Golf during WW II

HONOLULU, Oahu, Hawaii – Any visit to Hawaii will be incomplete without a trip to the Visitor Center of Pearl Harbor. The Center caters to a big part of the five million tourists who visit Hawaii every year.

 Our visit to Pearl Harbor a few days ago last year included watching a 20-minute movie on the Japanese aerial assault on Dec. 7, 1941 of an unprepared America which had however been suspecting that a Japanese invasion was imminent. The attack dragged America into World War II (WW II).

From where I sat in the theater were the movie was shown, it appeared the film’s American producers made a special effort to be sensitive to Japanese feelings especially now that both nations have become allies in the Pacific where the Chinese presence bears close watch. This is not to mention that of Hawaii’s population of 1.3 million, Japanese –Americans account for about 160,000, second only to Filipino-Americans who number about 170,000. The movie was followed by a short shuttle boat trip to the USS Arizona Memorial which spans the sunken battleship USS Arizona.

The Japanese surprise attack resulted in the sinking of the Arizona and the loss of 1,177 lives of crewmen. Unlike the other ships that could be salvaged, the Arizona remains at the bottom of Pearl Harbor. Still very visible and obvious to one’s nostrils is the oil that is rising from near one of the ships gun turrets to the water’s surface, almost 71 years after the attack.

The article “Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941” from the Naval History and Heritage Command, calls the oil seeping “the tears of the Arizona” or “black tears”. After seeing the movie and visiting the USS Arizona memorial, one cannot help but be affected by the ugliness of war and how leaders with their own concept of protecting their nation’s interest bring ruin and untold suffering to entire countries and societies.

 Inside the Center souvenir shop, I was therefore pleasantly surprised when my youngest daughter, Lena Marie or Mayen, handed over to me a book written by John Strege entitled “When War Played Through – Golf During World War II”. Strege is the author of the best seller “Tiger”, a senior writer for Golf World and a contributor to Golf Digest.

The book’s front flap says that during WW II, every aspect of life on the American home front was affected, and golf was no exception. Floundering in popularity even before the attack on Pearl Harbor, golf soon suffered from equipment shortages (particularly golf balls which are rubber based) and course closures, and in those dark times the very relevancy of such a leisurely sport came into question.

But golf carried on, and in the book, Strege describes how a game for the elite became a selfless one. The front flap states that after canceling the US open, the United States Golf Association (USGA) replaced it with the Hale America National Open Golf Tournament, whose winner, Ben Hogan, was awarded $1,000 in war bonds.

Country clubs created USO (United Service Organizations Inc.) bunkers where every errant shot that found the sand resulted in a donation to the USO, and victory gardens were planted alongside fairways. The USO is a non-profit organization that provides morale and recreation services to members of the US military.

Other courses, such as Augusta National, site of the Masters, were wholly given over to crops and livestock. And comedians Bob Hope and Bing Crosby hit the links for charity, drawing huge crowds and huge donations for the war effort. According to Strege, in other countries such as England, which had been bombed and invaded by the Germans, temporary rules where formulated to allow golfers to continue pursuing their game. Playing golf despite the ongoing hostilities was viewed as a morale booster and a form of therapy to recover from the stress and horrors of war.

 The Richmond Golf Club in London had, in 1941, seven rules, among them: 1. players are to collect the bomb and shrapnel splinters to save these causing damage to mowing machines; 2. In competitions, during gunfire or while bombs are falling, players may take shelter without penalty or ceasing play; 3. positions of known delayed action bombs are marked by red flags at a reasonable, but not guaranteed, safe distance there from; 4. shrapnel and/or bomb splinters on the fairways, or in bunkers within a club’s length of a ball, may be moved without penalty, and no penalty shall be incurred if a ball is thereby caused to move accidentally. Truly, while sports does take the back seat during times of national emergency, it will in due time define its positive place in society to help alleviate society’s suffering during such emergencies.