Mon, Nov 23 2009
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McSpaden, Laffoon deserve hall of fame consideration In one tournament where Ky had built a lead, he missed a birdie putt on one of the final holes and hurled the offending putter to the top of a tree. He and his caddie threw clubs and rocks to dislodge it, but were unsuccessful. Laffoon even tried to persuade his caddie to shinny up the tree, but the lad refused. Ky wound up putting with a long iron and eventually lost his lead and the tournament.
Even today golfers talk about Ky’s grinding down the edge of his wedge by sticking it out the door of his car and holding it against the pavement as he was driving to the next tournament. Some claim he would punish his putter the same way. He did tie a recalcitrant wedge to the rear bumper of his car and dragged the club for miles just to teach it a lesson. Still, despite his eccentricities, Laffoon won 10 times and finished, according to McSpaden, “second more times than anyone.” I haven’t found any supporting evidence for that statement, but Jug knew Ky, competed against him and thought him an extraordinary player. Laffoon clearly is one of the more colorful personalities of his or any other era in golf. His legendary outbursts of temper almost always were directed at himself or his clubs for a silly mistake. One thing that golfers may not know is that Ky was one of the finest teachers around and that many players of his era would seek him out for swing help. He worked regularly with Hogan during the 1930s and into 1940s as Bantam Ben struggled to overcome the propensity for a snap hook. Laffoon was always ready to give advice to another player, but only if someone asked him for it. In the late 1940s, he took Marshall Smith, now a nationally known golf instructor in Miami, Okla., under his wing and got him started on the path to what would evolve into the Smith’s K.I.S.S. method of teaching. Over the years, Smith has worked with many top stars on the PGA, LPGA and Champions tours. There should be a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame for McSpaden, whose excellent career was overshadowed by Nelson’s accomplishments as well as his own early retirement from the tour, and Laffoon. They added color, spice and flare during an era of the tour when those qualities, as well as great talent, were needed to capture and keep the public’s imagination, and encourage professional golf to grow. For sale Richard Orr, who bought Miami (Okla.) Country Club in 2007 and launched an ambitious restoration program, has put the course up for sale. “I did just about everything I had hoped to do, except increase the membership,” said Orr. “That was a disappointment.” Under Orr’s watchful eye, greens were brought back to tournament quality, traps were redone and drainage improved, dead and damaged trees were removed and the clubhouse underwent a renovation. Bids out The city of Joplin has put out bidding documents for leveling and improving tee boxes at Schifferdecker Municipal Golf Course. The project was one of several recommended by a golf course consultant to the Joplin City Council. Golfers playing at Schifferdecker will notice a lot of trees missing. Jay White, course superintendent, said that 35 trees have been removed. Some of the trees were dead or dying and others had been damaged by storms earlier in the year. Address correspondence to Clair Goodwin at sports@joplinglobe.com. 
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