How I Caddied for Long Putter Pioneer Orville Moody

IF IT HADN’T BEEN ORVILLE MOODY, some other name player would have been the first to win regularly with the long putter. The 1969 U.S. Open champion, Moody put the broomstick in his bag after turning 50. He went on to win 11 times using the long putter on the senior circuit, including the 1989 U.S. Senior Open.

It was controversial. Other players didn’t like the long putter and tried to get it banned, Moody told me four years ago at the Baltimore Country Club. He was an unpopular pioneer. But for the first time in his life he could roll putts with consistency and confidence. An Army veteran, Moody soldiered on with the long stick.

I can tell you from firsthand experience that Orville was a character. He was funny and had more than a few golf tales. I enjoyed his company on a couple of occasions. Following is the story of how I caddied for Moody in 2007 at a Grand Champions event that preceded the Senior Players Championship.

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“You want to ride with me? It will be easier to keep up.”

Sure, I said to Orville Moody.

I was at a Grand Champions event in Baltimore, the prelude to the Senior Players Championship. I had been on the golf legends circuit throughout the year, attending events at Savannah, Hickory (North Carolina) and then Baltimore.

I’d had unique access to many golf legends—players I watched or knew of while growing up. Thanks to my association with Jack Fleck, I ate in the players’ dining rooms, hung out in the locker rooms and shuttled back and forth to hotels where I rubbed elbows with several former tour pros. You can bet I heard plenty of golf stories, too.

‘Sarge’

Back to Moody, or “Sarge,” my companion for 18 holes at the Baltimore Country Club East Course, a rolling, old-style layout with sloping greens created by famed architect A.W. Tillinghast.

Nicknamed Sarge because of his Army days, Moody was the last local qualifier to win the U.S. Open, coming from virtually nowhere to claim the trophy in 1969 at Champions Golf Club in Houston. It was the only tour win for a sweet ball-striker who couldn’t putt.

When the Champions Tour (called the Senior Tour at that time) was cranking up in the mid 1980s, Sarge turned 50 and started winning tournaments in bunches, thanks, in large part, to his long putter, considered a novelty in those days. Moody is one of only four men who has won both the U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open.

That weekend four years ago Sarge was partnered with Jack Fleck in a best-ball tournament that featured several legends—Jim Feree, Fred Hawkins, Gene Littler, Don January, Billy Casper, Bob Goalby, Dow Finsterwald, Doug Ford, Doug Sanders, Lee Elder and Billy Maxwell, to name most of them.

Caddie by Default

Many of the legends don’t hire caddies for these events, so as we rolled down the second fairway I realized I could caddie for Sarge. I would steer clear of yardages, club selection and reading greens. I’ve been around golf, but I’m not going to pretend to be a real caddie. Still, for 40 or so years Moody had been accustomed to handing his golf ball and clubs to somebody. In Baltimore, I was that somebody.

There was some chit-chat, mostly initiated by Orville. I was not going to yap at him or do anything to distract him from his work, which I could tell he took seriously, even if it was just a legends best-ball event for a quarter-million dollar purse.

How serious?

On the 8th hole Sarge removed his shoe and sock to have a go at a ball in a greenside pond. He slipped on the bank and almost fell in the drink. Then he slashed at the ball with his 60-degree wedge, splattering mud on his dark slacks and pale green shirt.

There I was on the green toweling off his muddy, grassy bare foot. It seemed like the right thing to do. (Orville’s lower back bothered him and I figured bending over to towel off and slip on his sock and shoe would be a problem.)

Sarge was a mess and a bit flustered, too. It was awkward. Yet my instinct was to help my player.

I enjoyed watching Moody’s shot preparation. I did, in fact, give him yardages off sprinkler heads, adding and subtracting based on the pin placements. Once Sarge pulled a club and got over the ball there was no hesitation. His compact swing produced low straight shots with the hint of a fade. His speed on the slick, sloping greens was good. Determining the correct lines was another matter.

After coming off the 18th hole, I thanked Moody for allowing me to ride along. “I’ll probably see you at the Legends in Savannah next April,” I told him.

I knew Sarge wasn’t thrilled about his play—especially on the back nine—but he said I made the day more enjoyable. I felt good about that.

Postscript: That was the last time I saw Orville Moody. After a massive stroke, he spent much of the following year in a nursing home. He died in August 2008.

−The Armchair Golfer

Paul Harney, 1929-2011

SIX-TIME PGA TOUR WINNER Paul Harney died this week. You would have to be a student of golf history to know Harney, who played alongside greats such as Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Billy Casper. Along with the legendary Francis Ouimet, Harney is considered to be one of the best golfers to hail from Massachusetts. He attended Holy Cross and was captain of the golf team. Harney joined the PGA Tour in 1955 and played the circuit full time through 1962. His first victory came at the 1957 Carling Open. A second win followed two weeks later at the Labatt Open.

A dedicated family man, Harney became a part-time player in 1963 when his oldest child (he and wife Patricia would raise six children) entered school. He took a club pro job in Northern California and then returned to his native Massachusetts to work for Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton.

Harney still managed to compete and win as a part-time player on the PGA Tour. He won three more events, the last trophy coming at the 1972 San Diego Open where he edged Hale Irwin by a stroke. He won no majors but did have six top 10s, including a fourth at the 1963 U.S. Open. He was 0 for 4 in playoffs. Three losses came to Palmer, one to Tony Lema.

Harney’s kids now run the golf course (Paul Harney Golf Club) their dad opened in Falmouth using prize money from his win in San Diego. Son Mike is the head pro. Daughter Erin is the general manager. In 2006, Mike recalled his dad’s days on the winter tour, a family affair.

“The family station wagon was dad’s office,” he said at golholycross.com. “We’d all jump in the car and go to work with him.”

Harney and family would log 10,000 miles in the station wagon driving from event to event. In 1971 the part-time player finished in the money in 14 of 15 tournaments, earning in excess of $40,000. That was good money in those days.

Later, Harney made $436,063 on the fledgling Senior Tour, more than what he collected in 18 years on the PGA Tour.

“I’ve been lucky,” Harney said in 2006. “Holy Cross gave me a tremendous education and the Jesuits gave me a good perspective. Patti gave me six terrific children, and now we have 14 grandkids.”

−The Armchair Golfer

The Quiet End of Celebrity-Named Tour Events

AS ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK, the Bob Hope Classic is now the Humana Challenge, which will be a four-round 72-hole event instead of the five-round 90-hole marathon that made the Hope unique. Celebrities certainly have their exalted place in American society, but their famous names can’t pay the multi-million dollar bills on the PGA Tour.

“The reality of it is that having celebrities’ names attached to these tournaments may have at some point driven notoriety,” David Carter, executive director of USC’s Sports Business Institute, told the Los Angeles Times, “but in this era, you need to have cash.”

Goodbye, Hope. Hello, Humana. It really was inevitable.

It’s kind of amazing that the Bob Hope Classic outlived Bob Hope as long as it did. (The comedy legend died in 2003.) The tournament’s genesis was the Palm Springs Desert Classic, which started in 1960. It became the Bob Hope Desert Classic in 1965. Billy Casper won the first Hope. It was Arnold Palmer’s last PGA Tour victory in 1973, although I’m sure 43-year-old Arnold expected to win again. From 1986 to 2008, the tournament was sponsored by Chrysler and called the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

You may remember other long-gone celeb tour events: the Crosby, Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open, Andy Williams San Diego Open, Dinah Shore Invitational, Danny Thomas Memphis Classic and Sammy Davis Jr. Greater Hartford Open. Now they sound so quaint. (I guess we still have Justin Timberlake.)

Not all Hope is lost. Humana will award their tournament winner a newly created Bob Hope Trophy, so that’s good. The health-insurance company also plans to keep the Hope family involved.

I read that Bob Hope’s joke file is 85,000 scanned pages. You can bet he would crack a good one about last week’s Humana news. I have no idea what it would be, so I’ll leave you with this Hope one-liner:

“If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf.”

−The Armchair Golfer