the next year, the U.S. Women's Open.

1983

For the fifth time, Tom Watson is the British Open champion.

1984

Golf instruction videotapes begin to hit the market.
Hollis Stacy takes her third U.S. Women's Open to go with her three U. S. Girls' Junior titles.
Forty-year-old Lee Trevino is the PGA titleholder, giving him two U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA titles.

1985

The USGA introduces the Slope System to adjust handicaps according to the difficulty of the course being played.
Europe beats the U.S. in the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1957 (the Great Britain and Ireland team was expanded to include all of Europe in 1979). Two years later, the European team wins for the first time on U.S. soil.
T.C. Chen drops a four-stroke lead in the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills by double-hitting a chip shot and making a quadruple bogey on the fifth hole. Andy North wins the championship.

1986

Forty-six-year-old Jack Nicklaus wins his sixth Masters and 18th professional major.
Forty-three-year-old Ray Floyd wins the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., the first Open played at the club in 90 years.
Bob Tway holes out from a greenside bunker on the 72nd hole to break a tie and beat Greg Norman in the PGA Championship.
Pat Bradley wins three LPGA majors - the Nabisco Dinah Shore, LPGA Championship, and du Maurier Classic.
Greg Norman wins nine events worldwide (two in the U.S., three in Europe, and four in Australia).
There are now 20 million golfers and 12,384 courses in the U.S.

1987

Larry Mize beats Greg Norman in a sudden-death playoff at The Masters by holing a 100-foot pitch on the second extra hole.
Judy Bell becomes the first woman elected to the USGA Executive Committee.
The PGA Tour tops $30 million in prize money; the new season-ending Nabisco Championship is the first $2 million event.
Nick Faldo pars all 18 holes of the final round in the British Open to win his first major.
Craig Stadler is disqualified from the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams San Diego Open for kneeling on a towel to play a shot, then signing an incorrect scorecard.

1988

Mary Bea Porter interrupts her qualifying round for the LPGA's Standard Register Classic to resuscitate a boy who had fallen into a nearby swimming pool.
Seve Ballesteros wins his third British Open - one of seven victories during the year in seven different countries.
Curtis Strange becomes the first player to collect $1 million in season earnings on the PGA Tour.
The groove wars begin. The USGA rules that Ping Eye2 irons don't conform to the Rules because the grooves are too close together. Karsten Manufacturing, maker of Ping, files suit. A settlement will be reached in 1990 under which new Pings are modified to conform and existing Pings are deemed acceptable.

1989

The PGA Tour announces it will ban square-groove irons next year, but Karsten Manufacturing wins a court injunction against the move. Four years later, in an out-of-court settlement, the Tour reverses itself and permits square grooves.
Curtis Strange wins his second consecutive U.S. Open, the first to do so since Ben Hogan (1950 and 1951).

1990

After a controversy at the PGA Championship site Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham, Ala., the PGA of America and PGA Tour announce they will not play tournaments at clubs that have no African-American or women members.
Robert Gamez beats Greg Norman in the Nestle Invitational by holing a seven-iron from 176 yards on the 72nd hole.
Hale Irwin, at age 45, becomes the oldest U.S. Open winner.
Nick Faldo becomes the first player since Jack Nicklaus (1965 and 1966) to capture consecutive Masters titles. He also wins the British Open.
Phil Mickelson sweeps the U.S. Amateur and NCAA Championship, a feat not accomplished since Jack Nicklaus.
The R&A adopts the American-sized ball (1.68 inches) as standard all over the world.

1991

Long-hitting rookie John Daly overpowers the field in the PGA Championship, after making the field as an alternate.
Amateur Phil Mickelson wins the PGA Tour's Northern Telecom Open at age 20.
Chip Beck shoots a 59 during the Las Vegas Invitational to tie Al Geiberger's PGA Tour record.
Payne Stewart claims the U.S. Open at Hazeltine in a playoff with Scott Simpson.

1992

Fred Couples' victory at The Masters puts him over $1million in earnings in the second week of April.
The PGA Tour tops $50 million in purses; the LPGA and Senior Tours both go over $20 million.
Ray Floyd, at age 49, wins the Doral Ryder Open 29 years after his first PGA Tour victory. Later in the year, he wins on the Senior Tour.
Betsy King wins the LPGA Championship by 11 strokes with a 72-hole record 267.
John F. Merchant, a Connecticut attorney, is the first African-American elected to the USGA Executive Committee.
Nick Faldo captures his third British Open.

1993

Bernard Langer wins his second Masters.
Greg Norman wins his second British Open. Norman's 267 total sets a British Open record.
For the third consecutive year, Tiger Woods is the U.S. Junior Amateur champion. No other player has repeated in the event.
Sarah LeBrun Ingram becomes the first player to take the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championship twice. The event began in 1987.

1994

Nick Price wins the British Open at Turnberry, aided by a final-round eagle on the 17th hole.
Tim Finchem succeeds Deane Beman as Commissioner of the PGA Tour.
Arnold Palmer bids farewell to the U.S. Open in a stirring march up the 18th fairway at Oakmont.
Patty Sheehan wins the U.S. Women's Open at Indianwood, her second in three years.
Nick Price wins his second major of the year -- the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

1995

Corey Pavin claims the USGA's Centennial U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
Ben Crenshaw wins The Masters just days after the death of his mentor and teacher Harvey Penick.
Tiger Woods wins his second consecutive U.S. Amateur Championship, held at Newport (R.I.) Country Club.
At St. Andrews, John Daly captures the British Open, his second career major.
The European team wins the Ryder Cup at Oak Hill by the margin of 14½-13½.

1996

Judy Bell becomes the first woman elected President of the USGA.
Nick Faldo overtakes Greg Norman to win The Masters.
Tiger Woods wins his third consecutive U.S. Amateur Championship at Pumpkin Ridge. Later, he joins the PGA Tour, wins twice, and earns Rookie of the Year honors.
Tom Watson wins the Memorial Tournament - his first victory in nine years.
Kelli Kuehne wins her second consecutive U.S. Women's Amateur title, and later adds the British Ladies Open Amateur.
Annika Sorenstam wins her second consecutive Women's Open Championship, held at Pine Needles.

1997

Tiger Woods wins The Masters in record fashion, with an 18-under-par total and a 12-stroke margin of victory.
Ernie Els wins the U.S. Open at Congressional, his second in four years.
The first Ryder Cup is held on Continental European soil, at Valderrama in Spain. The European team wins.
Justin Leonard wins the British Open at Royal Troon, carding a final-round 65.
Jack Nicklaus competes in the U.S. Open at Congressional -- his 150th consecutive major championship.

1998

Lee Janzen wins his second U.S. Open title of the 90's at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif.
Casey Martin is awarded the right to ride in a golf cart at the U.S. Open.
Mark O'Meara, at age 41, becomes the oldest player to win The Masters and the British Open in the same year.
Vijay Singh, with a victory at the PGA Championship, wins his first major; it is the first major championship claimed by a player from Fiji.
Se Ri Pak, a 19-year-old phenom from Korea, captivates the LPGA Tour with major wins at the U.S. Women's Open and the LPGA Championship.

1999

Thirteen-year-old Aree Wongluekiet becomes the youngest winner in USGA history by capturing the Girls' Junior championship at Green Spring Valley Hunt Club.
The U.S. wins the Ryder Cup in dramatic comeback at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
Paul Lawrie, a native of Scotland, wins the British Open in a three-way playoff when Frenchman Jean Van de Velde collapses on the 72nd hole.
Jose Maria Olazabal wins his second Masters.
The U.S. Senior Open attracts record crowds of over 250,000 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Payne Stewart wins his second U.S. Open title at Pinehurst, sinking a dramatic par putt on the 72nd hole. Tragically, he perishes along with five others in a plane crash four months later.
Juli Inkster smashes the U.S. Women's Open scoring record at Old Waverly. Later in the year, with a victory in the Safeway LPGA Golf Championship, she earns entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
The USGA implements testing protocol for "spring-like" effect in metal woods.

2000

The USGA celebrates the 100th playing of the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, and U.S. Women's Amateur, as well as the 75th playing of the U.S. Amateur Public Links.
Shigeki Maruyama cards a 58 in sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open.
At 10 years of age, Michelle Wie becomes the youngest player to compete in a USGA women's amateur competition when she qualifies for the Women's Amateur Public Links in Aberdeen, N.C.
Tiger Woods rolls to a record 15-stroke victory at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links. It is Woods' first Open title and his seventh USGA championship. He would go on to win the season's final two major championships, the British Open at St. Andrews and the PGA Championship at Valhalla, becoming the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in a year.
By defeating Anna Schultz, 3 and 2, in the final of the Women's Mid-Amateur, Ellen Port becomes only the second player in the championship's history to win three Women's Mid-Amateur titles, joining Sarah LeBrun Ingram.

2001

Tiger Woods is the first player to hold all four professional-major titles at one time when he captures The Masters in April. It becomes known as the "The Tiger Slam."
Retief Goosen of South Africa wins the U.S. Open at Southern Hills in an 18-hole playoff over Mark Brooks.
Karrie Webb rolls to an eight-shot victory at the U.S. Women's Open at Pine Needles and joins six others (Mickey Wright, Donna Caponi, Susie Maxwell Berning, Hollis Stacy, Betsy King and Annika Sorenstam) as back-to-back winners of this championship.
Annika Sorenstam becomes the first female golfer to ever shoot a 59 in an LPGA event, achieving the feat at the Standard Register PING in Phoenix, Ariz.
Christina Kim registers the lowest 18-hole score in any USGA championship when she fires a 62 in the second round of stroke-play qualifying at the U.S. Girls' Junior at Indian Hills Country Club in Mission Hills, Kan.
James Vargas establishes a U.S. Junior 36-hole stroke-play scoring record of 132 at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas.
Meredith Duncan outlasts Nicole Perrot in a 37-hole thriller for the U.S. Women's Amateur title at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Wichita, Kan. The loss prevented Perrot from becoming the first golfer to capture the U.S. Girls' Junior and Women's Amateur in the same year.
In the first 36-hole final in U.S. Mid-Amateur history, Tim Jackson defeats George Zahringer, 1 up, at San Joaquin Country Club in Fresno, Calif.
The Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team registers a 15-9 victory over the USA squad at Ocean Forest Golf Club. It's the first time the GB&I squad had posted consecutive victories over the USA in the 79-year history of the Match.
Kemp Richardson joins his later father, John, as the only father-son duo to capture a USGA championship, when he defeats Bill Ploeger, 2 and 1, for the USGA Senior Amateur crown at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis, Mo. John Richardson also won the Senior Amateur title in 1987 at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa.

2002
For the first time ever, the U.S. Open is held at a publicly owned facility (Bethpage State Park's Black Course). Tiger Woods wins the title by three strokes over Phil Mickelson and is the only player in the field to finish under par (-3).
Ernie Els ends Tiger Woods' hopes for a Grand Slam by taking the British Open at Muirfield in a playoff over Steve Elkington, Thomas Levet and Stuart Appleby. Woods had won the Masters and U.S. Open titles.
Juli Inkster returns to the site of her first Women's Amateur championship (Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.) and fires a final-round 66 to beat Annika Sorenstam by two strokes for her second U.S. Women's Open title. Inkster joined Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win a U.S. Amateur and Open at the same course.
Carol Semple Thompson, playing in her record 12th Curtis Cup Match, sinks a 27-foot birdie putt from the fringe at the 18th hole to secure the USA's 11-7 victory over Great Britain and Ireland. The dramatic putt was fitting since the Match was played in Thompson's hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa., at the Fox Chapel Golf Club. It was also Thompson's 18th victory in Curtis Cup play, another record.
George Zahringer, at 49, becomes the oldest player to win the U.S. Mid-Amateur title, when he defeats Jerry Courville Jr., 3 and 2, at his home course, The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn.
Carol Semple Thompson, en route to winning her fourth consecutive USGA Senior Women's Amateur championship at Mid-Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., establishes a consecutive match-play winning streak record of 24.

2003

Michelle Wie, 13, becomes the youngest champion of an adult USGA championship when she defeats Virada Nirapathponporn in the final of the Women's Amateur Public Links Championship at Ocean Hammock Golf Club in Palm Coast, Fla.
Jim Furyk establishes a 54-hole U.S. Open scoring record of 200 en route to a three-stroke victory over Stephen Leaney. Furyk's 72-hole total of 272 tied an Open mark held by Jack Nicklaus, Lee Janzen and Tiger Woods.
Hilary Lunke outlasts Angela Stanford and Kelly Robbins in an 18-hole playoff for the U.S. Women's Open title. Lunke becomes the first player since Annika Sorenstam in 1995 to make the Women's Open her first professional victory. Lunke also is the first champion to have won by going through local and sectional qualifying.

Golf House & USGA Museum at Far Hills

The foundation of the United States Golf Association on Dec. 22, 1894 marked the formal organization of American golf, establishing a centralized body to write the Rules, conduct national championships and establish a national system of handicapping. The USGA also plays a prominent role as the game's historian in the United States, collecting, displaying and preserving artifacts and memorabilia at its Museum and Archives in Far Hills, N.J.

The USGA HQ was at Golf House in New York City (Left) until it moved to Far Hills, NJ.

About the USGA

The USGA is the national governing body of golf in the USA and Mexico. The USGA annually conducts the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Senior Open and 10 national amateur championships. It also conducts two state team championships and helps conduct the Walker Cup Match, Curtis Cup Match and World Amateur Team Championships.

The USGA also writes the Rules of Golf, conducts equipment testing, provides expert course maintenance consultations, funds research for better turf and a better environment, maintains a Handicap System®, celebrates the history of the game, and administers an ongoing “For the Good of the Game” grants program, which has allocated more than $65 million over 13 years to successful programs that bring the game’s values to youths from disadvantaged backgrounds and people with disabilities. For more information about the USGA, visit www.usga.org.

The USGA Museum and Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History showcases the nation’s largest and most significant collection of golf artifacts and documents. The interactive multimedia exhibits tell the story of the game’s development in the United States, highlighting the greatest moments in the game’s history, with a particular focus on United States Golf Association champions and championships. Visitors also have the opportunity to tour the USGA Research and Test Center and play a round on the Pynes Putting Course. For more information about the USGA Museum, or to visit the Museum in Somerset County, N.J., visit the Museum Web site at www.usgamuseum.com or call (908) 234-2300.

About The PGA of America

Since 1916, The PGA of America's mission has been twofold; to establish and elevate the standards of the profession and to grow interest and participation in the game of golf. By establishing and elevating the standards of the golf profession through world-class education, career services, marketing and research programs, the Association enables PGA Professionals to maximize their performance in their respective career paths and showcases them as experts in the game and in the multi-billion dollar golf industry.

By creating and delivering dramatic world-class championships and exciting and enjoyable golf promotions that are viewed as the best of their class in the golf industry, The PGA of America elevates the public’s interest in the game, the desire to play more golf, and ensures accessibility to the game for everyone, everywhere. The PGA of America brand represents the very best in golf.

The United States Golf Association
P.O. Box 708
Far Hills, N.J. 07931
908-234-2300 Fax: 908-234-9687

Frequent Q & A
By Dr. Rand Jerris

What is the origin of the word 'golf?'

The word 'golf' is not an acronym for anything. Rather, it derives linguistically from the Dutch word 'kolf' or 'kolve,' meaning quite simply 'club.' In the Scottish dialect of the late 14th or early 15th century, the Dutch term became 'goff' or 'gouff,' and only later in the 16th century 'golf.'

The linguistic connections between the Dutch and Scottish terms are but one reflection of what was a very active trade industry between the Dutch ports and the ports on the east coast of Scotland from the 14th through 17th centuries.

Some scholars suggest that the Dutch game of 'kolf,' played with a stick and ball on frozen canals in the wintertime, was brought by the Dutch sailors to the east coast of Scotland, where it was transferred on to the public linkslands and eventually became the game we know today.

How did the terms 'birdie' and 'eagle' come into golf?

The term 'birdie' originated in the United States in 1899. H.B. Martin's "Fifty Years of American Golf" contains an account of a foursomes match played at the Atlantic City (N.J.) CC. One of the players, Ab Smith relates: "my ball... came to rest within six inches of the cup. I said 'That was a bird of a shot... I suggest that when one of us plays a hole in one under par he receives double compensation.' The other two agreed and we began right away, just as soon as the next one came, to call it a 'birdie.' In 19th century American slang, 'bird' refereed to anyone or anything excellent or wonderful.

By analogy with 'birdie,' the term 'eagle' soon thereafter became common to refer to a score one better than a 'bird.' Also by analogy, the term 'albatross' for double eagle - an even bigger eagle!

What is the origin of the word 'bogey?'

The term 'bogey' comes from a song that was popular in the British Isles in the early 1890s, called "The Bogey Man" (later known as "The Colonel Bogey March"). The character of the song was an elusive figure who hid in the shadows: "I'm the Bogey Man, catch me if you can."

Golfers in Scotland and England equated the quest for the elusive Bogey Man with the quest for the elusive perfect score. By the mid to late 1890s, the term 'bogey score' referred to the ideal score a good player could be expected to make on a hole under perfect conditions. It also came to be used to describe stroke play tournaments - hence, in early Rules books we find a section detailing the regulations for 'Bogey Competitions.' It was only in the late 1900s/early 1910s that the concept of 'Par' started to emerge - this being the designated number of strokes a scratch player could be expected to take on a hole in ideal conditions. In this way par was distinguished from bogey. The term par itself is a standard term in sports handicapping, where it simply means 'level' or 'even.'

What are the origins of the term 'dormie?'

Historically, the term dormie is derived from the French/Latin cognate 'dormir,' meaning 'to sleep,' suggesting that a player who is 'dormie' can relax (literally, go to sleep) without fear of losing the match.

Why do golfers shout 'Fore!' when they hit an errant shot?

The word 'fore' is Scottish in origin, and is a shortened version of the word 'before' or 'afore.' The old Scottish warning, essentially meaning "look out ahead," most probably originated in military circles, where it was used by artillery men as a warning to troops in forward positions. Golfers as early as the 18th century simply adopted this military warning cry for use on the links.

What is the definition of a 'links' course?

'Links' is a term that refers to a very specific geographic land form found in Scotland. Such tracts of low-lying, seaside land are characteristically sandy, treeless, and undulating, often with lines of dunes or dune ridges, and covered by bent grass and gorse. To be a true links, the tract of land must lie near the mouth of a river - that is, in an estuarine environment. From the Middle Ages onward, linksland (generally speaking, poor land for farming) were common grounds used for sports, including archery, bowls and golf.

Because many of the early courses of Scotland were built on these common linksland, golf courses and links have forever been associated. The term 'links' is commonly misapplied to refer to any golf course. But remember that a true links depends only on geography.

What is the origin of the popular golf game called 'skins?'

As a format of golf gambling, 'skins' has been around for decades, but really only became popular after the creation of "The Skins Game" in the 1980s. In other parts of the country, 'skins' is also known as 'cats,' 'scats,' 'skats,' or 'syndicates.' Of these, 'syndicates' seems to be the oldest term, going back at least to the 1950s, and possibly earlier. It has been suggested that 'skins,' 'scats,' etc. are simply shortened, simplified versions of the term 'syndicates.'

Why are there 18 holes on a golf course?

The links at St. Andrews occupy a narrow strip of land along the sea. As early as the 15th century, golfers at St. Andrews established a customary route through the undulating terrain, playing to holes whose locations were dictated by topography. The course that emerged featured eleven holes, laid out end to end from the clubhouse to the far end of the property. One played the holes out, turned around, and played the holes in, for a total of 22 holes. In 1764, several of the holes were deemed too short, and were therefore combined. The number was thereby reduced from 11 to nine, so that a complete round of the links comprised 18 holes.

When golf clubs in the UK formally recognized the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews as the rule-making body for the sport in the late 1890s, it became necessary for many clubs to expand or reduce the length of their course to eighteen holes. Prior to this time, courses ranged in length from six holes to upward of 20 holes. However, if golfers were to play by the official R&A rules, then their appointed round would consist of 18 holes.

Where does the word 'mulligan' come from?

There is considerable debate about this topic, to say the least. There are several clubs and several people who have staked claims about the origin of the term 'mulligan.'
The story most widely accepted focuses on a gentleman named David Mulligan who played at the St. Lambert CC in Montreal, Canada during the 1920s. There are several versions of the David Mulligan story.

Mr. Mulligan was a hotelier in the first half of the century, a part-owner and manager of the Biltmore Hotel in New York City, as well as several large Canadian hotels. One story says that the first mulligan was an impulsive sort of event - that one day Mulligan hit a very long drive off the first tee, just not straight, and acting on impulse re-teed and hit again. His partners found it all amusing, and decided that the shot that Mulligan himself called a 'correction shot' deserved a better named, so they called it a 'mulligan.'

Story two: Mulligan played regularly with a group of friends at St. Lambert, and in the morning he drove to pick up his golfing buddies. The road into the club was reportedly bumpy and windy and just sort of generally poor, with bridge of bumpy railroad ties. An extra shot was allotted to Mulligan, the driver of the car, on the first tee because he was jumpy and shaking from the difficult drive.

Story three: this story again identified a specific moment, citing a day when David Mulligan showed up late to the course, having scrambled to get out of bed late and get dressed and get to the course on time. He was frazzled on the first tee, hit a poor shot, and re-teed.

Another version of the 'mulligan' story comes from the Essex Fells CC in N.J. This story is one of the latest, and may therefore be less credible. According to this version, the term was named after a locker room attendant at the club named John A. 'Buddy' Mulligan, who worked at the club during the 1930s and was known for replaying shots, particularly on the first tee.

Dr. Rand Jerris
Compiled by Dr. Rand Jerris, former USGA Museum Curator

Golf Etiquette 101

Unlike many sports, golf is for the most part played without the supervision of a referee, umpire or coach. The game relies on the individual golfer to show consideration for other players and to abide by the rules. New golfers are often in need of advice about customary behavior and practices to follow on course so that play proceeds safely and without delay. Here are 10 tips to help all players get the maximum enjoyment from the game.

The Spirit of the Game

Unlike many sports, golf is played, for the most part, without the supervision of a referee or umpire. The game relies on the integrity of the individual to show consideration for other players and to abide by the Rules. All players should conduct themselves in a disciplined manner, demonstrating courtesy and sportsmanship at all times, irrespective of how competitive they may be. This is the spirit of the game of golf.

Consideration for Other Players

No Disturbance or Distraction

Players should always show consideration for other players on the course and should not disturb their play by moving, talking or making any unnecessary noise.

Players should ensure that any electronic device taken onto the course does not distract other players.

On the teeing ground, a player should not tee his ball until it is his turn to play.

Players should not stand close to or directly behind the ball, or directly behind the hole, when a player is about to play.

On the Putting Green

On the putting green, players should not stand on another player's line of putt or when he is making a stroke, cast a shadow over his line of putt.

Players should remain on or close to the putting green until all other players in the group have holed out.

Scoring

In stroke play, a player who is acting as a marker should, if necessary, on the way to the next tee, check the score with the player concerned and record it.

Pace of Play

Play at Good Pace and Keep Up

Players should play at a good pace. The Committee may establish pace of play guidelines that all players should follow.

It is a group's responsibility to keep up with the group in front. If it loses a clear hole and it is delaying the group behind, it should invite the group behind to play through, irrespective of the number of players in that group.

Be Ready to Play

Players should be ready to play as soon as it is their turn to play. When playing on or near the putting green, they should leave their bags or carts in such a position as will enable quick movement off the green and towards the next tee. When the play of a hole has been completed, players should immediately leave the putting green.

Lost Ball

If a player believes his ball may be lost outside a water hazard or is out of bounds, to save time, he should play a provisional ball.

Players searching for a ball should signal the players in the group behind them to play through as soon as it becomes apparent that the ball will not easily be found.

They should not search for five minutes before doing so. Having allowed the group behind to play through, they should not continue play until that group has passed and is out of range.

Priority on the Course

Unless otherwise determined by the Committee, priority on the course is determined by a group's pace of play. Any group playing a whole round is entitled to pass a group playing a shorter round.

Care of the Course

Bunkers

Before leaving a bunker, players should carefully fill up and smooth over all holes and footprints made by them and any nearby made by others. If a rake is within reasonable proximity of the bunker, the rake should be used for this purpose.

Repair of Divots, Ball-Marks and Damage by Shoes

Players should carefully repair any divot holes made by them and any damage to the putting green made by the impact of a ball (whether or not made by the player himself). On completion of the hole by all players in the group, damage to the putting green caused by golf shoes should be repaired.

Preventing Unnecessary Damage

Players should avoid causing damage to the course by removing divots when taking practice swings or by hitting the head of a club into the ground, whether in anger or for any other reason.

Players should ensure that no damage is done to the putting green when putting down bags or the flagstick.

In order to avoid damaging the hole, players and caddies should not stand too close to the hole and should take care during the handling of the flagstick and the removal of a ball from the hole. The head of a club should not be used to remove a ball from the hole.

Players should not lean on their clubs when on the putting green, particularly when removing the ball from the hole.

The flagstick should be properly replaced in the hole before players leave the putting green.

Local notices regulating the movement of golf carts should be strictly observed.

Conclusion; Penalties for Breach

If players follow the guidelines in this Section, it will make the game more enjoyable for everyone.

If a player consistently disregards these guidelines during a round or over a period of time to the detriment of others, it is recommended that the Committee consider taking appropriate disciplinary action against the offending player. Such action may, for example, include prohibiting play for a limited time on the course or in a certain number of competitions. This is considered to be justifiable in terms of protecting the interest of the majority of golfers who wish to play in accordance with these guidelines.

In the case of a serious breach of Etiquette, the Committee may disqualify a player under Rule 33-7.


NOT A MEMBER OF A GOLF CLUB?
START YOUR OWN.

Forming a golf club is not at all difficult. A "golf clubis an organization of at least ten individual members that operates under bylaws with committees (including a Handicap Committee) to supervise golf activities, provide peer review, and maintain the integrity of the USGA Handicap System™ (see Compliance Checklist, Section 8-2m; Decision 2/7). A golf club must be licensed by the USGA® to utilize the USGA Handicap System. A club can obtain a license agreement directly from the USGA or through its membership in an authorized golf association that is already licensed by the USGA and that has jurisdiction in the geographic area that includes the principal location of the golf club.

Members of a golf club must have a reasonable and regular opportunity to play golf with each other. They must be able to return scores personally. These scores must be readily available for inspection by others, including, but not limited to, fellow members and the club's Handicap Committee.

Each golf club must determine its type. A golf club is one of three (3) types:
1. It is located at a single specific golf course with a valid USGA Course Rating™ and USGA Slope Rating® where a majority of the club's events are played and the club's scoring records reside; or
2. Its members are affiliated or known to one another via a business, fraternal, ethnic or social organization. The majority of the club members had an affiliation prior to organizing the club; or
3. The members had no prior affiliation and a majority of the recruiting and sign-up of the membership is done by solicitation to the general public (e.g., Internet, newspaper).
An organization of amateur golfers at a public course is considered a golf club if it satisfies the above conditions. If a "golf club" which utilizes the USGA Handicap System is not readily available to you, you can create such a club with a minimum of ten golfers. The club can be formed from business associates or just golfing friends, provided that they live in a close geographic area and play golf regularly together.

Click to review a sample set of possible bylaws . The USGA Handicap System manual, which explains all procedures, can be purchased for $3.00 plus shipping through the USGA Order Department (Golf House, P.O. Box 708 , Far Hills , New Jersey 07931 ).

We want to make it possible for every golfer to get a USGA Handicap Index®. Golf is much more fun when you can compete equitably with any other golfer.
http://www.usga.org/handicapping/get_handicap/Forming-Your-Own-Golf-Club(2)/

USGA
GOLF CLUB
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS

(Note 1: A newly forming golf club should modify and adapt the following Articles to fit its particular circumstances and review the document with its own counsel).
(Note 2: Statements in parenthesis are recommendations and may be modified as decided by the club).

Article I - NAME
The name of this golf club shall be ___________________________________________ Golf Club.

Article II - PURPOSE

FIRST: To stimulate interest in golf at the ____________________________________ (course or company) by bringing together a group of golfers desirous of forming a golfing organization.

SECOND: To promote and foster among the members a closer bond and fraternity for their joint and mutual benefit, and to promote and conserve the best interests and true spirit of the game of golf as embodied in its ancient and honorable traditions.

THIRD: To encourage conformance to the USGA Rules of Golf by creating a representative authority.

FOURTH: To maintain a uniform system of handicapping as set forth in the USGA Handicap System and issue USGA Handicap Indexes to the members.

FIFTH: To provide an authoritative body to govern and conduct club competitions.

Article III - MEMBERSHIP

Section 1. Membership shall be available to all (men/women) 18 years of age or older. There shall be a least 10 members with a maximum membership of (300).
Section 2. Memberships in the club are individual and non-transferable (which is associated with the ________________________________________ privately owned and operated golf course).
Section 3. Only golfers with a reasonable and regular opportunity to play golf with fellow members and who can personally return scores for posting may be members and receive USGA Handicap Indexes from the club.
Section 4. Membership confers no voice in the operation of any golf courses, clubhouses nor any facilities of the courses.
Section 5. Membership confers no special privileges in connection with any golf course.
Section 6. Memberships in the club are for a calendar year only, with all memberships expiring on (October 31st).
Section 7. The fiscal year for the club will be (November 1st through October 31st).
Section 8. Each candidate for membership shall be proposed and seconded by two active members in good standing. The Board of Directors shall act upon each proposal by vote and two negative votes shall disqualify any candidate.
Section 9. The Board of Directors may confer honorary memberships upon those whom they feel have contributed to the advancement of golf. The unanimous affirmative vote of the Board shall be required to approve such action.
Section 10. In the event that any member of the club shall commit any act which reflects discredit or disrepute thereon or shall refuse or neglect to comply with the rules and regulations adopted by the Board of Directors or the duly appointed officers, such member shall be subject to suspension or expulsion after (ten days) written notice and the right to be heard, by a vote of two-thirds of the Board of Directors at any regular meeting or special meeting called for such purpose.
Section 11. The annual meeting of the ________________________________________ shall be held on the (third Wednesday in the month of October). The Board of Directors shall provide for the holding of such other meetings as may be deemed necessary or desirable, and they shall call special meetings upon written petition signed by not less than (ten percent of the membership).
Section 12. A legal quorum at any meeting shall be (twenty) members present in person or by proxy. Each active member in good standing shall be entitled to one vote.
Section 13. All membership fees and dues shall be established by the Board of Directors from time to time in such amounts as they deem to be adequate to operate and maintain the club. Members shall be liable for dues until their written resignation has been received and accepted. All monies collected shall accrue to the benefit of the membership.

Article IV - BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Section 1. The Board of Directors shall consist of five members in good standing of the _______________________________________________ and they shall exercise all powers of management of the club not specifically excepted by these By-Laws. The Board of Directors shall include the General Manager of the golf courses or his nominee.
Section 2. At least five weeks prior to the Annual Meeting, the Board of Directors shall appoint a nominating committee consisting of five members of the organization. At least four weeks prior to the Annual Meeting, this committee shall submit to the Board and shall post upon the club bulletin board a list of nominees to fill any vacancies for the term o office beginning on the day of the meeting. Names of other members in good standing may be nominated by petition signed by a least (ten) members and submitted to the Board at least two weeks prior to the Annual Meeting. At least one week prior to the Annual Meeting, a list of all candidates nominated shall be mailed to each member at their last known address and a copy of such list shall be posted on the club bulletin board.
Section 3. Voting shall be written ballot and those names receiving the greatest number of votes cast shall be declared to be elected. The Board shall appoint a committee of three judges who are not members of the Board or candidates for election to supervise the election.
Section 4. The Board of Directors shall meet at such times and places as they may select and a majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum at any meeting.
Section 5. In the case of any vacancy through death, resignation, disqualification or other cause, the remaining directors, even though less than a quorum, may elect a successor by majority vote to hold office for the unexpired term of the director whose place shall be vacant, and until the election of his successor.

Article V - OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES
Section 1. Within (ten days) after the annual meeting and election, the Board of Directors shall meet and elect the officers.
Section 2. The officers shall consist of president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer, and their duties shall be such as their titles would indicate or such as may be assigned to them respectively from time to time.
Section 3. The Board of Directors shall authorize and define the powers and duties of all committees. Chairmen and members of all committees shall be appointed by the president, and the president shall be an ex-officio member of all committees except the nominating committee.
Section 4. The following committees shall be appointed each year, with such other committees as the president may deem necessary or advisable:
Tournament Committee to arrange and schedule with the management of any golf course as necessary, and conduct all intra-club and inter-club competitions.
Handicap Committee composed primarily of members with the responsibility to establish a fair and proper system of handicaps in accordance with procedures set forth in the USGA Handicap System Manual.
Membership Committee to investigate and act upon all applications for membership and to recommend appropriate action to the Board of Directors.
Social Committee to encourage and arrange social entertainment features and events for special occasions.

Article VI - AMENDMENTS TO BY-LAWS
Section 1. The Board of Directors shall have the power to repeal or amend any of these By-Laws provided that such action shall not be effective until approved by a majority vote of the members of _______________________________ club at a meeting held in accordance with the provisions contained herein.

Charlie Rose - Arnold Palmer - Interview Transcript

Charlie Rose interviews Arnold Palmer
The transcript.

An hour with Arnold Palmer from Latrobe, Pennsylvania. http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11823

Charlie Rose: Arnold Palmer is with us for this hour. He is a legend who came out of the hills of Pennsylvania with his father’s hard driving lessons deep in his soul. He had the strength of a linebacker, and the magnetism of a movie star. All of that and he could hit a golf ball a mile and then roll it into a small hole with the touch of a master.

He won 4 Masters, 1 US Open, 2 British Opens and 62 PGA tour events. But never, never the PGA, although he came close, coming in second three times. He was once chosen the athlete of the decade, not only in his sport but in all sports.

Golf has never been the same. It is bigger, better and more popular in every dimension. He changed the game. Everyone that followed is indebted to him. No one has had an army like Arnie’s Army. No one has been so quoted by presidents, from Eisenhower to Obama. No one has had so much respect from his piers.

He and Jack Nicholas defined great rivalry. Like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, like John McEnroe and Bjorn Borge, like the Red Sox and Yankees, like Duke and North Carolina.

When Jack Kennedy was in power. Arnold Palmer was winning everything.
He was the best. So good that the president wanted Arnie to look at his swing and come play around.

Arnold Palmer is a pilot and a hugely successful businessman. He and the late Mark McCormick showed us what endorsements were all about. He was most of all a competitor and a gentleman, and he still is as he approaches his 82 birthday.

We visited his home in Latrobe Pennsylvania – he still lives there and also in Florida with his second wife during the winter, right across by the golf course his father helped builds. Nearby is an office with enough awards to fill a museum.

We began with a tour of so many memories, and then a conversation about so many experiences.

Charlie Rose: This is a Norman Rockwell.

Arnold Palmer: That was done a number of years ago. Obviously.

CR: You asked me if I recognized this guy?

AP: Well I wasn’t sure you would recognize who it was.

CR: So Norman Rockwell did your picture.

CR: Not bad.

AP: This is a number of times I’ve been on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

CR: You and Sam (Snead).

AP: We played in the World Cup and won both times we played.

CR: You and Jack.

AP: Palmer: Casper.

CR: Billy Casper

AP: That’s the one we talk about every once in awhile.

CR: The toughest one. It’s the toughest one to win or the Masters?
Well you won more Masters.

AP: Of course I hung out at the Masters, that was social, I loved it.

CR: That’s your favorite.

AP: It had to be, but you can’t ignore the Open. It’s, it’s…

CR: The denizen of America.

AP: That’s one, that’s it.

CR: It’s the American national Championship.

AP: That’s it. The American Championship.

CR: Here’s when you turned 40 – 40 years ago. See how much you have changed.

CR: This is you and the famous Winnie.

CR: Sports Illustrated, that’s 1967. There you are. Let’s look at that swing.

AP: Our of the water.

CR: You Jack, and Gary. US Open.

CR: We won both times we played together.

CR: You and Jack again. It says, “Golf Kings Must be selfish.” Are you selfish?

AP: I don’t think he’s selfish and I don’t think I am.

CR: Whose that?

AP: Those are my buddies. That The Blue Angels.

CR: Tell me about flying for you. It’s a second passion.

AP: You know I started by being scared. When I was an amateur I played a couple tournaments and I had to fly, and got into weather and stuff, and it scared me, and I decided that would not work, I had to learn to fly, I had to find out about airplanes and aeronautical engineering and what it was all about.

CR: You stopped flying now?

AP: Just. I still have my license. I have to do some return training. If I wanted to fly again I’d have to go back and get recertified.

CR: Did you fly all those famous jets.

AP: I will show them to you when we finish this tour.

CR: Yes, sir. So this is your office. Pictures of family.

AP: Everything.

CR: This is your dad, Deke, his given name was Deacon?

AP: Milfred Jermone. Now you know why he’s called Deacon.

CR: There’s the guy.

AP: He was a great guy, a strong dude, not a real big guy, but very strong.

CR: By the time after the amateur, did he fully appreciate it?

AP: It was great, he was great.

AP: This was my first tournament win - the Canadian Open

CR: That was what year?

AP: 1955.

CR: That was three years before you started killing it.

AP: Now, as you know, I’m approaching 82 and I’ve never shot four rounds in an official tournament lower than that.

CR: 64 67 64 70 – pretty good.

CR: Do you think if you were playing today back with the same skills you had when you won all your major tournaments, when you won all your grand slams, if you were playing today, would you be number one?

AP: (Laugh) I can’t answer that.

CR: But you have the will to win, clubs are different, you’d be stronger. You’d like to give it a shot wouldn’t you?

AP: You’re damn right. I’d like to give it a go.

CR: Well, Wake Forest (degree). I’ve spoken twice at commencement there – that’s a picture of the school at Winston Salem

AP: Pebble Beach (photo), which I’m a partner in.

AP: That’s the hole I drove at Cherry Hills.

CR: When you actually reached that green you were so infused with what …said to you.

AP: At the termination the thing we talked about…..all over….

CR: Everybody believed that if you had wanted to be you could have been governor of Pennsylvania. Did you think about it?

AP: I had no choice, you know people pushed for me, Tom Ridge was a good friend,

CR: The future Governor of Pennsylvania.

AP: So that was something that, – I’m not a politician.

CR: But you are a citizen, you love America.

AP: I love America. I wanted to play golf.

CR: You don’t have to be a politician to make a contribution to the country.

AP: Here’s degrees I got from speaking at schools around the country. Here’s something I got recently – My Degree from St. Andrews. Well come on, we’ll show you some more.

CR: Tell me what I’m going to see here, as this is legendary, where you come to hide,

AP: I love it. I come in here and work on golf clubs. Some say I destroy more than I build.

CR: What you do here is make the club better for your sing.

AP: I always said that if I have the perfect club then I should play the perfect game.

CR: You grind and you build.…

AP: I can do anything. I put them together, I take them apart. People say that I’m very good at taking them apart.

CR: What kind of clubs do you play with today?

AP: Calloway.

CR: Of course.

CR: Let’s talk for a moment about President Eisenhower. Your 37 birthday he shows up at your front door on your house to pay tribute to you on your birthday. He comes with his wife to This is the President you had the deepest relationship with?

AP: Yes. I played with him on the day after I won the Masters at his request. We became everlasting friends. I was with him the day before he died at Walter Reed, which is familiar because they are closing Walter Reed. We just became very good friends, we played golf, we played heart exhibitions. Then his doctor said he should not play golf anymore. He’d spend his winters at Palm Springs, and he’d call me and say what are you doing? I’m going to play golf I think. And he’d say if you get the time come by the house and we’ll have a beer. And I wouldn’t play golf, I’d go over and sit with him and talk about golf, and business, the military, the whole thing, the country.

CR: His passion for golf helped make the game popular.

AP: You can say that in spades.

CR: Then there was JFK, who also sought you out.

AP: Yes, unfortunately.

CR: He was a guy who loved winners.

AP: And he was a good golfer.

CR: When you saw his swing, they said he was a good golfer and had a more fluid swing than any other president, and you could make it better.

AP: It never happened.

CR: Why didn’t it happen?

AP: Actually I was on my way to Palm Springs to play with him.

CR: This was 1963.

AP: 1963. We were going to play some golf and the White House called me and said, Arnie, forget it. I said why, I want to do it. They said he hurt his back and was going to take some time off and not play for awhile, and just couldn’t do it, and that was it.

CR: Here’s a plaque. “No house calls.”

CR: You always had a good relationship with the press.

AP: I enjoy the press. I understand their business. Doc has helped me with that, but the press were guys that I could get with. I could talk to them.

CR: Part of what made Arney’s Army famous because there was a sense of you being this brawny guy who liked to win, but it was like you were with them.

AP: Buddies.

CR: They were buddies.

AP: We had a beer together.

CR: Presidential Medal of Freedom

AP: It is the highest award that the United States can give to a civilian.

AP: This is the one (medal) from Portugal. The highest civilian award. I built a golf course there and became friends with the president.

AP: This is the Hitchcock belt – 1960 I won it for professional athlete of the year.

CR: You also won as professional athlete of the decade.

AP: Yes sir, yes sir. That’s what this relates to.

CR: This is President Bush giving you the Medal of Freedom.

CR: The National Amateur medal. That is a great honor, isn’t it.

AP: Yes it is.

CR: What’s this?

AP: That is the National Amateur.

CR: So that’s 1954. That stands pretty high up in importance…

AP: That’s Major.

AP: Charlie, this is my Presidential Corner. Things that happened with various Presidents I was associated with.

CR: Here’ s Nixon. Did Nixon play golf?

AP: Yes he did.

CR: Gerald Ford. Great athlete

AP:. Played football.

AP: This is a conference Nixon called of all his friends to talk about how to negotiate the war. Kissinger, the whole crowd.

CR: To see how to negotiate the end the Vietnam War.

AP: Yes.

CR: Wow.

CR: George Bush 41 –

AP: A great guy.

CR: Played fast golf.

AP: Very.

CR: Here’s Ronald Reagan.

AP: These are White House dinners.

CR: Whose the lady in white?

AP: Oh, she happens to be the Queen.

CR: Here we go with trophies.

AP: Ryder Cup, Open Championship…..

CR: The Ryder Cup.

AP: It’s a great international competition.

CR: There’s more enthusiasm for it.

AP: We hope so. I’ve always been a big thinker that the more international competition that we create through sports the better relationships we’ll have with countries.

CR: More common ground and the better off we’ll be.

AP: Exactly, that’s the name of the game.

CR: Bill Clinton.

AP: Loved golf.

CR: How’s his golf?

AP: The balls didn’t have a zip code on it.

CR: Here’s a letter from President Eisenhower.

AP: We played golf one day, and you can see the date on it. This is a letter from Eisenhower, he and I were playing golf one day, you can see the date – it’s 1965 – DDE Gettysburg. August 15, 1955. “Dear Arnie, enclosed is payment for my bet ($10) and never was there one more reluctantly paid. Also attached is a picture cut from the Philadelphia, Inquirer. It indicates dejection. Please remember that a couple of accidents will not be important a year from now. You will win a lot more tournaments and forget all the wounds caused by bridges, rocks and complaints about a tree, love to Winnie, all the best, DD.”

CR: The bet was?

AP: He bet me that I’d win the PGA championship that year, and I didn’t.

CR: A hell of a life.

PART II – CONVERSATION

CR: It’s an honor to be here.

AP: That you, it’s an honor to have you here Charlie.

CR: You once said this about golf:

“It’s deceptively simple, endlessly complicated. A child can play it well, and a grown man can never master it. Any single round of it is full of unexpected triumphs and perfect shots that end in disaster. It is almost a science, yet it is a puzzle without an answer. It is gratifying and tantalizing, precise and unpredictable. It requires complete concentration and total relaxation. It satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time, rewarding and maddening. And it is without doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.”

CR: That is well said, sir.

AP: Well thank you very much, that was a long time ago.

CR: When did you fall in love with this game?

AP: Well Charlie, I’ve got to start at the beginning I guess and it was right here, about 200 yards from where we are sitting. My father started on this golf course at Latrobe when he was sixteen years old. He was digging ditches when they were building the golf course.

CR: You were raised right here?

AP: I was raised here, I was playing cowboys and Indians in the trees, and then I started hitting the golf club with clubs he sawed off for me, and I began playing right here with my father.

CR: Did he tell you to hit it hard and worry about accuracy later?

AP: He did, he said, “Hit it hard, boy, then go and get it and hit it again.”

CR: It served you well.

AP: It did. He was a tough guy, Charlie. I was the first son and first child. When my sister came along, well, she was two years younger, and I had to go to the golf course because my mother couldn’t handle all the action going on. So I came with him to the golf course since I was a year and a half old and I spent the day with him here, and it worked in naturally. And it was fun for me being with my father, and doing things that a kid did it was great.

CR: What part of your game today is something that you can look back and say it was because of Deak?

AP: Everything, my manners, I wanted to emulate him. I wanted to be as tough as he was. I wanted to do the things that he did. I watched him. We had some guys who worked on the golf course. When I was born in 1929, as you know, that was the depression, so the golf course was manned by my father and two guys, they worked for my dad and they took me with them everywhere they went. And it was fun. And of course, Pat was a guy who had infantile paralysis when he was born, a year after he was born, so his upper body was very strong, he chinned himself with a straight bar and could do either arm ten or fifteen times, and he did it every day, his upper body was very strong. And I did that too.

CR: Most people who have gone on to get the fame and fortune like you, did don’t comeback to their hometown, but you do and you will to the day that you die.

AP: You’re right and I will, I love it.

CR: I think you said, “You’re hometown is not where you are from, it is who you are.” Your father was here, you were here. When did you know you could play the game well?

AP: That’s another thing about my father. He made me very conscious of the fact I wasn’t very good and I had to prove to him that I was good. And that hung with me, and I always wanted to play golf with him and show him. He said Never, Never tell anyone how good you are. Show them!

CR: Every man wants to prove himself and say, dad, did I do okay?

AP: When I won the amateur he came from here to Detroit, to see me play the final round and I just barely won, and beat out Bob Sweeney. I was national amateur champion. I was 24 years old. My father was there, and I couldn’t wait to see him, and my mother. I went up and was waiting for all the accolades, and my mom was teary and happy and my dad looked at me and said, “Well, boy, you did good,” and that was it.

CR: You said after that, that was the greatest triumph in your life.

AP: It was the one that was most important.

CR: Most important, because it got your dad’s approval. Why Wake Forest?

AP: Well, again my father, you’re going to get tired of hearing about my father.

CR: It defines who you are.

AP: Well I worked for dad on the grounds and I was in high school and I said I wanted to go to college, and he said, well, you figure it out. He said I will pay for your college but you’re going to go to St. Vincent. St. Vincent College right here. That’s about as much as I can afford, you work here, right here at home. I said, what if I can get somewhere else? And he said if I can get there, that’s your call.

So I played high school golf, I played amateur golf and I started getting officers. The offers started coming in. I was playing pretty good, won amateur tournaments as a junior, and the whole thing. I was playing in the national juniors in Los Angles, with a buddy of mine who was from Washington DC. His name was Marvin “Bud” Worsham, and his brother was Lew, the pro at Oakmont who won the Open in ’47.

That was the year we graduated. We were out there playing in the juniors. And he said, Ernie, where you going to go to college? And I said I was looking at a couple, I had some officers, I had feelers from Penn State and Pitt, and Miami, and I like the Miami because I could play golf all winter.

He said, “Hey, if I get you a scholarship will you go with me?”

And I said, where?

And he said Wake Forest.

I said, where’s that?

He said it’s in North Carolina.

And I said, that’s great, you can play golf all year.

He said if I contact them and they give you a scholarship, will you go?

I said, “You bet.”

The athletic director was a guy named Jim Weaver. Did you ever hear that name? You should, as he’s the guy who founded the Atlantic Coast Conference.

CR: Exactly. And I grew up as you know some 30 miles from Wake Forest.

You should have because he founded the Atlantic Coast Conference.

AP: Well Jim Weaver, I had no idea who it was. I didn’t even know where Wake Forest was. I came home from that tournament, played another one and then got on a bus and went on a bus to Wake Forest. I’ll never Jim Weaver became one of the best friends I ever had. He was athletic director, golf coach, he did the whole thing. And that’s how I ended up at Wake Forest.

CR: So you were there, and Bud Worsham was there, and Jim Flick was there too, was he not?

AP: He and I roomed together after the accident. Bud got killed in an automobile accident our senior year and my roommate then became Jim Flick.

CR: Bud’s death had a big impact on you.

AP: Terrible. (Pause, choking up) He was…..(pause)….he was like a brother. We did everything, we played golf against each other, we did everything you could do… and when he got killed, it was for me about as bad as you could get. I finished the semester and I couldn’t stand it, so I decided I had to do something else, and get my mind cleared up, so joined the Coast Guard. And spent three years in the Coast Guard after that.

CR: So you got out of the Coast Guard and you were ready to be a golfer?

AP: Yea. What the Coast Guard did for me in three years was as much as what Wake Forest did for me as a school. It matured me and allowed me grow up. When I went back to Wake Forest for my final year I knew then that things were better. Meaning I knew I could handle myself.

CR: More mature.

AP: Exactly. I enjoyed it. I went back after school, after my senior year I went back to Cleveland to work there for the summer and that’s when things started happening, the amateur and so.

CR: What was it about the charge that so electrified people and made them feel that you connected to them more than anything else?

AP: I’m not sure that I answer that but the thing – I was scared that I was going to lose, and I didn’t want to lose. It wasn’t so much I was going to win, anytime I got close I felt I had to win, and couldn’t lose, I couldn’t let that happen to me. And it worked, it worked for me. A lot of tournaments that I can remember I made a few bad shots and I was afraid I would lose the tournament and it seemed to work, the putts seemed to go in. Just the Desire.

CR: The run – 58-62, you swing?

AP: I had a system, and the system worked. It lasted, it was better later - 62 or 63. I suppose that I have a psychological feeling about things – and if I have something that I need to accomplish and I accomplish it, I let down after that, and that happened to me in golf. But I played better golf from oh, 65-75, from the standpoint of hitting the golf ball, and getting it where I wanted to, and doing what I wanted to better than those years I won all those events.

CR: You didn’t win a major between 65 and 75 – but you were playing better golf?

AP: That’s what I mean.

CR: Take me to the 1960 US Open.

AP: Well, the Open in 1960 I was playing good. Cherry Hills, I had been to Cherry Hills to practice and then I went up there and I practiced, and for 64 holes I hit the ball on the green and two putted, and hit the green and two putted, and if I missed the green I got a bogie.

AP: And I’ll never forget. You heard the story? About Bob Drum?

CR: Yes.

AP: My friend from Pittsburgh. A Friend of Bob Gibson. I was in the locker room and getting ready to play the second round. I ran into Drum and was munching on a hamburger. I looked at Bob, and we always kidded with each other. I said you know, I was so upset, I was playing good, and nothing is happening. And I said Bob, what do you think, and this was real serious, and I said, what do you think if I could hit a 65 this afternoon. And he looked at me and totally insulted me and said “you can’t do anything.” I didn’t finish the hamburger and went out and hit a few drives and then they called me.

CR: And you kept the driver in your hands.

AP: Now I will tell you something you might known or might not know, but that driver was a Hogan driver. I was with Wilson sporting goods and we were talking, and Ben gave me two drivers and that was one of them. Of course I doctored them. And I went to the tee and took the driver and I drove it on the green.

CR: On the green, a par four 3oo some yards,

AP: 336 yards. And two putted for a birdie. Almost three putted I was so excited. That got me going.

I was walking down the eighth hole and I knew things were happening, and I knew people were talking and the crowd was getting bigger, and who was coming down the middle of the fairway? Bob Drum.

I said, “what the hell are you doing here?”

And he said “You’re playing pretty good.” I wouldn’t even talk to him. I ignored him and walked past him, and what did I do? I bogied the hole. I shot out of a sand trap and missed the put. But then shot a 30 on the nine. And that’s what I needed.

CR: And won the US Open.

AP: Won by two.

CR: Do you remember the great shots or the bad ones, where you were doing good and then boggied the final hole?

AP: I remember ones I lost. I remember the ones I won, but I remember the ones I lost, something that I will never forget. Did it ruin me or hurt my career? It taught me about life, how to take the bad with the good. And yes they hurt, they really hurt, but when I reflect on it now, and I look back, it taught me something – it taught me how to live, how to be a better guy, not let defeat be the end of my life. And I am thankful for that, and I would never felt good if I hadn’t experienced losing, because losing is part of your life. And it something that if I could teach people to understand that I think it could help them a lot.

CR: When you think about the army that followed you, did that help? Did it give you
something nobody else had on the course.

AP: Of course. The fans, I loved them. My mother would be in the gallery, just to give you an example. I would look right at my mother and not remember.

CR: When did you first see and play with Jack Nicholas.

AP: Well, I’m considerably older than Jack.

CR: Ten years maybe?

AP: Eleven. First time I met Jack I had heard about his golf and prowess – I was playing in the Ohio amateur I think, and this was even before I turned pro, and then Cal Festerwald had an exhibition out in Ohio and asked me to come and play with Jack and Howard Sanderson, and I went, and met Jack for the first time. We hit it off immediately, and we became friends. But we competed, and Charlie, that was about so many years ago I don’t even remember now, but we have played against each other and we are still friends, and he’s one of the best friends that I have. He’s a guy,- we don’t spend a lot of time together, but if I felt like I needed something and he was the guy I needed to talk to I would go see him.

CR: They say that the rivalry is part of the magic of what made modern golf - you, Jack Nicholas and television made modern golf.

AP: I don’t know. I hope so. I hope that it helped. I think about television, I think about Ike, I think about Jack, I think about Hogan, and how that influenced me a little bit, and the people that had an affect on my life. And certainly the relationship with Jack was a good one, but it was competitive. And it still is today.

CR: How is it competitive today?

AP: We do business.

CR: Oh, yea. He builds courses, you build courses.

AP: We build golf courses. We don’t disagree a great deal. When it comes to something good, we agree. If we have something to do as a team, we do it.

CR: Did the competition make you better?

AP: I think so. I know it helped me, having Jack playing the way he did.

CR: You had the competition. The challenge made you better.

AP: Exactly. And the fact that he was so determined. He had a personality that was good for what he did. He shut everything off and could concentrate. Of all the time I’ve known him, all our lives for the most part, I never seen him waver on the golf course. The only time that ever happened that I recall, we tried to beat each other. Sometimes when we started trying to beat each other, and it happened this way, there were occasions that when we were playing somebody else would come along and beat both of us.

CR: 18 majors. Does, his record make him the best golfer of all time?

AP: Until somebody shows me a better game, it makes him the best.

CR: Do you believe Tiger will break his record?

AP: No. But I shouldn’t say that. I think Tiger is as close to it as anyone has ever been.

CR: Jack has 18, Tiger has 14 you have 7. In between there’s three or four others.

AP Yea, and Tiger still has a shot at it, but…

CR: You’ve got to believe don’t you, that if somebody has a game as good as he has, you can recapture it?

AP: No.

CR: Why not?

AP: I’m not sure about that. You know, once you, once you vary, then you lose that – thing that you were talking about earlier. What is it? Sometimes it’s hard to put in place. What is it? I’m not sure I know. I’m not sure Jack knows. I know what he did, and I know how good he was. But to have him describe to you or to anyone, what was that thing that you grab? I know that his concentration was so good, that he could play, and play the way it was, but I’ve seen it wander, even with Nicholas, as good as he was. And now when you have a disturbance in your life that’s major, can you get it back? Can you get that thing that you can’t put your finger on, and get hold of it and choke it and keep it. Boy that’s a tough deal. That’s something you see it in every sport –I’ve seen it golf, in baseball players, football players. I seen them so good, and then all of a sudden something happens. It could be a psychological thing, like you say, well, “I’ve done it,” and then that’s it. Then you say, “I want to do it again,” but it isn’t there, you can’t find it, you can’t grasp it. You can’t hold on to it.

CR: Some call that an X factor.

AP: Exactly.

CR: You don’t know what it is. You can’t define it, but you know when it’s there.
AP: Yep.

CR: You had it. Jack had it.

AP: A lot of people. Hogan. Nelson.

CR: Byron Nelson had it.

AP: Yes.

CR: Sam Snead?

AP: Sam Snead was probably a little further from what we are talking about, and had an ability that was more natural than anybody that I knew in golf. Snead was as close to a natural player as anything that ever happened. But you know, now here’s a guy like you say I never won the PGA, well Snead never won the Open. My goodness, if anybody, if you think about it, anybody that should have won the Open was Snead, but didn’t. And why? That X factor.

CR: But you kept that, that thing about winning in you to this very day. You have it, feel it. In business.

AP: It’s a drive, it’s a thing that you feel like when I go to bed at night I go to sleep.

CR: I never met a winner who had a work ethic. Not somebody who says I have so much talent that naturally I won.

You work at it.

AP: That’s it. I talk to golfers, I talk to my grand kids about their game, and tell them to develop a system, Now, when they’re young. And if they develop that system, it will be the crutch they need to be good. To know that system and make it work for you, know what it is and make it work.

CR: Tell me what a system is?

AR: It could be anything. It could be so many things. It all has to do with doing it day in and day out. When you get into competition and get under pressure, and get over that ball and are looking at it, and know you have to hit it, it is having that system to depend on to get that ball to where you want it to be.

CR: You said you didn’t have the perfect swing but was your swing, something you could depend on.

CR: It was your system. DNA.

AP: It was just fun. As my father said, “Hit it, go get it and hit it again.”Or when there’s two trees there in front of you and there’s an opening to the pin between them, you go through them. I had to.

CR: Sometimes you lose some tournaments you should win and you win some you should lose.

AP: That is very true. I’d like to think I won more than I lost.

CR: Your most painful loss?

AP: Gee, I can think of a lot of them, but I suppose San Francisco, the Open, with the lead that I had.

CR: How big was the lead?

AP: Seven shots, going into the back nine, nine holes to play.

CR: You were ahead by seven strokes ahead with nine holes to play?

AP: Yep.

CR: How tough is it about not having won the PGA?

AP: Well, I make excuses for that. I finished second a number of times. And I played good a couple of times and felt I should have won the PGA. And it hurts, the fact that I didn’t win, and I suppose there is some x factor that says why you didn’t win. My excuses are that I have won the Australian, I won the British, all PGA championships, but I haven’t won the PGA championship.

CR: ….Because of the style and drama you brought to the game, and you brought new fans to the game, and that’s your legacy….

AP: I hope I’ve done some of the things that you say I’ve done. The game is so fantastic, and people who get into it love it so much...I’d be pleased with that. There’s no game like it. You go out there and tee it up on the first tee, and it’s you, the golf ball and the golf course. And there you go. And if you can handle it, go at it, and do it good. But what other game - there’s always someone else in the other games, a guy hitting the ball to you, or you throwing the ball somewhere, something else, there’s other people involved in it, but in golf you are the person that’s doing it.

CR: You’re playing yourself and the course.

AP: That’s it. And it can’t change. That’s the way it is.

CR: Gary Player and others have said all of us should all give you a percentage of our earnings because without you there would be no television contracts and without you it wouldn’t be as good for anyone.

AP: The truth is that it is such a great game and for me to be a part of it. Like the
Golf Association, and when I played right here in the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association, and the USGA, what those people - whether you like them or dislike them, what they have done is so great, play the game, the history of the game. Those things are so important to me. People. You talk about the galleries, the people that have inspired me to do what I’ve done and the pleasures of my life – my wife Winnie, my kids, my wife now, what they have helped me do what I wanted to do is so important, and I am so grateful for that, and I could thank people who have helped me, and the fact that I have had a big success.

Mark McCormick – we haven’t talked about him too much, but he was great for me. We had differences. But he was good for me because he taught me about business and the world. Doc Gibbons. Te people I am associated with in my life and business, what they did for me mentally is something that I could never thank them enough.

CR: Thank you.

AP: I tell you what, I don’t play golf much anymore, but you find the time, come here and we’ll try Latrobe Country Club.

Thank You.

[Any corrections to this transcript should be sent to Billkelly3@gmail.com]

"Are you ready for some golf?" - foursome w/ Hitler & Netanyahu

President Obama plays golf with Speaker of the House Boehner

When Hank Williams, Jr. was dropped from ESPN from opening Monday Night Football by yelling the lead-in to the game, "are you ready for some football?" he called attention to the golf games between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.

Appearing on Fox News' Fox & Friends, Williams said this summer's golf summit between Obama and Boehner was "one of the biggest political mistakes ever."

Then Williams went on to make one of the biggest personal mistakes in his career by saying, "It would be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli leader) Benjamin Netanyhu."

Asked to explain, Williams elaborated by saying Obama and Vice President Joe Biden "are the enemy."

Williams later issued a statement saying that his comment about Obama and Boehner playing golf this summer was "simply trying to show how stupid it seemed to me -- how ludicrous that pairing was." Williams says Boehner and Obama "are polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will."

Williams said he is thinking about running as a Republican in 2012 for the U.S. Senate seat from Tennessee.

Now Whoopie Goldberg has come to his defense, which is like Cynthia McKinney sticking by Gadhafi. As suggested, maybe Hank should run for president with Whoopie on the ticket as Veep?

Meanwhile, he's written a song dedicated to FOX News and ESPN, which should be released this week.

Probably, the best thing Hank Williams, Jr. could do for himself at this point is take up golf and go play a round with Willie.

- BillKelly3@gmail.com


Hank Williams Jr. wrote a new song about Fox News and ESPN
By Chris Chase

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Hank-Williams-Jr-wrote-a-new-song-about-Fox-New?urn=nfl-wp9130

Are you ready for some vengeance, vapid lyricism and strained rhyming patterns?

Hank Williams Jr. is releasing a new song entitled "I'll Keep My ...," in which he calls out ESPN and Fox News after his remarks about President Barack Obama and Adolf Hitler on "Fox and Friends" led to his dismissal from the "Monday Night Football" theme song after 23 years.

The country music singer wrote the song on Friday and is scheduled to release it late Monday or early Tuesday. In its third verse, he takes issue with how Fox took his words out of context: "So Fox 'n Friends wanna put me down/Ask for my opinion/Twist it all around."

If it didn't mean having to listen to Hank Williams Jr. speak about anything other than music or Alabama football, I'd be interested to hear how he thinks Fox twisted his opinion. After all, there are only so many ways to take the quote: "It'd be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu."
Williams calls the U.S. the "United Socialist States of America" earlier in the song. He finishes the third verse with a subtlety you'd expect from the man who wrote "Why Can't We All Just Get a Long Neck?" The song ends with the suggestive jab, "Well two can play that gotcha game you'll see."

During an appearance on "The View" last week, Williams found a measure of support from Whoopi Goldberg. This led to him suggesting a possible Whoopi/Hank presidential ticket in the future. Let's pray that this theoretical campaign would never take them to the golf course. That would be like ... never mind.


Before this happened,
http://conservativebyte.com/2011/06/golf-with-bam-a-flub-for-boehner/
Conservative Byte wrote:

I think one of the problems with Boehner playing — and I understand the lure. Boehner loves to play golf. I myself have played golf with Boehner. Boehner is a six handicap, six or seven. He’s a good golfer. I’m sure he would never admit this, but I’m sure that Boehner in part relished the opportunity to go out there and just shellac Obama on the golf course. But aside from that: The President calls you and says, “Let’s go play golf,” and you’re the Speaker of the House, it’s tough to say no because then the media is gonna rake you over the coals.

“Refusing to be civil! Refusing to get together with the president and solve the nation’s problems,” as though that’s gonna happen on the golf course. But I think it’s just a matter of respect, too. The President calls you to go play golf, you do it. Two problems: One is now you can’t criticize Obama for playing golf, ’cause Boehner did it, too. So if we start making jokes — this 13 weekends in a row he’s played golf! — the retort is, “Well, so did Boehner.” But the thing to me is, we’ve got people losing their jobs left and right. People’s homes are underwater. We have dire economic circumstances. We have wars in four different places around the globe.

If these guys are going to get together, do it in a place and under the auspices of actually working on these problems, rather than photo-ops playing golf, trying to show that everybody can get along — which only helps Obama. Showing that everybody can get along, that’s another premise they put forth that we somehow think we have to respond to, that people “not getting along” is our fault and our problem because of the way we are. This is the guy, Obama, who refused to meet with Boehner or any other Republican leader for the first year, maybe even longer. If you’re gonna get together, get together and read the Riot Act to this guy over what his policies are doing to the country. Now, maybe that happened on the golf course; I don’t know.

Well, I know. The golf course is really not the place for that would happen, but you don’t know. I have no idea. What I… (interruption) It wouldn’t happen. Obama is not gonna invite me to play golf. It’s already been floated. Outside my auspices, against my wishes the second time. Somebody already tried to make it happen. (interruption) Yeah, and it’s that… (sigh) Gosh. (interruption) No. I’m not concerned about that, but if I… (interruption) No. No. No further. I’m not gonna lock my… (interruption) No. I don’t know what I would… (interruption) I’m not gonna respond to a hypothetical with another hypothetical answer. Snerdley’s badgering me here on the IFB. I know what you want. You want me to go say, “Go pound sand, Mr. Obama! I wouldn’t dare waste my time.”

That’s what you want. (chuckling) Everybody wants me to go do their dirty work