Joe Kirkwood was one of golf’s most famous trick-shot artists. During his exhibitions Kirkwood would use weird looking clubs that he designed himself. Often the clubs would get as big a laugh as his unusual shots.
Joe ran away from home at the age of nine and worked for J.R.D. Sellers, a sheep rancher. To while away the hours he practiced playing golf on a three-hole course that was on the rancher’s property. He had a sheep dog, which he trained to retrieve balls.
It was while he was still very young that Kirkwood began to experiment with different types of shots. He hit the ball left-handed and right-handed. He would hit it standing first on one foot and then the other. Pretty soon he had mastered all sorts of trick shots. But he practiced golf seriously too.
Mr. Sellers liked to play golf and he encouraged the youngster. When Kirkwood was about 12 years old, Sellers sent him to a town about 30 miles away so that he could participate in a tournament.
Young Joe went to the first hole, teed up, and drove off. Sure enough, his sheep dog ran out and retrieved the ball. The tolerant officials allowed Joe to leash the dog and start all over. He won the tournament by seven strokes.
From The Giant Book of More Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
In the SBT story Out of the Woods, Liss referred to the ranch that Kirkwood ran away to as a cattle ranch.
So, did he have a cattle dog?