I came across this 1955 Sports Illustrated article by Herbert Warren Wind about ‘The Tour’… it’s very interesting. There are some surprising correlations between the standard courses back then and the ones of today, as well as the old school ‘bomb and gouge’ mentality- I never would’ve thought they were up to the same thing back then…
It’s a good read…
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ … /index.htm
If you click on the cover photo up top you can actually view inside the whole issue including the above article with photos… pretty cool
Thanks for the post…
It’s hard to believe they all drove the tour and the vast majority stayed in trailers. Even Palmer back then.
Guys today gripe about getting bumped to coach on a 3 hour flight. Hotel or even motel accommodations are certainly a step up from the campground. I remember Phil Hatchet was camping out on the Canadian Tour for a couple years… but I think he was in the hotels the year he won the Quebec Open.
I know Moe spend a lot of nights sleeping in his car. I certainly builds character. If you really love golf enough, you simply do whatever it takes.
I have always thought that whatever you are averaging at home, you will be average 3 shots at least higher when you get out on tour. It really is a grind and takes a special mentality to really love that kind of lifestyle.
At least gas was cheap back then, and the cars were big with lots of trunk room. 
Yeah, it gave a very natural picture of these guys, like they were just working men. I enjoyed the road myself, though I’ve always been a mover. It’s a shame that the smaller tours are so expensive to play- it would be fun to head out for a few months a year, maybe shoot to break even and call it a free holiday. Kind of like the way the guys did back then. I can’t believe the PGA Tour don’t have a whole slew of smaller tours that feed all the way up- it can’t be a money issue, and I’m sure they’ve thought of it, I wonder what the deal is. Though maybe it is money and they’re afraid of losing their annual Q School Cash Bonanza… so much free money. I’d love to know what they make on it when all is said and done.
It’s a shame that the US Tour does not play great golf courses weekly. One of the things I loved about playing the Australian Tour was that every week we played on a great course. The tour would play on the nations best courses… and somehow the members of the Clubs seemed to enjoy and take pride in giving up their course for the week. I liked every course I played in Australia except for Riverside Oaks, which simply reminded me of why I wasn’t hell bent on playing in the states. It had that typical TPC look which I never liked, and still don’t.
The rest of the courses in Australia were top classic layouts, that rewarded good shots and punished bad ones… not the other way around.
