No barriers

By Steve Woodward

Residents and visitors to Pinehurst, North Carolina, and its environs recently have been immersed in golf’s 124th U.S. Open contested on the fairways and greens of storied course No. 2. 

Avid golfers, golf spectators, and folks just looking for a marathon weeklong party, descended by the tens of thousands, requiring the United States Golf Association and its battalions of volunteers to operate a tight logistical ship with innumerable moving parts. The remote parking lots filled. The shuttle buses rolled out. On-course merchandise venues tested capacity limits. And No. 2 became a sea of herded humanity surrounding ribbons of lush turf upon which immensely talented athletes pursued one of golf’s most coveted prizes.

Open week began with an induction gala celebrating legends of the game and the new World Golf Hall of Fame erected near the Pinehurst main clubhouse. 

Among the inductees was the late Johnny Farrell. A son of Irish immigrants, Farrell was a first-generation American. His father died when Johnny was a boy, leaving behind an impoverished family. Johnny, 8 years old, took a job at a country club near his home in Westchester, New York. By age 19 Johnny had mastered the game and turned professional during the fledgling years of the PGA Tour. He won 16 tournaments in seven years and was named to the USA’s victorious 1927 Ryder Cup team. Farrell was a self-made success.

Another 2024 inductee was the late Beverly Hanson. She was a dual trailblazer. Hanson likely was one of America’s first female sportswriters. After earning a college journalism degree in her native North Dakota, she was hired in 1944 by a newspaper in Fargo and assigned to cover a men’s golf tournament. Hanson soon was attracted to the game. She joined the LPGA in its infancy, in 1951, one year after 13 future legends formed the tour. Hanson collected 15 career victories including three “majors”.  She was the winner of the first LPGA Championship in 1955. Hanson’s was a life rewarded by determination and persistence.

The history of professional golf is replete with stories of men and women who rose to join the game’s elites from humble beginnings and against long odds.

Lloyd Mangrum owned five PGA Tour victories when he arrived on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in June 1944. Amid the invasion his vehicle overturned. One of Mangrum’s arms was broken. But that did not end his tour of duty. He absorbed shrapnel in his chin and knee during the Battle of the Bulge later that year and into 1945. He returned from the war with four battle stars and two Purple Hearts.

Mangrum came home and won the 1946 U.S. Open at Conterbury Golf Club in Cleveland. He carried half of a dollar bill bearing his signature in his wallet during the Open. The other half had been signed by a fellow Army sergeant on D-Day. He did not survive the battle. Mangrum’s half of the bill is displayed with other artifacts from his career in the World Golf Hall of Fame. None are more worthy of the title “hero” enshrined therein.

In more recent years, look no further than the life of Tiger Woods. He dominated the PGA Tour for so long, and his personal life was so checkered, that details of his journey to stardom have begun to fade. Woods was raised by biracial middle class parents who demanded discipline. He was encouraged to try the game by a golf loving father, Earl. During his 2022 Half of Fame induction, Woods recalled being dropped off at a local golf public course with precisely the number of quarters he would need for a hot dog, a drink, and a pay phone call when he was ready to come home. As he progressed, Woods’ parents applied for a second home mortgage to cover tournament and travel expenses. Arguably, Woods has influenced more young men and women across a broad racial and ethnic spectrum to pursue golf than anyone in the game’s history. One is named Charlie, his son.

Consider one of the other names in the field during the recent Open in Pinehurst. Keegan Bradley spent part of his teen years living with his father in a trailer park in Massachusetts after his parents divorced. A few years later he captured the attention of the St. John’s University golf coach. At age 22 Bradley was a PGA Tour player. He has won six times on tour.

The stories behind the stars of American golf enshrined within the walls of Pinehurst’s new World Golf Hall of Fame are stories of economic, racial and gender barriers that were no match for passion and talent. 

Educators looking for opportunities to inspire their students might consider a field trip to the hall. Kids could stand a lesson or two on how not to be distracted by excuses and victimhood, and how to set goals and dream big dreams. Grade schools, high schools and “woke” universities seem to be intent on teaching just the opposite. 

Americans of a certain age lament that our children and grandchildren no longer have heroes to empower and embolden them. This might be true in the era of TikTok influencers. But there were glimpses of hope around No. 2 during the Open in the faces of young people straining to see a perfect golf shot or score a coveted player signature. 

The legendary designer of No. 2 and hundreds of revered golf courses in the 20th century, Donald Ross, once famously said that a “golf-minded” nation will be imbued with honor, integrity and honesty. His words were imparted during a more innocent age but we could sure use a dose or two of all three.