golfweloveit

After the 1942 Masters competition ceased for the duration of the war and Augusta National was turned over for raising cattle. They wandered the fairways and destroyed the azalea and camelia bushes. Bobby Jones enlisted and became a captain  in the Army Air Service. In 1944 he came to Europe and took an active part in the D-Daylandings in Normandy. He was by then Lieutenant Colonel and went out with the invasion force.

Other golfers who actively served were Ben Hogan, who was a Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, Sam Snead in the navy and Lloyd Mangrum, who had a course record in the 1940 Masters. He won two purple hearts for active combat in the war. Byron Nelson, who was exempt on health grounds, took part with Patty Berg and Babe Zaharias in Bob Hope and Bing Crosby’s 6 week tour of the United States raising money for the war effort.

Over here Sir Henry Cotton was an officer in the Royal Air Force, and spent time off duty performing exhibition matches to raise funds for the British Red Cross.

Burhill Golf Club was requisitioned by the Ministry of Aircraft and a member of my family worked alongside scientist Barnes Wallis who was developing the “bouncing bomb” there. Up at Turnberry, the fairways bunkers and greens had been flattened to turn into RAF Turnberry. The hotel became a naval hospital. the coastline around the course was used by pilots to try out the low flying bombing technique. The Torpedo Training Unit were based around what is now the fifth hole. If you visit Trump Turnberry, look out for the memorial by the 12th green.

In the end it was a birdie putt, set up by a beautiful 3-wood approach, that sealed a one shot victory for Shane Lowry at the Abu Dhabi Championship, but not before a roller coaster round where he just had to keep going.

Starting the round with a one stroke lead, Lowry fell back so that at one point he was four shots back with seven to play. He came up against a brilliant front nine from South African Richard Sterne who birdied four of the first five holes.

However, Lowry was to rally brilliantly on the back nine as his opponent faltered with the finishing line in sight.

Lowry whittled the lead down gradually with birdies on 12 and 13. The pressure now ratcheted up on his opponent and this told on the 14th hole when Sterne missed a short putt for par, reducing his lead to a single stroke.

The pair were level after the 16th with Sterne paying the penalty for a poor third shot from the greenside bunker which left him on the fringe of the green. Lowry, for his part, showcased his growing confidence and mental strength with an excellent two-putt from 60 feet. And on 18 he lagged an eagle putt and made birdie to win by one shot.

He said “I didn’t think I had it in me, how hard I fought”.

It is Lowry’s fourth win and his first since winning the WGC- Bridgestone Invitational in America in 2015. He had dropped to 74th in the world but is now within the top fifty, with hopefully an invitation to compete at Augusta. His goal though is to make his friend Padraig Harrington’s Ryder Cup team in 2020. He wins over a million Euros and got to wear a nice dress to have his picture taken in.

The European Tour’s Content Committee (see the Sixth Member of the Content Committee below) seem to have settled on Monty’s Pythons.

It’s not a bad idea to get Colin Montgomerie as David Attenborough out on the courses of the world observing the wildlife. Here’s the most famous snake in golf which Lee Trevino pulled out of his bag and showed to Jack Nicklaus before theor playoff for the 1971 US Open. Loving the marshals with the black armbands behind them who don’t even crack a smile.

Oliver Hardy was a keen golfer in life, Stan Laurel preferred fishing

An American golf club came up with this to market their beginner golf courses to younger girls. Not entirely sure it works but I did discuss a similar idea once with a golf club owner. He wanted to bring a lot more people into the club, and was willing to diversify his business. It was around 2013 when Disney’s Frozen had just been released and had garnered an almost obsessive interest from young girls. I suggested   having a campaign in the local shopping mall with Disney Princess actresses dressed up as Elsa and Anna bringing families into the club which would be lit up like this. I think golf businesses need to get creative and think outside the box.

Disney has made its mark on golf with its affiliation to Arnold Palmer Golf. At Walt Disney World in Orlanda there are four courses, one of which used to host a PGA Tour event. In Disneyland Paris there are 27 holes laid outside the main complex, and last year hosted the Junior Ryder Cup.

This past Christmas I received a good golf gift from my cousins, who are both antique dealers. It was a set of silver golf tees from the 1920s which I will treasure.

But there are some really bad golf gifts out there. Here are some

Emoji golf balls from Amazon

Sexist golf tees

Guaranteed to ruin your putting stroke forever

Something to do for people who take a long time in the toilet

and

One I’m looking out for, probably will only be found in a car boot sale is The Arnold Palmer Golf Game from the sixties