Bob Goalby Uses $2 Putter To Win
Bob Goalby found the putter in a junk store and used it to win the St. Petersburg Open
Join us on our journey through the past as we dive into the 1961 St. Petersburg Open. Scroll down to learn how Bob Goalby used a $2 putter to win.
Scottie Scheffler made history as the only player to repeat as a winner in THE PLAYERS Championship. Scroll down for the Clips You Might Have Missed, a recap of the tournament and highlights from the week.
This week the tour is in Palm Harbor, FL, at the Innisbrook Resort Copperhead Course for the Valspar Championship, a tournament that started in 2000.
If you want more stories from The Players, check out our archives. We’ve written about the 1963 event HERE.
We want to hear from you in the Tour Backspin Poll, and we have some music from The King in 1961. Watch the swing of Bob Goalby, take a stab at a pretty easy WHAT HOLE IS IT?, and of course, some links for you in the Check it Out Section. Check out the coolest golf shoes in 1961. Scroll down to view this week’s vintage ad.
In last week’s Tour Backspin Poll we asked if you thought that the creation of LIV Golf had diminished the status of The Players Championship. There were 83% of respondents who felt that it did because it’s hard to have the best field with the players who went to LIV missing. There were 17% of respondents who did not feel The Players has been diminished and feel it is the fifth major.
The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass plays different in March than it did when it was played in May. It’s not as firm and fast. What do you think? Let us know in this week’s Tour Backspin Poll.
Tour Backspin Poll
Do you know what happened today in golf history? Or which famous golfer has a birthday today? Me, neither. But I do know where to go to find out. Check out the Your Golfer’s Almanac podcast. Host Michael Duranko celebrates birthdays, milestones, and other accomplishments that occurred on this day in golf history. Listen HERE.
We’re playing 1961 PGA TOUR Trivia in this week’s Tour Backspin Quiz. Scroll down to play.
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Larry Baush
Goalby Leans on “Black Maria” Putter To Win in St. Pete
Bob Goalby is kicking around Miami, FL, in 1960. He is ostensibly doing some shopping, but really, he’s just killing time until he has to catch a flight. He wanders into a secondhand shop just off Biscayne Boulevard and notices a barrel full of used golf clubs.
“I went into a junk shop,” Goalby recalled in March of 1961. “I like to putter with stuff, and I saw this secondhand golf equipment. They had old bags, carts, and beat up clubs. I picked up this putter with the grip half off, and the guy said, ‘two bucks.’”
He bought the putter, a Mills mallet, and then took it home to Belleville, IL, and put it in his basement, “along with 40 others.”
When he was home taking a break from the tour in early spring, 1961, he packed the putter into his golf bag along with his regular clubs, just on a whim. After winning the 1961 Los Angeles Open in January, he had top 20 finishes at San Diego and the Crosby Clambake, but once the tour headed to the Southeast, his putting stroke had deserted him. He finished out of the money at both Baton Rouge and Pensacola. He blamed his putting and made the decision to do something different at the next stop, the St. Petersburg Open. The Mills mallet was going into the bag as his gamer for the week.
It was clear early on that the Pasadena Country Club, a 6,296-yard, par-71 course designed by Walter Hagen, was no match for the touring pros.
On Tuesday, March 14th, 109 players showed up at the Pasadena Country Club to try and qualify for the St. Petersburg Open and they were competing for the 72 available spots. There were 77 players who were exempt due to their performance on the 1960 tour, including Ken Venturi, Tommy Bolt, Billy Casper, Gary Player, and Bob Goalby. Buddy Sullivan led the qualifiers with a round of 67 and it took a score of 77, or better, to qualify.
Wednesday was pro-am day with 100 pros teaming up with 100 amateurs to compete for a $2,500 purse. It was clear early on that the Pasadena Country Club, a 6,296-yard, par-71 course designed by Walter Hagen, was no match for the touring pros. Gerald Sota, Al Balding, and Bob Goalby all shot 5-under-par 66s and a total of 46 pros bettered par. Ken Venturi and his partner, Marion Boswell, the proprietor of Pasadena Country Club, shot a team score of 62 and were tied at the top of the leader board with the team of John McMullin and his amateur partner, Jim Miller.
“Do something about that putter. It’s so ugly I can’t stand to look at it.”
The 26th annual St. Petersburg Open, with a purse of $20,000, got under way officially on Thursday, the 15th, at 8:00 am with players teeing off from both the first and tenth tees. Bob Goalby went off the tenth tee at 12:48. He had the Mills putter in his bag with two alterations. The first was a new grip, and the second was a healthy amount of black tape applied to the mallet head.
During a practice round earlier in the week, Doug Ford had been giving Goalby a hard time about how ugly his Mills putter was.
“Do something about that putter,” Ford told Goalby. “It’s so ugly I can’t stand to look at it.”
So Goalby wrapped the head in black tape and used it in the pro-am with good results. He then gave the putter a nickname, “Black Maria.”
After taking advantage of the course in the pro-am, the pros continued their onslaught in the first round with 78 players breaking par. Billy Casper and Jack McGowan led the pack with a score of 63, 8-under-par, which equaled the course record. Mason Rudoph was two strokes back while five players were tied for fourth at 66 including Cary Middlecoff, Don Fairfield, Tommy Aaron, and Gary Player. Bob Goalby was in a large group of players who shot 67s.
A crowd of about 3,500 were scattered around the course under sunny skies and almost no wind—perfect scoring conditions. Those perfect conditions continued into the second round on Friday, St. Patrick’s Day.
Goalby used “Black Maria” to great effect setting a course record in the process. His 62 gave him a two-round total of 129 and a one-shot lead over Jack McGowan who, despite a bogey at the final hole, added a 67 to his opening round 63. He was tied with Gary Player who added a 64 to his first round 66. Ted Kroll was another shot back at 131 while a group of players, including Billy Casper and Mason Rudolph, were at 132.
Goalby’s round included nine birdies and he hit every green in regulation and only required 28 putts. He joked with reporters after his round about his $2 putter.
“Yesterday was the first time I ever used it,” he laughed. “Not a bad investment, huh?”
Goalby, decked out in a red shirt and cap, also overcame the curse of wearing red on St. Patrick’s Day.
“No, I didn’t even know it was St. Patrick’s Day,” he admitted.
“I was just hitting the ball well,” he said after his round. “But, you know, I got a little scared after I went four under and started to play it a little safe.”
It took a score of 140, two-under-par, to make the cut. Venturi failed to make the cut for the first time in two years.
The weather forecast for Saturday included winds up to 35 miles per hour and threatened to put an end to the easy scoring conditions.
While there were occasional wind gusts in Saturday’s third round, they did not hamper the pros as the course was highly playable. Goalby did not make any progress against par as he made the turn at even par, but he was able to make four birdies on the back nine for a score of 67, retaining the lead with a total of 196. Ted Kroll was keeping pace and was one-stroke off the lead after a third-round 66.
Gary Player shot the best round of the day, a 64, and he moved into third place at 198 and Jack McGowan was at 199 after a third-round 69.
The tour rule during this era was if weather washed out one group, then the entire round would be washed out and replayed—even if the wash out occurred at the last hole while the final group was wrapping up the day.
The winds that were forecasted were just a breeze in the morning with occasional gusts in the afternoon, but when the final group of Goalby, Kroll, and Rudolph, reached the final hole, a forbidding front moved in packing a violent shift in the wind. While earlier players enjoyed a favoring prevailing wind that contributed to eight eagles being made on the final hole, the last three players were hitting into the teeth of the gale. None could reach the par-5 hole in two with Goalby and Rudolph making pars while Kroll made a 14-foot birdie putt.
There was a chance that the storm would blow in washing out the final hole of the final group. The tour rule during this era was if weather washed out one group, then the entire round would be washed out and replayed—even if the wash out occurred at the last hole while the final group wrapping up the day.
Goalby’s 196 total was the lowest 54-hole total shot on the 1961 tour to this point. The 72-hole record was 256 set by Mike Souchak in 1957 at San Antonio and it seemed safe as Goalby would need to shoot a 60 to equal that mark.
Nearly 5,000 golf fans enjoyed the sunny skies on Sunday for the final round. Kroll put the pressure on Goalby early and was able to take a two-shot lead after six holes before he three-putted the seventh hole for a bogey. Goalby saw an opening and took advantage by birdieing the eighth hole and then went on to birdie the next seven holes setting a new PGA record for consecutive birdies in the process. His eight consecutive birdies bettered the record of seven set by Warren Smith, who did it in 1954 at San Antonio, Tommy Bolt at San Diego in 1955, and Don Bisplinghoff who did it at Pensacola in 1959.
“It was just unbelievable. After I finally got the range, I hit everything dead to the pin. I just played like hell and used my old ‘Black Maria.’”
Goalby’s longest putt during this stretch was only 20 feet as he displayed a devastating iron game.
“It was just unbelievable,” Goalby said about his round. “After I finally got the range, I hit everything dead to the pin. I just played like hell and used my old ‘Black Maria.’”
After a tough par at the final hole, Goalby signed his card for a final round 65 and a total of 261. It was all too much for Kroll, who finished with a 67, three strokes behind Goalby, and Gary Player who closed with a 68, five strokes off the winning total.
Goalby won $2,800 for his second tour victory while Kroll pocketed $1,900, and Player $1,400. The winnings placed Goalby in the fourth-place position on the 1961 money list at $12,234 and he had a $2 secondhand putter dubbed “Black Maria” with head wrapped in black plastic tape, to thank.
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BONUS STORY
One of the attractions of playing in the St. Petersburg Open was the great fishing that was found in the pond behind the 18th green at Pasadena Country Club. It was one of Julius Boros’ favorite fishing holes on the PGA TOUR.
In the 1960 St. Petersburg Open, played at Lakewood Country Club, weather delayed the first and second rounds. This did not bother Boros. When the second round was cancelled, he grabbed his rod, and got Mike Fetchick, the winner of the 1956 St. Petersburg Open, to get his gear and join him for a bit of fishing. They hustled over to the Pasadena Country Club and the pond behind the 18th green.
Boros was known as the most skilled fisherman on tour, and he exhibited the fruits of his labors at Pasadena for photographers upon his, and Fetchick’s return to Lakewood. The two posed for pictures with some pretty large lunkers on their string. They then slipped a couple of the fish, along with their fishing gear, to George Bayer and Fred Gronauer. Bayer and Gronauer then set up a photo shoot with the resulting picture seeming to show them catching fish out of a flooded bunker at Lakewood.
Just your run of the mill high jinks to relieve the boredom of a rain cancellation.
The Tour Backspin Show with our guests Jim McLean and Craig Welty has dropped for our premium subscribers (it will be available to free subscribers next week). Upgrade to a premium subscription today to listen early. We talk about Craig’s dad, Carl Welty, and about how he used video to study the golf swing.
Listen to The Tour Backspin Show podcast on Substack with the above links, or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or iHeart Radio.
WHAT HOLE IS IT?
Are you on the leader board?
Congratulations to Doug Poston who correctly identified #5 at TPC Sawgrass, Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, in last week’s WHAT HOLE IS IT? contest. Doug beat out six other correct answers in the random drawing. Submit your answer for this week and get yourself into the race for the Herbert C. Leeds Trophy, our new perpetual trophy for the annual winner.
PGA TOUR Wrap-Up | THE PLAYERS Championship
It was a record-setting performance for Scottie Scheffler at THE PLAYERS Championship as he became the first player to defend his title in the 50 years the tournament has been played. His coming back from a five stroke deficit tied for the largest comeback in the final round of the tournament.
A holed out second shot, from 84 yards, for an eagle at the fourth hole jump-started his round and then he had four birdies in a stretch of five holes around the turn. His Sunday round of 64 was his 27th straight under-par round in 2024. Amazing.
Brian Harmon, Wyndham Clark, and Xander Schauffele all had a chance at the final hole to tie Scheffler and force a three-hole cumulative playoff, but were unable to make their birdie putts. The most brutal was Clark’s as the ball horseshoed around the hole after looking like it was going down. To be fair, the putt was moving pretty fast, and he was not having the best putting day on Sunday as he missed some makeable putts earlier in the round.
Still, it was a gut punch to Clark who has been one of the hottest players on the tour recently.
“I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in,” Clark said. “Even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in. I’m pretty gutted it didn’t go in.”
Check out the highlight video from the PGA TOUR:
Read a recap of the tournament HERE.
Clips You Might Have Missed
This is crazy.
An ace at the 17th.
Yikes! I want a hardhat.
Amazing recovery from Rory.
Now this is just good reporting. The only thing, I think the third throw is the closest to what I saw live during the broadcast.
Awesome graphic from the Normal Sport newsletter.
It’s coming . . . just 21 days until the first tee shots.
Tour Backspin Quiz | 1961 PGA TOUR Trivia
Who was the leading money winner in 1961? Who won the Vardon Trophy (lowest scoring average), and who was voted Player of the Year?
Scroll down for answer
Swing Like a Pro
Bob Goalby’s swing off the tee.
Blind Shot
Click for something fun. 👀
It was wonderful having Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch on the NBC/Comcast broadcast for THE PLAYERS Championship. Miss those guys. Read more at Golf Magazine.
Interesting article by Alan Bastable on fans exhaustion with the politics of professional golf. Read it at Golf Magazine.
Kevin Van Valkenburg explores the inexplicable survival of Jay Monahan. Read it at No Laying Up.
Tour Backspin Music
Little sister, don’t you do what your big sister done. Elvis in 1961.
Uncorked, The Life and Times of Champagne Tony Lema tells the story of one of the tour’s biggest stars in the mid-1960s. A fascinating glimpse into the traveling caravan that was the PGA TOUR during an era where the fields were full of “Mad Men” era personalities. From a hardscrabble youth spent on the “wrong side of the tracks” in the Oakland suburb of San Leandro, to the temptations of Elko, Nevada, to the bright lights of the PGA TOUR, Uncorked tells a story of determination, redemption and, above all else, a love story that documents how Betty, Tony’s new wife, provided the direction and motivation for him to become a top star. Order on Amazon.
WHAT IS HIP?
Country club fashions from 1961.
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Gary Player won the money title in 1961 with $64,540 in winnings. Arnold Palmer won the Vardon Trophy (scoring leader), and Jerry Barber was elected by his peers as the Player of the Year.
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Final Thoughts
That’s a pretty nifty shag bag that woman is using in the What is Hip? feature.
Can you believe that Scotty Sheffler was hurt for two rounds of THE PLAYERS?
Which was more epic? Johnson Wagner’s throwing arm, or his epic mustache?
Wasn’t the tour rule concerning weather cancellations, as depicted in this week’s feature story, wild? If weather cancelled the playing of the last hole, for the last group, then the entire day was washed out. Crazy.