PAINT IT BLACK
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH
If pace of play remains a problem on the PGA Tour, it is partly because Tour officials aren’t given the same authority that joe Black had back
in the early 1960s. Black, a former caddie, tour player, rules official, club
professional and golf course developer who now resides in Bee Cave,
TX, recollects how he handed out a 2-stroke penalty to jack Nicklaus
in the 1962 Portland Open in his new book, A Few Good Golf Stories
($19.95, Austin Brothers Publishing).
Nicklaus, paired with Billy Casper and Bruce
Crampton, received a slow play warning in the
first round. Things got worse for the threesome
in the second round. Black had to twice issue
warnings. When they continued to fall farther
behind on the back nine, Black felt Nicklaus
was the culprit. Noticing that Nicklaus was not
making an effort to speed up, Black met him as
he walked off the 18th green and told him he
was being given a 2-stroke penalty. That left
Nicklaus sharing the 36-hole lead.
In a conversation after the round, Black of-
fered some advice, telling Nicklaus his problem
was not how fast he walked or how long he
stood over the ball, but that he was not ready to
play when it was his turn to do so. jack’s answer was that
he felt this would be rude. evidently, Nicklaus took the advice, as Black did
not have any more problems with his slow play during the next two years.
Nicklaus actually won the Portland Open that year and later was quoted
as saying the ruling was one of the best things that happened to him.
“They wouldn’t give you a slow-play penalty if you weren’t slow,” he said.
As an eyewitness to many other interesting golf events in the past
60 years, Black’s recollections are a fascinating look from a rarely seen
perspective.—James McAfee
Inspired by boyhood memories of drinking from a high-elevation Rocky Mountain
spring, jeff Lindauer and Russ
Wall have created a new line
of made-in-the-USA spirits
called spring 44 (the spring
they drank from as lads was
at 9,044-foot elevation). The
idea was to create sustainable
products using water from one
of the most pristine mountain
springs on earth. Thus was born
ultra-premium Spring44 Vodka,
Spring44 Honey Vodka and
Spring44 Gin...which they say
is guaranteed to provide a pure
Rocky Mountain high.
$24.99 (vodkas)/$29.99(gin);
spring44.com
aboutGolf Congratulates PGA TOUR Simulator Owner Luke Donald
on His 10 Top Ten Finishes This Year, Including Wins at the World
Golf Championships – Accenture Match Play Tournament and the
BMW PGA Championship and a World No. 1 Ranking.
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