Two “Semi-Tough” GWAA members

I had the privilege of chatting with legendary sports writer Dan Jenkins last night at the annual Golf Writers Association of America dinner.

I asked Dan if he was familiar with Golfdom, and if he had ever written for the magazine.

I was happy to hear the answer was “yes” to both. Dan wrote for the magazine back in 1958 or 1959, and he was also good friends with Golfdom founder Herb Graffis!

Coincidentally Dan had been recently trying to track down that article, but to no avail. “I want to see how sloppy I was back then, writing for Herb,” he laughed. I told Jenkins that we had digitized the entire run of Golfdom back to our first issue in 1927, and that I’d be happy to track it down for him. (If by any chance you know the issue Dan wrote for, shoot me an email.)

Update: here’s the link, the story was published waaaay back in 1956!

Jenkins was paid $20 for the story back then. (We pay better today!) I asked if that was a bad rate back then or if Graffis took care of him. “That was a great rate!” Dan said. “Golf Digest paid me the same!”

The topic switched back to Graffis again, and he told me what a funny man he was, that he was a great speaker for dinner parties. And that he knew everyone in the game back then.

I mentioned that I was jealous of Herb’s list of connections. Jenkins told me it was a different time. It was easier to get to know guys — especially players — back then.

“I don’t know any of these players today. The only player I’ve even had dinner with of today’s generation is Phil Mickelson,” Jenkins said. “Mickelson is just a great guy. The fans love him, the writers love him. The only group who doesn’t love him are the players. But he’s got it all… Beautiful wife, beautiful family, great zip code.”

Photo: Golfdom Staff

Chatting with Dan was definitely the highlight of this year’s GWAA dinner.