In the annals of golf history, there are many firsts. The first course, the first champion, the first inland course, the first halfway house, the first web-based golf course architecture discussion forum. You get the idea.
Up until today one of the great mysteries of the game had eluded us. But thanks to Sergey and Larry, we now have irrefutable evidence of one of golf's most important benchmarks, that being the first Buddy Trip.
In 1927, an intrepid group of Chicagoans boarded a private train bound for the glorious and sunny shores of the Gulf of Mexico, including stops in Hot Springs, Ark., New Orleans, Pass Christian, Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Valparaiso, St. Andrew's Bay, Dunedin Isles, St. Petersburg, Lake Wales, Miami, Palm Beach, St. Augustine, Augusta and Atlanta. In St. Petersburg alone, they would play four different courses.
The trip was done entirely by train, starting on Jan. 21st and ending on Feb. 5. I think we all owe a deep and heartfelt thank you to I.C. Brenner, the visionary who pioneered this idea of shuttling a group of semi-coherent addicts from one course to the next, all in the name of good fun. I think there may have also been some 1927-era divorce attorneys who may have written him a nice letter or two.
I'd venture what the bar bill would be for such an excursion, but as this was during prohibition, I'm sure the costs are uncalculable.
