On a visit to Scotland about 25 years ago, Frank Sinatra followed the lead of other golfing celebrities by visiting the famous John Letters club-making facility in Glasgow. As they had done for the likes of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, they produced a splendid set with the singer's autograph stamped on the heads.
Indeed Ol' Blue Eyes was so pleased with the finished product that on his return to the US, he wrote to the craftsman concerned, thanking him and including a signed photograph of himself. Not surprisingly, that personal letter became one of the proudest possessions of Jimmy Letters.
Now, however, both it and the photograph have gone missing and the owner is fearful they may have left these islands, possibly for sale on the US market. "Of all the memorabilia that I have gathered over the years, those items from Frank Sinatra were very special to me," he said.
"We made clubs for all the stars. I remember making a junior set for Liza Minelli. She was no more than six-years-old when she came to our factory with her mum, Judy Garland. I have been in touch with several collectors and auction houses in Britain asking them to keep a look-out for the missing material, which also included some pictures of myself with Sam Torrance and Bernard Gallacher."
Some time ago, Letters took a selection of items from his archives and loaned them to the company's new owners to illustrate a feature in a golf magazine. "They were returned to the company who, in turn, gave them to a third party to deliver to me," he said. "But they have never arrived."
Since the Scottish company made clubs for Hope, Crosby and Sinatra, it is interesting to see in Hope's book, Confessions of a Hooker, a photograph of the three of them performing together - in front of a microphone. In the caption, Hope refers to a slim, youthful Sinatra as "the walking one-iron".
Meanwhile, though the errant photograph could be replaced, it is clear that the letter could not. And given Sinatra's frail health right now, memorabilia connected with him is certain to enhance greatly in value. All of which adds to the craftsman's concern and makes one wonder if celebrities ever fully appreciate just how much a simple thank-you note can mean.
"Show me someone who gets angry once in a while and I'll show you a guy with a killer instinct. Show me a guy walking down the fairway smiling and I'll show you a loser."
- Lee Trevino.
Looking through the results of club competitions in recent weeks, it struck me that there must be some quare hawks up there in Ballybofey and Stranorlar. Especially the McDaids.
On February 15th, there was Martin McDaid (8 handicap) winning a club singles competition with the rather useful score of 45 points. Then on February 21st, Michael McDaid (13) carded 41 points. And on Sunday last, Philip McDaid (11) had a whopping 46 points.
My antennae began to vibrate, however, when I noted that the third-placed player on February 15th was a certain Jim McDaid, who had 41 points playing off 15. Could this be the same Jim McDaid who is our Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation? If so, all these other fine performers could be relations of his. In which case, we need to look no further for the nucleus of a Ryder Cup team to represent Europe when the event comes here in 2005.
On contacting the Ballybofey and Stranorlar club, however, I was informed that the Minister wasn't a member there. His club was Letterkenny. Not so, said Tony Kiely, the captain of Letterkenny. Indeed he went on to say that the Minister doesn't actually play golf, though he has a keen interest in the game.
Apparently the McDaids in question are not Donegalmen at all, but natives of Strabane. And without the Minister leading the clan, it seems we will be forced to stick with more run-of-the-mill candidates, such as Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley for the 2005 team.
It cost Tom Lehman an estimated $200,000 in appearance money to turn his back on this week's Dubai Desert Classic. But he has no regrets about opting for the Nissan Open. "They say Dubai is a safe haven in the Middle East but as far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing," he said.
Perhaps he should have talked to Greg Norman. Given the Shark's friendship with US President Bill Clinton, it's not unreasonable to assume that he would have sought some sort of political enlightenment before committing himself to Dubai.
But Lehman's mind is clear. "I'm sure there's going to be some unhappy people, but it's not their life," said the 1996 British Open champion.
AFTER HIS tantrums in Thailand earlier this year, a warmer side of Tiger Woods has been in evidence this week in the Nissan (Los Angeles) Open at Valencia Country Club. And it has much to do with his admiration and appreciation of a remarkable golfer from another generation.
In 1961, California's attorney general, Stanley Mosk, ruled that if the USPGA Tour insisted on keeping their whites-only clause, there would be no further tournaments in the state. Given the success of the Los Angeles Open, the San Diego Open, the Bing Crosby Pro-Am and the San Francisco Open, the tour clearly had much to lose.
The upshot was that the clause was removed. And when the leading black player of the time, Charlie Sifford, won the Los Angeles Open as a 46year-old in 1969, the first man he thanked was Mosk. Referring to Sifford as "my grandfather," Woods says of him: "He's one of the most courageous men ever to play this game. If it wasn't for him, who knows? I might not even have been given the chance to play golf."
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1923, Sifford was the one-time personal professional of singer Billy Eckstein. Then, with a victory in the 1967 Hartford Open, he became the first black player to win a tour event. And in 1975, he became the first black winner of the USPGA Seniors title.
In his fine book Golf: A Celebration of 100 years of the Rules of play, John Glover recounts a rather perplexing situation which arose during a tournament. According to the former Rules Secretary of the Royal and Ancient, it had to do with an official denying a player relief from casual water.
Anxious that he should be seen to be fair, the official called for a second opinion from a so-called rover, who duly swept up in a buggy before grinding to a halt. Sharp and businesslike, the rover inquired: "What's the problem and where's the ball?" To which the rules official replied: "The problem is now a little more serious because the ball is under your front wheel."
This day in golf history . . . . . . . On February 28th, 1931, Peter Alliss was born in Berlin. Son of leading professional Percy Alliss, he was only 15 when he, too, joined paid ranks. So, given his somewhat limited schooling, it was all the more remarkable that he should have become the voice of golf on BBC television for the last 25 years.
As it happens, this is the 40th anniversary of his finest competitive year. In 1958, Alliss regained the Spanish Open title which he had captured two years previously, while for good measure, he also won the Italian and Portuguese Open titles. But he is best remembered here for the 36-hole score of 127 he recorded in the Irish Hospitals Tournament at Woodbrook in 1961.
"I was considered to have one of the best swings of my time and putting is, I believe, the main reason that I never won a British Open," he claimed. He added: "Towards the end of the sixties, I began to twitch on the short putts and I retired from international matches at the end of the 1969 Ryder Cup."
Teaser: A player, taking relief under a rule, uses his driver to measure the one club-length or two club-lengths prescribed in the relevant rule. He drops a ball correctly and the ball rolls less than two driver-lengths but more than two putter-lengths from there the ball first struck a part of the course when dropped. Under Rule 20-2c, a dropped ball must be re-dropped if it rolls more than two club-lengths. If the ball comes to rest in a poor lie, may the player opt to use his putter to measure the distance his ball has rolled, in which case he would re-drop under Rule 20-c and escape the poor lie?
Answer: No (due to a change applicable from January 1st). A player, for the purposes of measuring, may use any clubs he has selected for the round (Rule 4-4a), but he must continue to use that club for all measuring required in the given situation. (Previously, a player could use any club, even a fellow-competitor's or one carried by a spectator).
