On the course of history, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower saved Europe as supreme Allied commander.
On the course of golf, Ed Dudley saved Dwight Eisenhower.
Dudley, longtime head pro at Augusta National Golf Club, improved the links-loving president’s game by almost 20 strokes, guiding him to rounds in the low 80s.
It is said the man they called “Big Ed” fixed a terrible slice in the swing of the man they called “Ike.”
A slice, which veers a right-hander’s shot to the right, is trouble at Augusta National, which plays better to the left.
How Dudley did it is hard to say.
Newspaper archives almost suggest a golf pro/client privilege against revealing such insights. The Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas, quickly acknowledges the friendship, but offers little on golf tips.
It is Dudley who provided a hint in an interview with a New York reporter in the 1950s. He said he convinced the 34th president of the United States – who was also an Augusta National member – to slow down and relax. He was no longer charging across Europe but enjoying a game in the great outdoors.
“The president doesn’t play nearly as fast as he used to,” Dudley said. “He doesn’t take the game nearly so seriously. His attitude is wonderful.”
And Ed Dudley would know about wonderful attitudes.
During a 40-year career as player and instructor, Dudley was universally admired for both his talent and temperament. He treated everyone with the same kindness, be they fellow competitors, wealthy socialites, caddies, waiters, sports writers or an occasional commander in chief. They say he remembered everyone’s name.
He not only worked with Eisenhower – often his golfing partner at Augusta National – but also entertainers such as Bob Hope and Bing Crosby with similar success.
Dudley was a big man (6′ 4”) with a big fluid swing.
Born in Brunswick, Ga., he began his golf career as a player. Sportswriters called him the “Georgia Whippet,” and he was considered one of America’s top young competitors.
In 1931 he won both the Western Open and the Los Angeles Open. He came in third in Augusta’s 1937 Masters Tournament, the same year his clutch play on the Ryder Cup team gained America its first victory on British soil.
He played competitively into the 1940s and would finish in the top-10 at major golf championships two dozen times.
Back in Augusta, Ed Dudley was not only a master of ceremonies at many Masters functions, but also a master of golf tournaments as president of the Professional Golf Association, a job he handled from 1942 to 1948.
He juggled all these challenges and responsibilities with the same relaxed style and pleasant personality that made him a very good golf teacher.
When Bobby Jones went looking for a professional for his new Augusta National Golf Club, he said Ed Dudley was his first choice.
“First of all, I want a gentleman,” Jones said. “Next, I feel we should select a pro who likes to teach. And finally, I believe we want someone who is a good player.”
Dudley filled the bill and took the job in 1932, holding it for the next quarter century.
He not only handled Augusta duties, but spent his summers – when the Georgia course was closed – as club pro at Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs.
“Ed was socially acceptable by everybody,” said Gene Stout, who succeeded Dudley as pro at Augusta National after serving as his assistant for several years. “He was the finest fellow I’ve ever been around. He was one of the best hearted fellows I’ve ever known. He was an easy-going person, well-liked by everyone.”
Dudley left Augusta National in 1957 for a very lucrative job at a new golf club resort in Puerto Rico.
“I hate to see Ed leave,” Jones told the Augusta Herald. “I hoped he would never have to and that so long as he remained active, he would continue as the professional … however, I am glad to see him better himself.”
Dudley would die six years later of a heart attack following surgery to remove blood clots in his leg.
He was brought back to Augusta and buried in Westover Memorial Park, the cemetery that borders Augusta National Golf Club, not that far from Amen Corner.
“Ed endeared himself to all our members,” said Clifford Roberts, the club founder, in a statement.
A former U.S. president was certainly among them.
A Golf Lesson from Ed Dudley
(Editor’s note: This was the first lesson of a series printed in The Augusta Chronicle in 1957 and provided by NEA news service.)
Start by getting a good grip on the game.
The grip controls the power that lies within the body. The body definitely is the force. The hands merely transmit the force to the clubhead.
It is through repetition that you acquire emotional discipline in the grip, which is perhaps the most important thing in golf. No grip, no swing. No swing, no game.
Holding the club, pressure is applied on the last three fingers of the left hand and the two middle fingers of the right. Get the feel of the club from the thumb and forefinger of both hands.
Apply nothing more than normal pressure. The club should not be held too tightly or too loosely.