Once upon a time golf ...

[Thomas Dai]

Once upon a time golf ...

Was played on turf grazed by sheep, cattle, horses, goats and other animals
Was played on a landscape where gorse of the prickliest variety lined every hole
Was played on an area of land entirely devoid of trees, shrubbery and flowerbeds
Was played where sandy areas that required stabilisation were reinforced with wooden sleepers
Was played without bunker rakes
Was played without irrigation except for an occasional light application to the putting surfaces
Was played where putting surfaces were cut using a hand mower or a scythe
Was played by players wearing headgear comprising only flat caps or felt hats
Was played by players wearing sweaters or cardigans knitted by a close family relative
Was played with wooden headed woods
Was played with thin headed blade irons
Was played with a wound ball
Was played by players wearing metal spiked shoes
Was played with head-covers made of leather or old socks as an alternative
Was played with a wooden tee-peg less than 1” in length or with a pinch of sand taken from a sandbox
Was played using adult caddies who were scruffily dressed and often inebriated
Was played with boy and girl caddies who were scruffily dressed and sometimes barefoot
Was played to metal flagsticks and hole liners
Was played without signage, furniture, fountains or artificial pathways present on the course
Clubhouses only served tea, warm beer to men and gin & tonic to ladies
Clubhouses only served stale sandwiches, cold pork pies, crisps and sponge cake

Nostalgia isn’t what it once was.
  


Share some of your own 'once upon a times' ......
Atb

[V. Kmetz]

...and then more people wanted to enjoy it
...and then more people wanted to make a living off it
...and it became like any other thing that people enjoy

Once upon a time golf ...

Was played on turf grazed by sheep, cattle, horses, goats and other animals
Was played on a landscape where gorse of the prickliest variety lined every hole
Was played on an area of land entirely devoid of trees, shrubbery and flowerbeds
Was played where sandy areas that required stabilisation were reinforced with wooden sleepers
Was played without bunker rakes
Was played without irrigation except for an occasional light application to the putting surfaces
Was played where putting surfaces were cut using a hand mower or a scythe
Was played by players wearing headgear comprising only flat caps or felt hats
Was played by players wearing sweaters or cardigans knitted by a close family relative
Was played with wooden headed woods
Was played with thin headed blade irons
Was played with a wound ball
Was played by players wearing metal spiked shoes
Was played with head-covers made of leather or old socks as an alternative
Was played with a wooden tee-peg less than 1” in length or with a pinch of sand taken from a sandbox
Was played using adult caddies who were scruffily dressed and often inebriated
Was played with boy and girl caddies who were scruffily dressed and sometimes barefoot
Was played to metal flagsticks and hole liners
Was played without signage, furniture, fountains or artificial pathways present on the course
Clubhouses only served tea, warm beer to men and gin & tonic to ladies
Clubhouses only served stale sandwiches, cold pork pies, crisps and sponge cake

Nostalgia isn’t what it once was.
  


Share some of your own 'once upon a times' ......
Atb

[Pete_Pittock]

carry heavy leather bags
no or few yardage indicators
you tipped caddies with a carton of Camels or Winstons.
the bartender didn't understand when you ordered an Arnold Palmer

[Ken Moum]

The worst golfers I knew played with forged blades, persimmon woods and balata balls. And they enjoyed every minute of it.


Unirrigated fairways were cut at 1" by a 5-gang wheel-driven mower pulled by an old, REALLY old, Fordson tractor and no one bitched about it. (well, almost no one)


A Championship Course was anything over 6,000 yards.


If you wanted to take up the game, all you really needed was a sunday bag with Driver, three wood,3,5,7, 9 and a putter.

[Thomas Dai]

The worst golfers I knew played with forged blades, persimmon woods and balata balls. And they enjoyed every minute of it.
Unirrigated fairways were cut at 1" by a 5-gang wheel-driven mower pulled by an old, REALLY old, Fordson tractor and no one bitched about it. (well, almost no one)
A Championship Course was anything over 6,000 yards.
If you wanted to take up the game, all you really needed was a sunday bag with Driver, three wood,3,5,7, 9 and a putter.

+1

atb

[Mark Mammel]

I remember....
Playing "yard golf" with my friends in the neighborhood, with telephone poles as flags.
Only playing with found golf balls.
Cutting open the liquid center balls to find out what was in the middle
Using an old 2 wood as a driver that I found in the garage
Caddying for my grandpa who had one of those aluminum frames that clubs clipped into with a point to stick in the ground
Learning to rake bunkers with the back of my wedge
Listening to the tap-shoe sound of spikes on the cement
Big gang mowers and the smell of cut grass
Going to the course in the morning and playing all day
The sound of the ball on a persimmon wood
Being in love with the set of Hogen Apex II irons I bought even though I was never good enough to play them
Being more in love with the Hogan Edge irons that I could hit
Discovering golf writing in Herbert Warren Wind's "The Story of American Golf" and Hogan's "Five Lessons"
Seeing almost everyone walk