📍Glen Garden, Fort Worth, TX 76119, USA
1922 – 1932“I was born in February 1912 on a farm near Waxahachie, in Ellis County, Texas, and when I was about ten my family moved to Fort Worth, settling near the Glen Garden Country Club on the south side of town. Soon after we arrived, I caught typhoid fever and nearly died; I lost almost half my weight. My parents, John and Madge, were devout members of the Church of Christ, and I was baptised at twelve, and our faith stayed at the heart of my life. I began caddying at Glen Garden to earn a little money, and caddies weren't allowed to play the course, so we practised in the caddie yard and sneaked a few holes when we could. I loved the game from the start. Among the other caddies was a fierce, quiet boy named Ben Hogan, the same age as me. In December 1927, when we were fifteen, we tied in the club's Christmas caddie tournament, and I won the playoff by a single stroke. The members gave me a junior membership so I could keep playing, and I won the Glen Garden junior championship the next year. I left school to work and turned professional in 1932. My swing, with its full leg drive, became the model for the modern game. In 1945 I won eleven tournaments in a row, a record no one has come close to. I retired young, at thirty-four, to buy a ranch near Roanoke, Texas, where I raised cattle, and I loved helping young players. Glen Garden is remembered as the club where Ben Hogan and I began.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today