One of our favorite pastimes is watching old newsreels. It almost doesn’t matter what the subject is - if it’s in grainy black and white and narrated by someone who sounds like he didn’t bother to take his cigar out of his mouth, we’re hooked.
But if the subject is vintage golf, all the better. That’s why we were so excited to learn that the archive known as “British Pathé” has been put on YouTube.
British Pathé, originally known as Pathé News and named after its founder, Charles Pathé, is a collection of newsreels and films made from 1910 on. It includes a wide variety of subjects, but our interest was especially drawn to golf.
If you go on the site and search “golf,” be prepared to spend some time watching everything from majors to mechanical swing aids. Nicklaus, Palmer, Hogan, Snead, Jones, Hagen - they’re all here (some with sound, some without). So is Harry Vardon. But the most fascinating clip we’ve seen was about a golfer with no arms. Don’t take our word for it - check it out for yourself.