I LEAFED THROUGH MY copy of A Disorderly Compendium of Golf yesterday. It’s a 2006 golf book of anecdotes, vignettes, trivia, myths, rules and more authored by Lorne Rubenstein and Jeff Neuman. I thought I’d share many of the player nicknames I found in the book, as well as some listed at The Sand Trap.
See how many players you can identify. On Christmas Eve I will add the player names beside the nicknames.
(WARNING: Many of the following player nicknames are from earlier golf eras.)
UPDATE: The player names have been added. How did you do?
The Squire (Gene Sarazen)
Popeye (Craig Parry)
The Joplin Ghost (Horton Smith)
Walrus (Craig Stadler)
The King (Arnold Palmer)
Gentle Ben (Ben Crenshaw)
All Day (Glen Day)
Long John (John Daly)
Boss of the Moss (Loren Roberts)
Georgie (Nick Dougherty)
The Big Easy (Ernie Els)
Skippy (Al Geiberger)
Radar (Mike Reid)
Sir Walter (Walter Hagen)
The Hawk (Ben Hogan)
Volcano (Steve Jones)
Thurston (Charles Howell III)
Lord Byron (Byron Nelson)
Lumpy (Tim Heron)
Mr. X (Miller Barber)
Thunder Bolt (Tommy Bolt)
Moose (Julius Boros)
The Stylist (Harry Vardon)
Hound Dog (Gay Brewer)
Chachi (Billy Andrade)
Dr. Dirt (Bart Bryant)
Buffalo Billy (Billy Casper)
Lighthorse (Harry Cooper)
The Mechanic (Miguel Angel Jimenez)
The Emperor (Bobby Jones)
Champagne Tony (Tony Lema)
Phil the Thrill (Phil Mickelson)
Gene the Machine (Gene Littler)
DL 3 (Davis Love)
Wild Bill (Bill Mehlhorn)
Zinger (Paul Azinger)
Doc (Cary Middlecoff)
The Shark (Greg Norman)
Porky (Ed Oliver)
Jumbo (Masahi Ozaki)
Chocolate Soldier (Henry Picard)
Black Knight (Gary Player)
Mouse (Bob Toski)
The Bulldog (Corey Pavin)
Super Mex (Lee Trevino)
Towering Inferno (Tom Weiskopf)
The Chin (Lew Worsham)
Boom Boom (Fred Couples)
The Angry Ant (Gavin Coles)
Tank (K.J. Choi)
Desert Fox (Johnny Miller)
Mrs. Doubtfire (Colin Montgomerie)
Sarge (Orville Moody)
The Golden Bear (Jack Nicklaus)
The Italian Bandit (Constantino Rocca)
−The Armchair Golfer
No FIGJAM?
I do believe he's on the list under a different nickname.
Haha! Dr Dirt! Who is that?
I'm a little embarrassed at the number of them I do not know. If someone knows all of them, they should proceed directly to the World Golf Hall Of Fame. That's more impressive than winning the Masters…
Great list, Neil…
wow – I had to work to get half of them ! great list, can't wait to see the answers
Vince: Do not be embarrassed. It's a tough list, even for those of us who know a little golf history.
I did know a lot of them, but Mrs Doubtfire puzzled me…
Colin Mongomerie? thats the funniest thing I have read in a week!! Too funny and PERFECT!!
bob