Question for Rich Goodale

[Tim_Weiman]

Rich,

Scanning through the Tillinghast sketch thread, I noticed your reference to the late Tom MacWood and the famous Foulpointe story.

Sounds like I must have missed what really happened. Can you enlightened me?

Thanks!

[Ronald Montesano]

Isn't there a thing called PM for this sort of question?

Unless Rich isn't very good at PM.

[Bill_McBride]

Wasn't Forrest Richardson the raconteur of the Foulpointe tale when it first surfaced?

[Tim_Weiman]

Isn't there a thing called PM for this sort of question?

Unless Rich isn't very good at PM.

Ronald,

Quite innocently, I missed this whole story. If it will make you feel better I did receive a PM from someone - not Rich - filling me in on the background.

And to think, I actually fantasized about traveling to Madagascar to do my own Indiana Jones research!

[Wayne_Kozun]

Are the rumours true that under the growth of the jungle you can still see the form of the original course?

[Peter Pallotta]

Are the rumours true that under the growth of the jungle you can still see the form of the original course?

Not only that, Wayne, but every year two or three locals lose their lives stepping into the quicksand of what was once one of Foulpointe's many top-shot bunkers. Also, Humphrey Bogart used to play golf there on weekends with Kate Hepburn when they were filming "African Queen" together. Bogie once aced Foulpointe's famed 16th island green but seconds later the bottle of Jack Daniels he had in his back pocket fell out and broke, so he was in no mood to celebrate. Ah, the stories around that place -- it's what gca is really all about, eh?

Peter

[Dan Kelly]

... every year two or three locals lose their lives stepping into the quicksand of what was once one of Foulpointe's many top-shot bunkers....

Exactly what happened to my "guide" when I went to Madagascar in search of Foulpointe. Tried to pull him out with the Bullseye putter I use, to this day, as a walking stick -- but it was not to be. The grip was too slick.

[Garland Bayley]

This thread is the first entry in search for Foulpointe.
The second entry is
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,56121.0.html
take it from there.

[Peter Pallotta]

... every year two or three locals lose their lives stepping into the quicksand of what was once one of Foulpointe's many top-shot bunkers....

Exactly what happened to my "guide" when I went to Madagascar in search of Foulpointe. Tried to pull him out with the Bullseye putter I use, to this day, as a walking stick -- but it was not to be. The grip was too slick.

Ah, geez, that's tough, Dan - I'm sorry you have to live with that. (Weren't you also involved in the death of a rodent a while back? I know the Jeff B was involved, and a golf cart of some sort, but you were there too, no?)  That damn grip - why did it have to be so slick?! I hear that the guides today use 46 inch TaylorMade SDLR drivers as their walking sticks; maybe they still speak in hushed tones about the "Americano" who came long ago in search of Foulpointe, his "Bullseye in hand.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Personally I found that Foulpointe was a bit overrated.... It didn't play firm and fast... I think they probably mistook quicksand for USGA spec?

[Tommy Williamsen]

I was in Madagascar in both 2010 and 2013 and looked at the Foulpointe course.  It was only a shadow of its former self.

[Rick Shefchik]

I was in Madagascar in both 2010 and 2013 and looked at the Foulpointe course.  It was only a shadow of its former self.

Tommy, that's because the members voted to build a massive clubhouse in 1929, going deeply into debt but convinced that the golf boom was never going to end. Of course, we all know what happened next. By 1943 the clubhouse was demolished for scrap, with the wood and metal going to manufacture ships for the Italian navy. In 1947 the back nine was sold off to a housing developer. Then in 1961 a guest was fondled to death by a herd of amorous lemurs; his relatives sued the club and won a huge settlement. Since then, the course has been operating on a bare-bones budget, with almost no amenities except the ballwasher between the sixth green and seventh hole.

[Peter Pallotta]

Well summarized, Rick. Few people know the Italian Navy connection. Sadly, even fewer people know anything about an incident there that I'm making the centrepiece of my new book: "That Match - How the Greatest Game Ever Played ruined Madagascar and Changed the Global Ecology Forever". I won't give anything away right now, but suffice to say that Tommy Bolt and Jimmy Demaret shot 28 under par to beat Sam Snead and Billy Joe Patton by 1 in the greatest 18 hole display of mastery ever witnessed, and then set Foulpointe and most of Madagascar ablaze when the cigar Bolt was smoking landed in the scotch Demaret was drinking.

Peter

[Tommy Williamsen]

Well summarized, Rick. Few people know the Italian Navy connection. Sadly, even fewer people know anything about an incident there that I'm making the centrepiece of my new book: "That Match - How the Greatest Game Ever Played ruined Madagascar and Changed the Global Ecology Forever". I won't give anything away right now, but suffice to say that Tommy Bolt and Jimmy Demaret shot 28 under par to beat Sam Snead and Billy Joe Patton by 1 in the greatest 18 hole display of mastery ever witnessed, and then set Foulpointe and most of Madagascar ablaze when the cigar Bolt was smoking landed in the scotch Demaret was drinking.

Peter

The driver that Tommy Bolt threw into the marsh is now displayed in the old pro shop.