Scorecard Collection
Although my introduction to golf was in the spring of 1964, it was not until being station in England in the late 60s did I developed an appreciation for how the “grand old game” is played. Up until then, my “golf swing” had derived from the hand and eye coordination developed as a switch hitting baseball player and reading a couple of Hogan’s books including the classic Five Lessons. “How hard can it be, the ball is sitting still, RIGHT?”, had always been the mindset.
After a couple of rounds on a course outside Bury St. Edmunds, I had the answer! There is a big difference in “playing golf” and just advancing the ball toward the hole. So, in the Fall of 1969, I decided I wanted to be a “player”. At the same time, I had arrived back stateside to start the process of being discharged from the military and found myself with a bunch of off duty time while my records where in the “hurry up and wait” admin queue at HQ.
Therefore, it seemed like the perfect time to inquire about getting a few golf lessons. And, every time I asked “who to see” about lessons, one name always came up, L. B. Floyd. I was familiar with who Mr. Floyd was; having played Stryker GC many times, were he had been the pro; as well as, operating a driving range just outside Ft. Bragg, were I spent many hours hitting balls. So the journey began.
Early on, the subject of developing a game that “travels well” was emphasized as a benchmark for being the complete golfer. As was stated numerous time, “Don’t fall in love with playing only your favorite course, you will never know how your game stacks up against “old man Par” until you learn how to score on any course on any given day.
By the early Summer of 71, the game was ready to ‘travel” and as they say, the rest is history. Over the next 20 plus years, I don’t think I played consecutive rounds at the same course more than a half of dozen times, or so. Even when I was a member of a club, the mission was still to play as many courses as possible.
Fast forward to 2014, after not touching the clubs for over 15 years, my grandson expressed an interest in us playing golf together. So, that Spring I decided to “dust off the gear”, and while in the process, I discovered a personal treasure trove of golf memorable stuck away in the pockets of old golf bags. Among them, were over a 100 scorecards.
The gallery below includes some of them dating back to the early 70s, others thru the 80s and 90s. All are of places my golf sojourn has taken me, over the years, to play “old man Par on his turf”.
