TOMMY BOLT - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 136740

TOMMY BOLT
B/w publicity photo from Sounder Sports of Bolt from the shoulders up in a light-colored cap and shirt, signed "Best Wishes".
Photograph signed "Best Wishes/Tommy Bolt". 8x10 overall, 7¼x9½ image, one surface.Captioned in lower right corner: "Tommy Bolt". The caption has four additional lines that have been crossed out: "Member of/Sounder Sports/Touring Professional/Advisory Staff". Bolt (1918-2008, born in Haworth, Oklahoma) was a PGA golfer with 15 PGA Tour wins, including the 1958 U. S. Open, between 1951 and 1961. But golfing fans probably remember him best for his golfclub-throwing temper on the course, which earned him nicknames like "Terrible Tommy". (According to the World Golf Hall of Fame, Bolt taught Arnold Palmer to "always throw clubs ahead of you. That way, you won't waste any energy going back to pick them up") Despite his temper, he eventually earned the respect of other golfers as one of the best ballstrikers in the biz. In fact, according to golfing legend Ben Hogan, the only thing holding Bolt back was his short fuse. The World Golf Hall of Fame quoted him as saying, "If we could've screwed another head on his shoulders, Tommy Bolt could have been the greatest who ever played." Bolt got his start as a caddie at the age of 13, but World War II delayed his entry onto the PGA Tour until the ripe old age of 34. He persevered, though, and kept his skills up by becoming head pro at a golf club in liberated Rome in 1945. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2002. Lightly toned and creased. Light pitting and impressions on image (not visible head-on). Otherwise in fine condition.