The Glorious 70’s
I started playing golf in the 1970’s and our high school golf team from El Paso, Texas watched Lee Trevino and Orvile Moody play an exhibition round of golf at the Fort Bliss Golf Course in 1971. At that time, Lee had just coined the name of his followers as Lee’s Fleas. The day of that tournament, our entire team was part of Lee’s Fleas. We laughed at his jokes and his antics. He took notice that our group was having a great time. On one green he addressed everyone surrounding him and said, “I’m going to show you a method to never miss a putt from this distance.” He marked his ball, placed it in his pocket, and then placed his putter head into the hole while laying the grip over his marker. He then asked, “Is this the correct line to the hole?” Everyone said yes. He then stepped on the putter, leaving a groove into the green. Lee then placed the ball into the grooved track and sank the putt with ease. He then said, “Don’t let the groundskeeper catch you doing this.” As usual, the crowd erupted with laughter.
As our group of high school golfers followed him, he noticed our letter jackets and asked two of our better golfers, Steve Shock and Jim Dungan, if we would like to caddie for him. Steve and Jim made sure that everyone on our team could take turns lugging Lee’s bag on a long par four. It is a day that I will remember forever. It is not often that you can say, I caddied for a major golf pro. I understand that Steve is now a PGA club pro in El Paso, Texas. It just shows how much golf can impact your life.
I’m not saying that the golf world in the 70’s is superior to what we have today. We had Arnie’s Army, Lee’s Fleas, and Jack’s Pack as the names of those who followed their favorite pro golfers of that era. While in truth, members of each group switched followers during any given round of golf. Today, we can follow a golf pro’s Instagram account, YouTube Channel, and also see them live at a golf event. There is no doubt that golf is larger now than what it was in the 70’s. As for me, those years were glorious.
Tell me what you think. Do you recall any other names of the groups that followed golf pros?
