Sport: Stroke a Minute

James Smith Ferebee, 31-year-old La Salle Street broker, has a golf handicap of 11 at his club, Chicago’s de luxe Olympia Fields. Fat Fred Tuerk, his crony, averages “around 176” for 18 holes.

One afternoon three weeks ago, James Smith Ferebee breezed into the club’s locker room, announced that he had just played 90 holes. “Could have gone 144,” he added. This irked fat Fred Tuerk, who offered to bet him $2 that he couldn’t.

Other bystanders raised the ante to $500.

Then Tuerk, getting into the spirit of the thing, decided to throw in his half of the Virginia farm he owned with Fellow-Member Ferebee.

Thus was started one of the most publicized bets of the past decade—a golf marathon for half of a $30,000 plantation and $2,500 in side bets. Only stipulations were that Golfer Ferebee must 1) make good his boast between dawn and dusk; 2) get 95 or less for each of the eight rounds.

So one dawn last week, Golfer Ferebee teed up on Olympia’s tough No. 4 course (which has plagued many a famed professional during championship tournaments), scampered down the dewy fairway, accompanied by three spectators, a scorer, a doctor and three caddies—two to spot the balls and one to tote his bag, which contained 14 clubs, two extra pairs of shoes, orange juice, beer and candy bars.

Moving along at a half-trot, Golfer Ferebee, who used to be a wrestler at the University of Virginia, played the first 36 holes in 172 strokes, 170 minutes. By noon he had collected a gallery of 500 and scores of 90, 82, 82, 82. Then Providence sent a rainstorm. Fortified by sandwiches & coffee and refreshed by a shower during his 97-minute rest, Golfer Ferebee continued his jaunt, followed by a dozen reporters, photographers and, toward late afternoon, half of La Salle Street (including Partner Tuerk).

In time’s nick, as the last ray of daylight began to fade, Golfer Ferebee limped up to the final green, sank his putt for a 5 and a last-round 89. He had taken 687 strokes (90, 82, 82, 82, 87, 87, 88, 89) for the 144 holes, had covered each of Olympia’s four courses twice (a tee-to-green distance of 29 miles) in 13 hr. 32 min. “Well, anyway, my golf’s got volume, if not quality,” panted Ferebee, as he peeled off $100 to pay the ten caddies he had used.

Next day, as all La Salle Street speculated whether he would ever get Tuerk’s share of the 290-acre farm (the title is in Mrs. Tuerk’s name), Golfer Ferebee was back at the Olympia Fields course, playing his regular Saturday afternoon foursome.

Although his stunt* had made him one of the celebrities of 1938, it was no secret that Golfer Ferebee would have been just as pleased to have lost the farm. Heavily mortgaged, it has been a headache ever since the partners bought it three years ago.

*No record is Ferebee’s marathon. In 1933, in Los Angeles, one Bob Swanson played 306 holes in 19 hours.