Going back in time to pay tribute to golfer ‘Terrible Tommy’ Bolt

By Brian Greenspun (contact)

Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Tommy Bolt, one of the most colorful golfers to ever play professionally, died Aug. 30 at age 92. He was nicknamed “Terrible Tommy” because of his temper and his ability to throw golf clubs better and more often than his fellow pros.

Las Vegas and the Desert Inn’s Tournament of Champions was one of Tommy’s favorite stops. It was also one of the favorite subjects of the Sun’s founding publisher, Hank Greenspun.

Combine Tommy and Hank and there is a story worth reading. Hank wrote four Where I Stand columns in 1958 about Tommy’s exploits at the Tournament of Champions. For myriad reasons, I commend them to you, with the first starting today and the rest continuing each day on the Commentary page through Wednesday.

April 23, 1958

By Hank Greenspun

Wind does not rule your destiny. It will blow good or bad depending on the course the individual is steering.

Years ago, when I was still a young lad, I witnessed a sailboat race on Long Island Sound. One ship sailed up the sound in the direction of the setting sun; another boat sailed past it going in the opposite direction.

Only one wind was blowing. Yet, of those two boats blown by the same wind, moved by the same power, one sailed east and the other sailed west.

Being immature, in mind as well as body, the phenomenon had me puzzled and it only took 20 years of schooling with many science courses thrown in to learn the answer.

It’s all in the rudder — the way the ship is steered — whether it will win the race or capsize in the wind-whipped seas.

Las Vegas, the climate center of the world, where the balmy breezes are supposed to waft gently while the vacationing tourist hungrily absorbs the warm rays of the sun, is getting ready for the sixth annual Tournament of Champions.

The weather all year has been perfect. The top golfing champions of the world are assembled at the Desert Inn. The putting contest among Bing Crosby, Walter Winchell, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Phil Harris and Gordon MacRae — prelude to the tournament, which starts on Thursday — is scheduled for 2 p.m. today.

So what happens? The winds begin to blow as usual! And these are not ordinary winds ... sandstorms, tornadoes, cyclones would be more descriptive if the Chamber of Commerce did not frown on such terms.

There must be something up in the heavens, which blows the atmosphere around, that just doesn’t like us. Maybe someone with a terrible temper like the “Terrible Tempered Tommy Bolt.” It wouldn’t surprise me if Mr. Bolt is the cause of this big wind.

He blew into town at about the same time it began to blow and he raised almost as much dust at the airport as did the wind when he learned that one of his canvas bags has been ripped in transit.

I can no more understand Tommy Bolt being a golfing champion than I can fathom the way of the winds in Las Vegas. It’s about a dead heat which is more unpredictable.

The average player goes out on the golf course to relax. Doctors prescribe golf as a therapeutic treatment of tension. Tommy relaxes off the course and throws tantrums while indulging in the most relaxing pastime of all sports.

He earns a living amidst great torment. The game frustrates him to a point where he holds the track record for demolishing golf clubs. In one tournament, he broke so many clubs that he had to finish the last 4 holes with a single iron.

A year ago, in a tournament where he was the defending champion, he walked off the course and never returned. Of course, he always develops an excuse for his action like a “chipped bone,” “sore back” or “dizziness from the sun.”

At Chula Vista, Tommy took exactly 10 minutes to size up a shot ... walked over to the ball and hit it in the opposite direction of the pin.

At San Diego in a pro-amateur tournament with Wilbur Clark as a partner, he became so incensed at Wilbur’s playing that he blew sky high and threw his club farther than Wilbur’s best drive. This I can understand!

I think the bookmakers are a bit unpredictable too. Maybe not to the same extent as Las Vegas winds or Tommy Bolt but in a field of 22 champions, where do they come off making Bolt 15 to 1? I admit that bookies have to make a living but larceny is a felony offense.

It’s about 15 to 1 Tommy doesn’t finish the tournament, let alone win it. I’d lay even money he doesn’t start, unless someone is around with a whip to force him onto the first tee.

I listened to the “Lightnin’ Bolt” last night, crying about his torn luggage, ingrown toenail, sore arm, heavy winds and graying temples. This fellow suffers like no man I know. It was my suggestion that if he is so miserable on a golf course, he should take up something more soothing like bull fighting or Russian roulette.

Wind or no wind, the public likes champions and will follow them through the torments of other worlds.

The tournament will start as always and as long as “Terrible Tempered Tommy Bolt” is listed as a champion, I would be willing to make a small wager on him providing the price is right ... say about 40 to 1. With such odds, I can afford to buy a whip and at least make certain he shows up for the first day of play. Maybe help him steer in the wind.

Any takers?