Everything Old is New Again

So, Dear readers, I'll start this with a question.  Who amongst you knows that the PGA Championship used to hold a long-drive competition during tournament week?  Be honest now...

Loyal readers know that Ted Bishop, President of the PGA of America, is not exactly ma favorite in the golf world.  I think of him as the Chuck Schumer of our sport, as in the most dangerous place in the world is between Ted Bishop and a microphone.

But, we here at Unplayable Lies strive to give credit where credit is due, and I just love this little bit of retro planning:

"The other thing that we're going to do that's pretty cool is that it was brought to our attention

just a few weeks ago that Jack Nicklaus is actually carrying a money clip from the long drive contest that he won at the 1963 PGA Championship. So we are going to reintroduce a long drive contest during the week of the PGA Championship, it's probably going to be on Wednesday, we don't know the details of how this whole thing is going to unfold, but you'll hear more about that on top of the extension of the pick the hole location that we started last year at Oak Hill," Bishop said.

Set aside the fact that he needed Jack to remind him of the traditions of his own organization, but how much fun will if guys like Bubba, Dustin, Colsaerts and Woodland give it a go.

Wondering what it took to win in 1963?

"One little known fact about that week in Dallas is that in addition to winning his first PGA Championship, Jack also won a driving contest. He crushed a drive of 341 yards, 17 inches with a persimmon driver and wound golf ball. For his victory, Jack received a money clip that cherishes to this day. Below the PGA logo it says “Driving Distance Winner.”"

That's seriously long with that equipment, though it was like 110 degrees in Dallas that week.  Of course inflation is a big factor, and a 1963 yard is only worth 29.5 inches today...

If you're interested, Jack talked about that 1963 PGA win on its golden anniversary here.  Funniest bit to me was that he couldn't hold the trophy with his bare hands, 'cause it was too friggin' hot.  Had to use a towel as in the pic above.

Shackelford provides this partial listing of long-drive winners, the vast majority of whom were tour rabbits at best:

National Long Drive Championship

1962    George Bayer             
1963    Jack Nicklaus               341/17         Dallas (Texas) Athletic Club

1974    Evan Williams             366               Tanglewood GC, Winston-Salem, N.C.
1975    Jeff Long (Amateur), Fort Mitchell, Ky. 322-2    Butler National Golf Club

1976 - Evan Williams, 307-23         Congressional Country Club
1977 - Evan Williams, 353/24         Pebble Beach
1978 - John McComish, 330            Oakmont CC
1979 - Andy Franks, 314                Oakland Hills CC
1980 - Scott DeCandia, 295/18       Oak Hill CC
1981 - Lon Hinkle, 338/6                Atlanta Athletic Club
1982 - Andy Franks, 346/17.5        Southern Hills, Tulsa, Okla.
1983 - Terry Forcum, 307               Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
1984 – Lawrence “Wedgy” Winchester, 319/14  Shoal Creek Country Club

Like me, you might be surprised to see a guy dubbed "Wedgy" win the long-drive contest, but Mr. Winchester was actual a well-known trick-shot artist of the era, and here's a bad-quality video of Wedgy teaching us how to hit a 60" driver:

Remember folks, the most important thing is to, you know, actually hit the ball.

Shack also tells us that this was the predecessor to the ReMax World Long Drive Championship that became a stand alone event in 1985.