Televised golf has had many great moments over the years, but in my opinion, none better than that extraordinary production, Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf. The show didn’t invent the format, but it certainly raised the approach to a new standard of excellence.
In the early days of television, All Star Golf was an attempt to bring the game into living rooms across the United States. The Golf Channel still airs many of those early shows and it’s interesting to see the contrast in the state of the art of television then and now. You can see an old van following the players, carrying camera equipment. For the most part, only one camera was used and a player was rarely seen to tee off. Rigid diagrams of the holes were used both to condense the transmission and to allow time to move the equipment.
The year was 1957. The show’s original host, Jim Britt, had been a baseball announcer for both the Boston Braves and Boston Red Sox and later in his career for the Cleveland Indians.
All Star Golf lasted for three years and was responsible for the birth of Shell’s Wonderful World. It was in 1960 when the president of Shell USA, Monroe Spaght, saw an episode and became very interested in the possibilities of golf on television. But he imagined a universe much bigger than the one encompassed by All Star Golf. The former show filmed most of its matches in Chicago and later in other cities across the country.
Spaght had bigger ideas. Shell was, of course, a global corporation and Spaght wanted a show that would span the globe in its scope. The result was the wonderful world of Shell golf. Gene Sarazen was hired to host the show and he took viewers through nine years and over ninety games to some of the most beautiful locations in the world.
In fact, one of the main features that made the show so unique was the time it devoted to mini travelogues dedicated to the area where the matches took place. It was a show that not only focused on golf, but also opened up worlds of beauty to its wide audience, taking us places we had never been and showing us the variety of places where golf is played.
The show was also noted for its breadth of commentary from many different sources. From Sarazen to Dave Marr to George Rogers, the comments were always relevant and informative. But perhaps most prominent of all were the eloquent contributions of Jack Whitaker, whose mastery of the spoken word and the images it created were second to none. Whitaker could sum up in thirty seconds the spirit and character of the game and the setting in which it was played. He lent an air of authority to the program as a whole and especially to the closing that followed the game.
I would love to see the return of the show with today’s stars. The Golf Channel shows the older shows regularly and they are indeed treasured keepsakes. However, it would be great to see today’s players in a similar situation. It’s probably too expensive an undertaking these days, but it sure would be nice.