Legend has it that Herbert Fleischaker, a very good putter and brainy golfer, changed Mackenzie's thinking regarding whether the 16th at CPC could be considered an "ideal" golf hole. Here is the dubious Doctor's doubtful description . . .
I doubted the hole could be considered ideal, because I feared that, compared with the other Cypress Point holes, there was not a sufficiently easy route for the weaker player. My mind was set to rest on this a few months ago.
I was traveling from San Francisco to New York with a man who is affectionately known as Billy Humphrey. He said, "What sort of hole do you think your 16th at Cypress Point is? I don't think a hole is a golf hole that can be played with a putter." "On the contrary," I said, "I don't think an ideal hole is ideal unless it can be played with a putter, but we wont argue about that. What is your trouble?" He said, "Well, I was playing this holes against Herbert Fleischaker for two hundred dollars. [Herbert Fleischaker has the reputation of not being able to get the ball off the ground, but he is full of brains, is a very good approacher and putter, and often outwits a more powerful opponent.] It was my honor, and I put two shots in the ocean. The old Herbert gets his putter, takes four putts to reach the green, wins the hole and two hundred dollars." I am afraid I was not unduly sympathetic.
This allegedly occurred some time around 1932, when Herbert Fleischaker was around 60 years of age.
Some on this site insisted that the story is true.
Having played that hole a number of times, I never believed the story/myth. I have putted out of MacKenzie's bunkers at Crystal Downs, out of Maxwell's gunch at Prairie Dunes, putted from about every place imaginable at Rustic Canyon, and while I have missed the vast majority of these putts (and badly) I have also sunk putts ranging from less than an inch to over 100 yards. I'll putt from about anywhere. Not only that, but I've a reputation for cowardice in the face of carries, and at CPC 16 in particular. (They don't call it the 'Isthmuth of Moriarty' for nothing). But even with my prolific putting propensities and carry cowardices, I haven't tried to putt from the tee at the 16th at CPC. Not yet, anyway.
Think about it:
The Ball circa 1932.
The equipment circa 1932
The rocks and mud and wagon wheel ruts, circa 1932.
Now, fast forward about 16 years to January 11, 1956. A lot had happened in those intervening 16 years in terms of improvements to the ball and equipment and the condition of the ground from the 16th tee to green. Yet, about 2:00pm on January 11, 1956, four rather skilled golfers stepped up onto the 16th tee at CPC. Not one of them went with putter. After four prodigious driver swings, they all weren't even on the green!
So, the legend would have us believe that the sixty year old Herbert Fleischaker managed to do with four swings of a putter what these four greats couldn't manage to do with four drivers swings. Four putts, and Herbert Fleischaker was safely on the green. Four drives, and these four were barely halfway there.
Are we to believe that 26 years earlier, with inferior balls, equipment, and ground conditions, that Herbert Fleischaker needed only four putts to accomplish what Hogan, Nelson, Venturi and Ward couldn't quite accomplish with four drives?
It is beyond belief that Herbert Fleischaker, with equipment and ground conditions of circa 1932, could hit four putts and get on the green, yet Venturi, Ward, Hogan and Nelson couldn't match him with four drivers.
But, it's a nice fable.
The question is, who started the myth and why ?