Pro-Golfers Back In The 1940’s …
The above photo is of Byron Nelson. The next one is of Sam Snead …
The guy in the background is Jug McSpadden with Sam Snead in the foreground. The next two are golfer Craig Wood …
I do not know which golf course these gofers were playing … back in the 1940’s, I believe that the only two courses in the area were either NAS or Pensacola Country Club. I am pretty sure that Osceola was not around in the 1940’s and Scenic Hills was not built until the 1960’s. I am sorry that I do not have anymore information, but someone out there might remember these golfers passing through Pensacola. I am fairly sure that they were playing an exhibition, since Pensacola did not have a professional tournament until the 1960’s. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
Actually the first pro golf tournament was held at the Pensacola Country Club in 1956. It was won by Don Fairfield. I used to really enjoy watching the Pensacola Open in the early 1960s. At that time, you could follow along with the players and there were no gallery ropes. When Arnold Palmer won the Pensacola Open in 1960, the first place money was $2000. I think the entire purse was $12,500.
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Wayne Craig
January 2, 2015 at 8:43 pm
That’s interesting Wayne … I found an old button from the 1960’s from one of the Pensacola Opens a while back and I was going to photograph it in the near future for a post. I also had a post showing photos of some pros that use a certain golf ball ( I cannot recall the name right off ) last year. I do not think anyone made any comments on it off the top of my head. Check it out and see if anyone looks familiar to you … Thanks again for commenting and please check back … Frank
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Frank Hardy
January 3, 2015 at 10:01 am
I can remember the First Flight golf balls and clubs and I think some of the First Flight golf balls had steel centers. I didn’t recognize any of the golfers using the First Flight clubs. I believe that the company went bankrupt in the 1960’s.
By the way, The Osceola Golf course was in existence in the 1940’s and maybe before. For a while it was the only public golf course in Pensacola. I have a lot of fond memories of playing Osceola and can still remember the layout of a lot of the holes. Back in the 50’s and early 60’s the pro at Osceola was Gordy Glenz, who later became a PGA Tour official. A funny story about the Osceola pro shop that I recall. There had been a couple of break-ins and thefts from the pro shop so Gordy decided to get a guard dog ( a huge Weimaraner) to leave in the pro shop to deter the thieves. The next morning when Gordy opened the shop, he found that the dog had chewed a huge hole in the door, large enough for him to make his escape.
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Wayne Craig
January 3, 2015 at 8:46 pm
Thanks for the comment Wayne … I cannot put a face to the name Gordy Glenz, but the name is familiar to me. The First Flight golf balls are not familiar to me either. However, that does not mean a thing. Same with the golfers in the post for the First Flight golf balls. The golfer in this post I obviously had heard of … I had never heard of Jug McSpadden but I did look him up on Wikipedia and he had an interesting history with his golfing career. Please check back in 2015 … Frank
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Frank Hardy
January 7, 2015 at 10:21 am