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The History of One Club Golf - Since 1980
For hundreds of years golf has been one of the foremost features of a rewarding way of life and has added to the beautification of the metropolitan image. Major developers, leading course architects, accomplished professionals and thousands of individual golfers have combined their common interest and efforts to elevate golf to an extraordinary level of excellence.
The idea of the One Club World Championship is simple, yet the potential is tremendous in scope – both as a unique event open to all golfers and as a fund raising mechanism for charitable organizations. Throughout the history of the game, adept golfers have from time to time played complete rounds using just a single club as a unique competitive concept and a challenge to their skill.
In 1980, one such competition led to the organization of the One Club World Championship. That year One Club organizer Rene Miller saw Palmer, Player and Trevino compete in a one club exhibition. He saw the potential for a national and world championship event and applied for the copyright.
In 1982, One Club Golf, Inc. put the challenge on a structured basis for the first time and staged the very first One Club Championship Tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was a small scale beginning; a limited field of 120 contestants entered the first competition and many golfers were turned away as the event sold out two weeks after the entry forms were distributed. The intensity of interest is evidence that One Club Golf could expand around the world in due time. In 1984, more than 30 golf courses held qualifying rounds to select players for the World Championship as golfers played to become eligible at participating courses from Hawaii to New York. These contests determined zone champions who vied for a first place prize of $10,000.
From the first winning score, the record was consistently broken each year until a fantastic score of 70 was shot in 1987. This Guinness Book of Records World Record score still stands today. Thad Daber of Durham, North Carolina shot this amazing score with one club - his 6 iron. Many golfers have come close to 70, but Thad’s record still stands.
In May of 2002, the organizers of One Club announced their decision to make Atlanta, Georgia the administrative headquarters and base of the world championship tournament. Now in its 30th year, One Club Golf continues to provide opportunities to golfers of all skill levels to compete in this fun and exciting event. Local qualifying tournaments are being held around the country and the One Club World Championship is scheduled for March 2010 at Bridgemill Athletic Club in Canton. Georgia.