Club-throwing Tommy Bolt (winner of
1958 US Open) dies at 92

CHEROKEE VILLAGE, Arkansas – Tommy Bolt, known as much for his fiery temper as for his 15 US PGA Tour victories, died on August 30. He was 92.
Bolt’s career highlight was his United States Open victory in 1958 when he defeated Gary Player by four shots at Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa in Oklahoma.
Bolt was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002. He played on Ryder Cup teams in 1955 and 1957.
Bolt was born March 31, 1916, in Haworth, Oklahoma., and served in the US Army during World War II.
His introduction to golf was through caddying and he did not become involved actively until he was 34.
Bolt is also credited with teaching a young Arnold Palmer and anyone who would listen “to always throw clubs ahead of you. That way you won’t waste any energy going back to pick them up.”
“I launched far more (clubs) because they expected me to than I did because I was mad at anything that had gone wrong with my golf,’’ Bolt once said in an interview.
“After a while, it became showmanship, plain and simple.”
Bolt later went on to write a book about his golfing experience called “The Hole Truth.”
He is survived by his wife, Mary Lou, and one son, Tommy W.
A private graveside service was held September 2 at the Evening Shade Cemetery.

Orville Moody, 1969 US

Open champion, dies

FROM THE UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION WEBSITE

Orville Moody, a two-time USGA champion whose only victory on the PGA Tour was the 1969 U.S. Open, died Friday at the age of 74 in Texas. The cause of death was not released.
Nicknamed "Sarge" because he rose to the rank of sergeant during his 14 years in the U.S. Army, Moody remains the last person to win the U.S. Open after playing in local and sectional qualifying.
Orville Moody's lone PGA Tour victory came at the 1969 U.S. Open in Houston. (USGA Museum)
Two years after giving up his military career to make a trial run at the PGA Tour in 1967, the Oklahoma native held off Deane Beman, Al Geiberger and Bob Rosburg by a single stroke at Champions Golf Club’s Cypress Creek Course in Houston, Texas. Moody, then 35, posted rounds of 71-70-68-72 for a 72-hole total of 1-over-par 281. It was only Moody’s second appearance at the Open. His first came in 1962 at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club when he failed to make the 36-hole cut.
Moody, a gifted ball-striker whose career was plagued by putting problems, would finish the 1969 season as the PGA Player of the Year.
After turning 50 and joining the Senior Tour (now the Champions Tour) in 1984, Moody enjoyed much more success thanks to the long putter, winning three of his first five tournaments. He finished with 11 career Senior Tour victories, including the 1989 U.S. Senior Open at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pa., at the age of 55. Moody charged into the lead with a third-round 64 (eight under) and closed with a 2-under 70 (279) for a two-stroke victory over Frank Beard.
"The USGA was proud to call Orville Moody an Open and Senior Open champion," said USGA Executive Director David Fay. "While his victory in the 1969 Open at The Champions was a surprise (with the notable exception of a fellow former Veteran by the name of Lee Trevino!), Orville’s superb ball-striking talents were, thankfully, showcased over the next quarter century, both on the regular and senior Tour. The expression, ‘he could golf his ball’ certainly applied to Orville. I am saddened to hear of this champion's passing. He was a stand-up kind of guy who earned the admiration of all with whom he came in contact."
At the time of his Senior Open victory, Moody joined Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper and Gary Player as the only players to have won both a U.S. Open and Senior Open. That feat has since been matched by Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus and Hale Irwin.
The son of a golf course superintendent, Moody, a part Choctaw Indian, was born Dec. 9, 1933, in Chickasha, Okla. At Capitol Hill High School in Oklahoma City, he won the state high school golf championship in 1952. But after spending a few weeks at the University of Oklahoma, Moody opted to join the U.S. Amy, where he spent 14 years heading up maintenance supervision and instruction at all Army golf courses, eventually rising to the rank of sergeant.
When he decided to give professional golf a try in 1967, Moody was making $5,000 a year. In his first full year on the PGA Tour, he earned $300,000. Besides his U.S. Open triumph, Moody’s only other top-10 finish in a major came when he tied for seventh at the 1969 PGA Championship, but he did have five runner-up finishes in other PGA Tour events.
Moody, who competed in 250 PGA Tour events, also played many international events during his professional career, winning titles in Hong Kong, Morocco and Australia. He also took a club pro job in Sulphur Springs, Texas.
The same year Moody won the U.S. Senior Open, he added a second major title at the Mazda Senior Tournament Players Championship, which helped him earn $647,985 in 1989. His last title came at the 1992 Franklin Showdown Classic.
Overall, Moody competed in 513 Champions Tour events, with his final appearance coming at the 2003 Constellation Energy Classic.
Prior to the 1995 season, Moody had triple bypass heart surgery, but still managed to compete in 29 events after surgery.
Memorial service and arrangements are currently pending.
Story written by USGA New Media staff writer David Shefter

Former U S Ryder Cup player

Mike Souchak dies at 81

Mike Souchak, a winner 15 times on the US PGA Tour, has died at the age of 81 in Clearwater, Florida.
"The PGA Tour family has lost one of its true pioneers," Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement. "Mike Souchak was in many ways the prototype of today's modern golfer.
"His formidable athletic skills made him long off the tee and he helped elevate the game's profile before the game was televised on a regular basis."
Souchak, a Ryder Cup player in 1959 and 1961, won the last of his US PGA Tour titles at the 1964 Memphis Open. He produced 11 top-10 finishes in major championships, including ties for third at the US Open in 1959 and 1960.

Former Crieff pro John Stark
dies at age of 76

FROM THE PGA WEBSITE
By NAT SYLVESTER
Scottish golf is mourning the passing of former Crieff Golf Club professional John Stark at the age of 76.
Glasgow-born Stark, who as a kid was nicknamed Hagen, led a fascinating life that included encounters with Ben Hogan, a long spell coaching abroad in Sweden, and a role as chieftain of the Highland Games.
He was also captain of the Scottish PGA in 1976 and a regular at the R&J Junior Golf Centre at Open Championships where he introduced hundreds of youngsters to the game.
Stark remained passionate about the game long after he retired from Crieff where he was head pro for 35 years.
Former Scottish PGA regional secretary Peter Lloyd described Stark as 'a wonderful figure for golf'.
"John was a totally inspiring character, he was of an older breed of generation that always had opinion and thought - he was really special," said Lloyd.
"He was immensely well-respected by all, still coaching at the Open Championships until recently and just a wonderful figure for the region and the game of golf and will be sadly missed." Golf chat with Hogan, friendships with Zulus, policing some of Glasgow's toughest streets and fronting Highland Games - life was never dull for John Stark. John packed more into his 76 years than many would in several lifetimes.
His career with the PGA spanned more than 55 years, a period in which the standing of the club pro changed dramatically. Stark entered the golf profession at a time when often clubs could only afford to employ pros on a weekend basis or employ them in dual greenkeeper-professional capacity and it certainly wasn't a lucrative occupation.
"After the war only two pros in Scotland had cars!" recalled Stark in an exclusive interview with Golf Pages just over two years ago. Golf was very much in Stark's blood - his mother was a scratch player, an uncle was a pro at Gourock and his grandparents were the club master and mistress of Bearsden Golf Club where he was evacuated from Glasgow during the war. He honed his game at Bearsden and his grandparents quickly nicknamed him Hagen after the great Walter.
A promising playing career developed, netting him junior international honours and Walker Cup trials but it floundered when he lost two years to National Service and then a subsequent year as a bobby on the beat in Clydebank - at the time one of the toughest parts of Glasgow.
While his playing skills had been diluted by three years of inactivity, Stark's club-making skills, learned after the war with John Letters and Tiger Murray, soon landed him back in golf with an assistant's position to John Panton at Glenbervie.
Stark's career then took an unusual twist in the 1950s when he hopped across the North Sea to work in Sweden at first Linkoping and then Atvidaberg golf clubs. He was there eight years, helping develop the latter club from scratch, taking it from a membership of approximately 20 to 200 plus.
Among his pupils were SAAB engineers who first got him thinking about swing planes, a theme later developed by John Jacobs, whom Stark described as the 'father of modern day coaching'. One of the highlights of Stark's career was a first hand insight into arguably golf's greatest ever player - Ben Hogan. It came at the Open at Carnoustie in 1953 where Stark got a close up glimpse of what made the great man tick.
On the eve of the tournament, after a practice round, Stark, with his boss Panton, shared a drink with Hogan, not to mention the 1947 and 1951 Open champions Fred Daly and Max Faulkner.
"It was one of the few times in my life when I kept my mouth shut and ears open," said Stark who had missed out in final qualifying by only one shot after running up an 11 at the 7th. "It was a fascinating experience," said Stark of his encounter.
"I remember someone asking Hogan why he hit the ball to the left at Carnoustie's first hole which is a very dangerous drive indeed because there's a hillock down the left, with a burn alongside it.
"Hogan said that if he was going to change it into a short hole then where he drove down the left, was where he would put the tee! He was so accurate with his drives, he could put the ball on a sixpence.
"He dissected the course like a scientist. He wasn't an escapologist like Seve. Hogan's approach was that you had 14 drives to turn a course into 18 short holes. By doing that you turned a course into 18 par-3s and he reasoned that if you don't pick up 2s occasionally you're not very good."
After a lifetime in the game Stark kept his passion for it to the end although he was never too enamoured with some modern trends - notably in equipment technology, course design and pace of play.
"Modern courses? It's almost like you've got a bloody great park in front of you with tons of green. If you can't hit one of those it's like missing your mouth with your fork," he said. "New golf courses to me are just elongated driving ranges. In the old days they had to manufacture shots and that's the difference. I hate this driving range sort of thing.
"Why do people still love coming to play links courses? Because that's the way God intended them, the wind and rain, the elements have made them what they are with a little help from man, and created this wonderful moving and flowing thing.
"The biggest change in my lifetime has been the equipment. In my day we didn't even know what a sweet spot (on the clubface) was - we just knew if you didn't hit it right it just about took your damn hands off."
In a wide-ranging career, Stark also had regular coaching stints in South Africa which brought him close ties with Zulu friends and one of his proudest achievements was organising fund-raising tournaments in Scotland to build classrooms for a Zulu school.
Stark was steeped in the traditions of a long line of great Scottish pros, but unique as well, growing rare varieties of potatoes as a hobby and becoming still probably the only club pro, and captain of the PGA of Scotland, to have been Chieftain of the Crieff Highland Games.
A great character who will be sadly missed.
John Stark, 1931 - 2008

SANDY BARCLAY (1947-2008)

SANDY BARCLAY: BALLATER GOLF CLUB SECRETARY

FACED DEATH WITH GREAT DIGNITY AND COURAGE

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Sandy Barclay was one of the bravest men it's been my privilege to know personally.

The funeral service of the former Ballater Golf Club secretary was held at Glenmuick Parish Church last Friday. He was buried at Tullich Cemetery near Ballater where he was born in 1947.
Sandy died at Aboyne Hospital on January 10 "with great dignity and courage after a long illness," said his death notice in the Aberdeen "Press and Journal."

We are all going to die sometime but I doubt if I could be as brave about impending death as Sandy was after being told in April 2001 that he was suffering from the incurable Motor Neurone Disease.

Sandy was no saint. Like all of us, he had his good days and bad days but his heart was in the right place. I remember interviewing him for the May 2004 issue of "Golfview," and I could not have blamed him had he been wallowing in self-pity.

Not a bit. Sandy faced up to his limited future and told me the facts without exaggeration or emotion. His retirement from the Ballater Golf Club post had been fixed for April 30, some nine years after he took up the post. Much of his earlier life - 30 years of it - had been spent in the Royal Navy. He was a Warrant Officer in the Submarine Service when he came back to Civvy Street.

In that 2004 interview, Sandy told me: "My health has caught up with me. I can't golf but I can still walk and that's what I'll be doing. Motor Neurone is a disease that causes progressive muscular atrophy. I said that when my speech started to go and deteriorated to the point that I couldn't make myself understood on the telephone, then it would be the time to retire from the Ballater Golf Club job. I think that time has come."

He organised Texas Scramble open tournaments to raise money for the Scottish Motor Neurone Disease Association and they always had a full house of entries, as much a testament to the high regard in which Sandy Barclay was held in the North-east golfing world as to the desire of the golfing public to do their bit for a worthy cause.

Sandy told me that he first developed pain in his right elbow and later some wasting of the muscles in that forearm before, in April 2001, he was given the diagnosis that he was suffering from Motor Neurone Disease.

"There is research going on all the time but the funding is nowhere near that which cancer reaseach enjoys," Sandy told me. "There are drugs being refined all the time to help combat MND. It is too late to help me but the money we have raised from these Texas Scrambles helped to fund ongoing research."

Not that a man like Sandy would be forgotten anyway but he does have an enduring golfing memorial in the Royal Deeside Golf Classic which attracts visitors from all over Britain to play at Ballater, Aboyne, Banchory and Inchmarlo in July every year. The tournament was a Sandy Barclay idea.