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- The USGA mandates use of a larger and lighter ball (1.68 inches
and 1.55 ounces). This so-called "balloon ball" is very unpopular,
and after only one year the USGA increases the allowed weight
to 1.62 ounces, keeping the size at 1.68 inches. Meanwhile,
the R&A stays with the 1.62-inch, 1.62-ounce ball.
- The concave-faced wedge is banned, but Gene Sarazen perfects
his design of the sand wedge, with a wide flange, which will
remain legal.
- Bobby Jones films a series of instructional movies, How
I Play Golf.
- Billy Burke is the first to win a U.S. Open using steel shafts.
It takes him seventy-two extra holes (two thirty-six-hole playoffs)
to beat George Von Elm.
- Gene Sarazen wins the U.S. Open and British Open, with record
scores of 286 and 283, respectively. He finishes the U.S. Open
with a record 66.
- The first Curtis Cup Match, between women amateurs of the
U.S. and Great Britain, is won by the United States, 5-1/2 to
3-1/2.
- Augusta National Golf Club, founded by Bobby Jones, has its
grand opening in January.
- Johnny Goodman is the fifth, and most recent, amateur to win
the U.S. Open.
- Horton Smith wins the first Augusta National Invitational.
Its name will be changed to The Masters in 1939.
- Lawson Little wins the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur, the
"Little Slam," a feat he will repeat in 1935.
- England's Henry Cotton ties the British Open record with a
67 in the first round and breaks it with a 65 in the second.
His victory is the first by a Briton in eleven years.
- Virginia Van Wie wins the U.S. Women's Amateur for the third
consecutive year.
- Joseph C. Dey, Jr., is appointed Executive Secretary of the
USGA. He will hold the post for thirty-four years.
- Helen Hicks becomes one of the first women to turn professional.
There are no professional tournaments, but she promotes products
for Wilson-Western Sporting Goods Company.
- Gene Sarazen strikes the most famous shot in the history of
The Masters - a double eagle on Augusta National's fifteenth
hole, which ties Craig Wood during the final round. Sarazen
wins the playoff the next day.
- Glenna Collett Vare wins her sixth U.S. Women's Amateur.
- Lawson Little turns professional instead of going for a third
consecutive U.S. Amateur - British Amateur sweep.
- Unheralded Tony Manero closes with a 67 to win the U.S. Open
with a record 282.
- In winning the U.S. Amateur, Johnny Fischer is the last to
capture a national championship using hickory-shafted clubs.
- Sam Snead bursts onto the professional circuit with five victories.
- The first Bing Crosby National Pro-Am is held at Rancho Santa
Fe in San Diego. It will move to Pebble Beach in 1947.
- Byron Nelson wins The Masters, making up six strokes on fellow
Texan Ralph Guldahl on the twelfth and thirteenth holes of the
final round.
- Denny Shute wins his second consecutive PGA Championship.
- The United States wins the Ryder Cup on British soil for the
first time.
- A new USGA Rule limits players to fourteen clubs. Some players
(e.g., Lawson Little) have been carrying as many as twenty-five.
The Rule is designed to restore shot-making skill.
- Sam Snead wins eight tournaments and shatters the earnings
record with $19,534.
- Ralph Guldahl wins his second consecutive U.S. Open, and third
consecutive Western Open.
- Patty Berg, twice a runner-up, wins the U.S. Women's Amateur
at age twenty.
- The Ryder Cup is canceled because of the war in Europe.
- Byron Nelson wins the U.S. Open in a playoff over Craig Wood
and Denny Shute after Sam Snead makes an eight on the seventy-second
hole.
- The Walker Cup is canceled because of the war. The British
Open and Amateur are also canceled.
- Ben Hogan wins his first individual title, the North & South
Open, then takes the next two events as well.
- Jimmy Demaret, the most colorful golfer of his generation,
wins the first of three Masters titles despite Lloyd Mangrum's
tournament-record round of 64.
- Ed "Porky" Oliver would have tied for first in the U.S. Open,
but he is disqualified from the playoff. While trying to beat
a storm, Oliver and five other players start the final round
before their scheduled starting times. Lawson Little defeats
Gene Sarazen for the title.
- Bryon Nelson beats Sam Snead, one up, in a match of titans
for the PGA Championship.
- Craig Wood ends a string of frustrating runner-up finishes
in major events by winning both The Masters and the U.S. Open.
- The USGA develops a machine for testing golf-ball velocity
at impact. Plans for limiting initial velocity are put on hold
until after the war.
- A Rule change authorizes players to stop play on their own
initiative if they consider themselves endangered by lightning.
- The USGA cancels all its championships for the duration of
the war. The PGA of America continues its Tour schedule, though
it is an abbreviated one.
- The United States government halts the manufacturing of golf
equipment.
- Sam Snead wins the PGA Championship. He had been granted a
delay of several days before induction into the Navy so he could
play in the event.
- Byron Nelson beats Ben Hogan in a playoff for The Masters.
- Ben Hogan wins the Hale America National Open, a charity event
for the Navy Relief Fund and the USO. He shoots a second-round
62 en route to a 17-under-par total.
- The war takes a heavy toll on competitive golf. The PGA Tour
is reduced to only three tournaments. There is no PGA Championship.
- The Masters is canceled for the duration of the war.
- The PGA Tour is back up to 22 tournaments,
though many players remain in military service.
- The Tam O'Shanter Open offers a record
purse of $42,000 and is won by Byron Nelson, who is exempt from
military service because of a blood disorder.
- Byron Nelson wins a record 11 consecutive
tournaments from March through August, and 18 during the year.
While fields aren't at full strength, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan
each are on hand for part of the year.
- Ben Hogan sets a 72-hole scoring record
with 261; two weeks later, Byron Nelson breaks it with 259.
- Ben Hogan wins 13 PGA Tour events, including
the PGA Championship, but loses The Masters and U.S. Open by
one stroke.
- Sam Snead wins the British Open at the
Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. On passing the course on
a train on his way to the championship, Snead declares, "That
looks like an old, abandoned golf course."
- The first U.S. Women's Open is held,
and the only one ever waged at match play. Patty Berg is the
champion.
- Byron Nelson retires at age 34 after
winning six tournaments during the year.
- The USGA revises and simplifies the Rules
of Golf, going from 61 Rules to 21. The R & A doesn't go
along, however.
- South African Bobby Locke storms onto
the PGA Tour with six victories.
- The U.S. Open is televised — but
only locally — on KSD-TV in St. Louis.
- Babe Didrikson Zaharias is the first
American to win the British Ladies' Open Amateur. She turns
pro later in the year.
- Golf World magazine begins publishing.
- The first U.S. Junior Amateur is played,
with Dean Lind beating future U.S. Open champion Ken Venturi
in the championship match.
- Bobby Locke wins the Chicago Victory
National Championship by 16 strokes, establishing a PGA Tour
record.
- Ben Hogan captures the first of four
U.S. Opens with a record score of 276. He also wins the PGA
Championship.
- Golf Journal magazine — originally USGA Journal Combining Timely
Turf Topics — appears.
- African-American professionals Ted Rhodes
and Bill Spiller finish in the top 25 at the Los Angeles Open,
one of the few tournaments open to African-Americans. They remain
excluded from most PGA Tour events under a rule that leaves
the decision up to tournament sponsors.
- Sam Snead wins The Masters by finishing
67-67. Later, he adds the PGA Championship.
- Marlene Bauer, 15, wins the inaugural
U.S. Girls' Junior Championship, and turns pro later in the
year.
- The Ladies Professional Golf Association,
under dynamic tournament manager Fred Corcoran, replaces the
struggling Women's Professional Golf Association.
- Louise Suggs wins the U.S. Women's Open
by 14 strokes.
- Ben Hogan returns to the Tour a year
after nearly being killed in an automobile accident and wins
the U.S. Open at Merion in an 18-hole playoff.
- Jimmy Demaret wins his third Masters.
- Babe Zaharias wins the U.S. Women's Open
by nine strokes.
- Sam Snead wins 11 events on the PGA Tour.
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