Best golfer ever to call the Capital Region home? Local historians might point to Tom Creavy, the former Albany and Saratoga Spa pro who won the 1931 PGA Championship, or amateur Billy Shields out of Wolferts Roost, a three-time State Amateur champ and 1951 Masters participant.
If length of residency is discounted, it would be hard to ignore the career of Jimmy Hines.
A plunge into the archives of the Times Union and other newspapers from throughout the state uncovered a lot of the area’s rich golf history. It started as a quest to compile a list of the number of times a local player competed in a major golf championships. That number, which continues to expand, exceeds 100 if you include Hines, who played in 37.
Hines was head pro at Amsterdam Municipal for about a season and a half in the mid-1940s, brought in “to add prestige to the then 10-year-old course,” according to city mayor Mike Cinquanti, who researched the topic extensively for a 2015 “Amsterdam, NY” blog post.
There is no disputing Hines’ credentials. He made the semifinals of the PGA Championship — which was match play before 1958 — twice, among 15 appearances. He had four top 10s in the Masters, which he played 10 times. Hines played 11 U.S. Opens and in the 1952 British Open.
He was born on Long Island and was head pro at a few clubs in that area before moving to Lakeville (Mass.) in 1937. Hines, who died in 1986 at age 82, was lured to Amsterdam for what undoubtedly was a hefty salary in 1943.
Cinquanti’s research revealed that while he provided the course a marquee name and lured legendary Byron Nelson to Muny for a 1944 exhibition, Hines frustrated members because he often was on the road playing various tournaments and not available in Amsterdam. Hines won nine PGA Tour events, including the 1933 Glens Falls Open.
Yes, Glens Falls had…
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