Golf Confessions

In 1945 Byron Nelson set records that may never be broken.  Byron played in 30 events and won 18 which is 60% of the events he played.  At one point Nelson won an incredable 11 tournaments in a row.  Many historians beleive that this feat will never be broken.

Byron’s greatest competition was boyhood caddy companion Ben Hogan and another golfer that started his golfing career as a caddy in Virginia, Sam Snead.   These three great players were the same age and each set many golfing records.  Nelson had his winning streak, Ben Hogan is one of only five players to win the Grand Slam and Sam Snead leads the trio and all players with the most wins on the PGA.

Byron started his professional career in Texarkana, Tx.  Byron had gone to Texarkana from the Dallas area to play in a tournament and when he paid his five dollar entry fee and approached the first tee he declared he was going to play for the money.  This immediately made Nelson a professional.  In his first tournament as a pro Byron made seventy five dollars.  This was a huge amount of money during the depression.   

Like most young professionals Byron struggled at first and eventually borrowed money from his future father-in-law to stay on the tour.  The tour was hap hazard at best in those days and all the players had a hard time making a living.  In those early days all of the pros had to have a club job too make ends meet.

Byron was determined to make it on the tour and he kept a diary of his play so he could analize the areas that he needed to improve.  Nelson and Hogan first began competing against each other as caddies at Glenn Garden CC.  In their first match, Nelson won a caddy tournament  79 to 80.

Hogan’s skill as a golfer came along later than did Nelsons.  Ben fought  a terrible hook early in his career.  While these two future Hall of Famers fought it out in Texas another Hall of Famer was perfecting his skills in Virginia, caddying at the Homestead.

The three would go on to have some great battles.

Today Scott Verplank will open his defense of the EDS Byron Nelson tournament in Dallas at the TPC Resort Los Calinos.  Scott was over whelmed when he wrapped up the tournament victory last year.  His victory came just a few months after his friend Byron Nelson had passed away.  Verplank had been friends with Nelson for twenty five years, which included his younger days growing up in Dallas and his college days at Oklahoma State University.

Trevor Immelman will also be in the field this week, this will be Trevor’s first tournament since he won The Masters.  The field will be testing the newly rennovated tournament course.  After last year’s tournament the decision was made to bring in D. A. Weibring as a consultant and completely redesign the tees and greens.  The course is reported to be in great shape and the tournament committee is anxiously waiting to see how the new changes will stand up under tournament conditions.