Athletes: Hogan, Snead, Middlecoff and Nelson.

Pottering about on the interwebs, I came across this pretty amusing article from a 1943 issue of the Telegraph-Herald highlighting the extent to which recreational golf could aid the domestic war effort.

A missive from the dawn of sports science, it also includes rare documentary evidence of a PGA Tour executive engaging in an act of selflessness: (continue reading…)

Police inspect a bomb crater at North Shore Golf Course, Blackpool.

The marvellous Lists of Note published a relic from golf’s British past yesterday: a collection of local rules issued by Richmond Golf Club in Surrey, England during the Battle of Britain to instruct members in the safe negotiation of unexploded ordnance and possible strafing attacks. (continue reading…)

Obama and Uncle Joe wiffling about on the Eisenhower putting green.

Never the most populist of sports, golf takes on a problematic political connotation in times of crisis. Synonymous for a large chunk of the electorate with cronyism, indulgence and naivety, a taste for spending time on the links – as opposed, say, to clearing brush on a Texas ranch – can, it seems, prove a damaging habit for a President to entertain.

But, as Martin Davis notes in a column for CNN, the magnitude of incumbent’s golf habit is dwarfed by those of a handful of 20th-century presidents. (continue reading…)