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BCrosby

  • Karma: +0/-0
HWW Quotes
« on: June 13, 2005, 03:50:26 PM »
I couldn't resist a couple of HWW quotations.

First, this is what good writing is all about:

On Venturi winning the 1964 Open in the killing heat of Washington at Congressional.. HWW wrote:

"…I am sure the crowd would agree with me that the Open reached its dramatic peak a few moments earlier, when after hitting his second shot,Venturi came walking shakily down the long slope. He was going to make it now,he knew, and in response to the tumultuous ovation he received as he descended the hill he removed his cap, for the first time that day. A little sun would not hurt now. I shall never forget the expression on his face as he came down the hill. It was taut with fatigue and strain, and yet curiously radiant .... It reminded me of another unforgettable, if entirely different face - the famous close-up of Charlie Chaplin at the end of "City Lights", all anguish beneath the attempted smile….."

___________

I laughed out loud at this HWW story:

HWW seemed a thing of the pastoral, perhaps English, past. Tweed, of course, was his preferred fabric. He once showed up at a course in all-tweed, including tweed knickers and a tweed cap. It was the middle of July.

"Aren't you a little hot?" his partner asked him.

"Yes I am," he replied.
 


Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:HWW Quotes
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2005, 10:56:49 PM »
I wish I could find my copy of HWW's essays from The New Yorker.  His recounting of the President's Putter at Rye, and the club president's speech, may be the funniest golf writing this side of P. G. Wodehouse.  I have this terrible habit of lending out really good books........... :P

ForkaB

Re:HWW Quotes
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2005, 04:03:53 AM »
Bill

I've put "Following Through" (not your copy!) in my throne room, and am reading it at leisure in honour of HWW.  In his PP article, there really is nothing from the speeches which would translate into guffaws on GCA.  It is a cumulative thang.  Very subtle writing.

Another quote from HWW:

"Blind holes are bad holes....."

This comes from his description of TOC which is really a paradigm of the art of damnation with faint praise.  Much as his love of St. Andrews as a place and the R&A as a club comes through in that essay, his indifference to The Old Course as a golf course could not be more evident, even if it is expressed very subtly......

Tiger_Bernhardt

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:HWW Quotes
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2005, 10:06:10 AM »
Rich, much to my regret, we did not get to share a few pints together in May. However in your honor I will move my copy of Following Through, not Bills, to my throne room for a period of tranquil reading each day. lol I shall adjourn now.