ou may not have heard of "Slammin Sammy" by name, but chances are that nearly every golfer has been influenced by his contributions to golf
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The Dirt Blogs
Welcome to The Dirt Blogs, where staff, members, and guests contribute their wisdom.
Sam Snead
Posted by Mike Maves
on Sunday, 14 February 2010
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Mike Maves
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Tommy Armour - The Silver Scot
Posted by Mike Maves
on Sunday, 14 February 2010
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Mike Maves
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’ve got a special spot in my heart for Tommy Armour. Not just because he won the Canadian Open 3 times but because I’ve got a soft spot for underdogs and the overlooked and "The Iron Master" was probably the most underappreciated player of his era. While Tommy was winning all those Canadian Opens along with the 1927 US Open and the 1930 PGA Championship and the 1931 British Open Championship nobody seemd to notice because in those days the amateur circuit got all the attention and respect (Hey the pro’s weren’t even allowed in the clubhouses!) and a kid named Bobby Jones was writing a new history of his own. The Silver Scot also won all of these tournaments with a steel plate in his head, another in his arm and with sight in only one eye due to injuries sustained in WWI. And you thought your handicap was a bitch?
Armour was also a brilliant and dedicated teacher and his classic book How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time
is one of the finest instructional texts ever written. I will do a review of that book in an upcoming blog. How could you not love a golf book where Chapter 1 is called “Why This Book Is as Short and Simple as It Is”?
From the Tommy Armour Golf site:
During golf’s golden age, a flash of silver appeared from across the sea: Tommy Armour, the Silver Scot. While he gained renown as a world-class raconteur, drinker, and gambler with an eye for the ladies, Tommy Armour was also a wounded and decorated veteran of World War I. He was a master bridge player. A concert-level violinist. A best-selling author. And, in his later years, the most respected—and expensive—golf instructor of his day.
Ultimately, Tommy Armour was a champion. And his 25 PGA victories—including three Majors—have earned him a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Career Highlights:
1920 Winner: French Amateur
1927 Winner: U.S. Open
1929 Winner: Western Open
1930 Winner: PGA Championship
1931 Winner: British Open
Winner of 3 Canadian Opens
Armour was also a brilliant and dedicated teacher and his classic book How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time
is one of the finest instructional texts ever written. I will do a review of that book in an upcoming blog. How could you not love a golf book where Chapter 1 is called “Why This Book Is as Short and Simple as It Is”?
From the Tommy Armour Golf site:
During golf’s golden age, a flash of silver appeared from across the sea: Tommy Armour, the Silver Scot. While he gained renown as a world-class raconteur, drinker, and gambler with an eye for the ladies, Tommy Armour was also a wounded and decorated veteran of World War I. He was a master bridge player. A concert-level violinist. A best-selling author. And, in his later years, the most respected—and expensive—golf instructor of his day.
Ultimately, Tommy Armour was a champion. And his 25 PGA victories—including three Majors—have earned him a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Career Highlights:
1920 Winner: French Amateur
1927 Winner: U.S. Open
1929 Winner: Western Open
1930 Winner: PGA Championship
1931 Winner: British Open
Winner of 3 Canadian Opens
For more information on Tommy Armour and his brilliant and somewhat overlooked career check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Armour
There is also some great info at the World Golf Hall of Fame: http://www.wgv.com/hof/member.php?member=1018
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Secret In The Dirt Primer: FREE Download
Posted by Mike Maves
on Sunday, 14 February 2010
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If you want to know how the whole Secret In The Dirt phenomenon started the best way to get your feet wet is to take a quick read of the Free Primer to the original Secret In The Dirt ebook. Click the image to the left to download the primer.
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Moe Norman
Posted by Mike Maves
on Sunday, 14 February 2010
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MOE NORMAN -
Moe Norman in action. Niagara on the Lake sometime in the late 1960's. You are looking at one of the finest moves in the history of golf. I had the pleasure and privilege of playing with Moe in the mid-1990's and speaking with him about golf on a good many occassions thereafter. We'll be talking about Moe a lot in this Blog. Born July 10, 1929
Died September 4, 2004
Career highlights
Canadian Amateur Champion 1955, 1956
55 career Canadian Tour event victories
Canadian PGA Champion 1966, 1974
Canadian PGA Seniors' Champion 1979 - 1985, 1987
33 course records
17 holes in one
Inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995
Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2006
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How To Play Your Best Golf All The Time
Posted by Mike Maves
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To the side is my dog eared copy of Tommy Armour’s fantastic book How to Play Your Best Golf All The Time. I did a Blogpost about Tommy Armour in October and said I would say more about him in future. Well here it is. The brilliance of this book is Armour’s straight-forwardness (is that a word?) and his simplicity. The sort of simplicity that you will only find coming from a very confident and capable instructor and Armour surely was this and more. In his day he was one of the most sought out instructors in the world, charging also some of the highest fees imaginable at the time, but Armour could deliver the goods.
The first time I read the book many years ago I was astounded at what a stiking resemblance between some of the address position images advocated by Armour and Fred Couples.
Here's images I dug up of Armour and Couples for reference: Spooky!
About the only thing that I question in Armour’s book is the chapter called “The Pause That Means Good Timing” which goes against my idea that the transition can be automated and in a properly sequenced swing will simply trigger itself. His chapters “the Grip Holds The Swing Together” and “Footwork, The Foundation of Best Golf”, however, are must reads.
Chapter 1 is called “Why This Book Is as Short and Simple as It Is”. What could be better than that?!?!
First published in 1953 the book is still in print. You can pick it up at most bookstores or online at Amazon.com.
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Bobby Jones
Posted by Mike Maves
on Sunday, 14 February 2010
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Mike Maves
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ou know some things just speak for themselves. We will be talking about Jones in future Blogs, but for now here's a fantastic video of the great Bobby Jones winner of the 1930 GrandSlam
Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr. (March 17, 1902 – December 18, 1971) was one of the greatest golfers to ever compete. Jones skills took him to golf's summit in the days when amateur golf was respected and held in much higher esteem than the professional game. (I will be talking of Walter Hagen in America and of Henry Cotton in Britain and their importance to the transformation of public attitude towards the professional game in future Blogs)Jones succeeded on both a national and international level winning championships on both sides of the pond.
Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr. (March 17, 1902 – December 18, 1971) was one of the greatest golfers to ever compete. Jones skills took him to golf's summit in the days when amateur golf was respected and held in much higher esteem than the professional game. (I will be talking of Walter Hagen in America and of Henry Cotton in Britain and their importance to the transformation of public attitude towards the professional game in future Blogs)Jones succeeded on both a national and international level winning championships on both sides of the pond.
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Peter Thomson
Posted by Mike Maves
on Sunday, 14 February 2010
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“A Light Tender Sensitive Touch Is Worth a Ton Of Brawn.”
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Willie Anderson BioBlog
Posted by Mike Maves
on Saturday, 13 February 2010
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Willie Anderson
With his roots firmly planted in Scotland, William (Willie) Anderson came to the United States as a teenager, bringing his passion and love for the game along with him. A famous author (Mark Twain) once called golf a "long walk, spoiled", and in the case of Williams it is a cross Atlantic trek, bolded. Bridging the Scottish and American golf worlds, Anderson quickly rose on the basis of his raw talent, placing second in the U.S. Open after qualifying at the age of 18.
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The Late Great Jimmy Bruen
Posted by Mike Maves
on Friday, 12 February 2010
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Here's a picture of the great Henry Cotton showing the equally great Jimmy Bruen his idea of proper left hand action through the ball. "Who's Jimmy Bruen?" you may ask.
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The Man On The Ryder Cup - Abe Mitchell
Posted by Mike Maves
on Wednesday, 10 February 2010
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Mike Maves
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I found a great article about Abe Mitchell at the website for Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club in East Sussex. It is one of the Top 100 golf courses in the British Isles acording to Golf World. Here’s a link to the club’s website: http://www.royalashdown.co.uk/
Who’s Abe Mitchell?!?!
Well, he’s that little guy on the top of the Ryder Cup. Abe Mitchell was also the longest hitter of his era and probably the finest golfer to never win the British Open although in my opinion that line would be finely drawn between him and Dai Rees who we will talk about another time.
Abe Mitchell was also one of the finest teachers of his time, teaching Samuel Ryder himself.
You Can download a pdf copy of Roger Porter’s article Abe Mitchell – the Man on the Ryder Cup here: http://www.royalashdown.co.uk/downloads/abe.pdf
There is also a great photo sequence of good old Abe at The Society if Hickory Golfers that you can actually click a button to animate here: http://www.hickorygolfers.com/swings/abemitchell/amswing.htm
Here is one of the shots from that sequence. 
And you thought Sam Snead invented The Squat. Shame on you. Just look at Abe. No wonder he bombed it!!!
I will talk some more very soon about Abe Mitchell and his incredible insights into all things golf.
You know when you start to study all of this you will find that it was all pretty much figured out about 5 minutes after golf was invented.
Jerry Starks turned me on to Abe. He uses an image from Abe Mitchell's wonderful book Down To Scratch as his Avatar at Golfwrx. Thanks Jerry.
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