Doug Sanders and the Freight Train Shot

I WAS READING SHANE’S piece on Doug Sanders over at Dogs That Chase Cars and it got me thinking about the man who missed a 30-inch putt on the final green at the Old Course and went on to lose the 1971 British Open to Jack Nicklaus in an 18-hole playoff. I’ve seen Sanders on the Grand Champions circuit on several occasions over the last few years and let’s just say he’s as colorful as ever.

(Note: Sanders was ranked No. 4 in Golf.com’s Top 10 Best Dressed Golfers. The shoes always matched.)

The following anecdote from a Golf Digest feature on Sanders reminded me of Miguel Angel Jimenez’s now famous carom shot off the rock wall at the Road Hole.

In a money game at Cedartown one day, a guy named Dallas Weaver found his ball behind a tree. A lot of money was riding. We thought he was dead. There were train tracks running by our course, and just then a freight train came through. Dallas Weaver turned sideways, took some kind of low iron and banked a ball off the side of a freight car and almost onto the green. That was 50 years ago, and I’ve never seen anyone top that shot.

Sanders is a piece of work. Read more of the Golf Digest story on Sanders and stock up on a month’s worth of golf anecdotes.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Scott Butner/Flickr)