Kessler: Shute was the easy swinger who hit hard
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Editor's note: Kaye Kessler is an accomplished sportswriter who won the 2001 PGA of America Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award and the 2002 Memorial Tournament Journalism Award. He covered Jack Nicklaus' entire career, but in this essay Kessler writes about another famous golfer who helped shape his own path.
It was a little special, watching Jack Nicklaus when he was only a 10-year-old bear cub under the keen eye of Jack Grout - and who'd have guessed?
It was astonishing and inspiring following Ben Hogan's wrenching battle back from a tragic auto accident to the pinnacle; following Byron Nelson turning the likes of Sam Snead, Lloyd Mangum, Harold "Jug' McSpaden into fans rather than challengers in the '40s; and certainly incredibly stirring seeing Bobby Jones painfully losing his grip on life, if not his immortality.
When you're older than dirt and in the right places when the big parades go by, golden moments like those tend to slap you right in the face. But you can't blame any of those magic moments for turning me to golf and then -- for lack of coordination and, yeah, talent -- to golf writing.
That dubious distinction belongs to Herman Densmore "Denny" Shute, a gentleman about to be enshrined in the World Golf Hall of Fame 34 years after his death, and probably a half century after he should have been as anybody who takes the time to blow the dust off his brilliant career knows.
It was this very quiet Ohioan born in Cleveland in 1904 of British parents who lit the golf fire under a host of youngsters, including this wretched swinger, an honor Denny would discard faster than a gashed 2-iron, if he only knew.
But there are some undeniable truths. So forget Jones, Hogan, Nelson and Nicklaus -- Denny Shute was my knight in shining two-tone Johnny Walkers or whatever they stuck spikes on back when.
What did I know? I knew he was a golfer because my second grade teacher Hattie Potts at Worthington Elementary told me so. And this golfer guy married Mrs. Potts' beautiful daughter right across the street from our school at St. John's Episcopal Church.
Hey, the man had just won his third straight Ohio Open (Arnie Palmer only won two) and he was a big smoke in the third Ryder Cup matches at Scioto Country Club eight miles down the road where the U.S. creamed the British 9-3.
Not only that, he had been the first head professional at York Temple Country Club in 1927 right up the road from Worthington, where I commenced my caddie career age 9 because of Denny -- even if he had switched over to Brookside Country Club as their playing pro. Which of course had nothing to do with my decision to follow golf the rest of my life like a sick puppy. Because I didn't know golf from snooker until Denny did that marrying thing.
Hey, this famous golf guy married my favorite teacher's gorgeous daughter. Good enough for this corkscrew swinger. The funny -- and maybe sad -- thing is I eventually married a gorgeous girl from Omaha who confessed many years later she'd never ever have succumbed to my charms had she known I liked golf and sports writing next to her. Well, and snooker, too, which I became more proficient at than golf, no thanks to Denny.
There are many other wonderful little nuggets about Denny Shute you should know beyond his 15 professional titles that include the 1933 British Open and back-to-back PGA titles in 1936-37, which nobody did until a guy named Tiger came along some 60 years later.
Denny joined what became the PGA TOUR in 1928, but continued to represent York as their "touring pro." He switched to nearby Brookside, joining his father Herman, who became head pro in 1929. After the 1931 Ryder Cup Denny moved to Cleveland and played the circuit full time until 1948 when he took the head pro position at Akron Portage Country Club until his retirement in 1971.
Tall, handsome and quiet, his playing career was as distinguished as his demeanor and he was once described by veteran Chicago golf writer Herb Graffis as "a brilliant match play competitor and a shotmaker with a swing as sweet as a Viennese Waltz, a golfer who preceded Julius Boros as the lazy, velvety stylist who did what everyone thought was easy but wasn't."
It worked miracles. He once called his career shot a 3-wood to four feet for an eagle on the 72nd hole at Pinehurst in a semifinal win en route to the 1936 PGA. He shot four consecutive rounds of 73 at St. Andrews, then 74 in the playoff to beat Craig Wood for the 1933 Open Championship. He always was a threat but never won the U.S. Open, though produced two seconds, a third and a fourth, and had a second in the 1936 Masters. His prowess at match play was emphasized with his wins in the 1931 Ryder Cup at Scioto where he beat Bert Hodson 8 and 6 in singles after teaming with Walter Hagen in a 10-and-9 foursomes romp over George Duncan and Arthur Havers.
Elected to the PGA Hall of Fame in 1957, Denny now has the world on his side.
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