Re: Bullets, Bombs and Birdies

Date: March 21, 2004

"THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS
Golf columnist Jim Martin

Historian looks at golf, war

Brett Marshall is a friend of mine who is trapped on the Michigan tundra. There is little else to do but stay inside and publish books.

Marshall was executive editor for two publishers before launching a new company last year. While at Clock Tower Press he helped develop a fascinating new book about golf in time of war.

It is titled "Bullets, Bombs and Birdies."

Golf historian Dale Concannon shows that nothing was going to stop a person from playing golf. For example: In 1457 with national defense in the balance, the King of Scotland banned "gowlf" because his subjects were spending more time on the links than they were at archery practice.

Inside the German prisoner of war camps of World War II, Allied servicemen made clubs from scrap metal and balls from pine cones.

In 1942, Sam Snead enlisted in the Navy, but asked for a two-day extension so he could compete in the PGA Championship. Permission granted, and he won. Many of the top stars joined the service.

Both Augusta National and Baltusrol in New Jersey, two of the most famous courses, starting grazing cattle on their land.

The PGA Tour had but three tournaments in 1943.

The beleaguered people of London were bombed during the war, but it still didn't deter their golf. They even drew up a set of rules:

1. Players are asked to collect the bomb and shrapnel splinters to save these from causing damage to the mowing machines.

2. In competition, during gunfire or while bombs are falling, players may take shelter without penalty or ceasing play.

3. The position of known delayed-action bombs are marked with red flags at a reasonable, but not guaranteed, safe distance therefrom.

4. Shrapnel or bomb splinters on the fairways, or in bunkers, within a club's length of the ball, may be moved without penalty, and no penalty shall be incurred if a ball is thereby caused to move accidentally.

5. A ball moved by enemy action may be replaced, or if lost or destroyed, a ball may be dropped not nearer the hole without penalty.

6. A ball lying in a crater may be lifted and dropped not nearer the hole, preserving the line to the hole, without penalty.

7. A player whose stroke is affected by a simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball. Penalty of one stroke.

In 1973 President Nixon, mulling on what to do about the Vietnam war turned to a staunch Republican friend, Arnold Palmer, for advice.

The ever-charging Arnie answered quickly:

"Go for it," he said.

Jim Martin's golf column appears every other Sunday.

The Birmingham News"