Byron Nelson was the first man to win 50 PGA Tour events. He won an incredible 11 straight tournaments in 1945 and 18 in total that year. His swing was so powerful and metronomic that the USGA named a machine after him – Iron Byron. He was one of the greatest golfers of all time but retired from full-time competitive play aged 34 to become a rancher. This is the story of “Iron Byron” Nelson.
1912 was quite a year in golf, within the space of six months, three men who would go on to become golfing legends were born: Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. The trio would dominate golf in the middle part of the 20th century.
Byron was the first to arrive on the 4th February 1912, although it wasn’t easy. His birth was so arduous and prolonged that the doctor thought he wouldn’t make it. He did, just.
His early years were spent on the family cotton farm, helping in the fields. The boll weevil devastated Texas cotton crops for the first two decades of the 20th century and Byron’s father was forced to move the family to find work elsewhere. For a number of years, the Nelson family battled poverty and illness. An uncle died of TB and Byron was exposed to rabies and had to spend almost a month in hospital.
On his return he had a high temperature and it turned out he had contracted typhoid fever. He lost almost half his body weight and very nearly died.
“The fact I survived left me with a strong sense of gratitude,” he said later. “I was happy to have got my life back.”
An introduction to golf
Byron Nelson in 1939
Byron got some work aged 12 caddying at nearby Glen Garden – not an easy thing to do at the time as a large number of other local lads, including Ben Hogan, had the same objective. But Nelson’s dedication and strict adherence to the club rules quickly stood him apart from many of the other youths and he became a popular caddy.
That meant he was afforded the odd opportunity to play a little golf himself and within a couple of years, the young Nelson, now nearly six feet tall and thin as a rake, was displaying significant aptitude for the game. He was given membership of Glen Garden in 1928 and began playing matches against other local clubs, during these he met the likes of Ralph Guldahl and brothers Ray and Lloyd Mangrum. Also competing against Ben Hogan, Nelson was in a pool of hugely talented players, but he didn’t turn professional immediately.
By contrast, Hogan first played for money aged 17. Byron left it a few years. It wasn’t…
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