Jump to content
BrainDen.com - Brain Teasers
  • 0

Famous Golf Hustle


bubbled
 Share

Question

There is a well known gambling hustler from a time gone by name Titanic Thompson. He was a great golfer, but lived during a time when you could make more money hustling amateurs than playing on tour.

One of his classic hustles was he'd go down to Florida during the winter and play for weeks with a group of players and play right-handed (he was a very good right-handed golfer). After beating them out of a fair amount of money, he'd offer to play them double or nothing left-handed. Of course, he was a natural lefty.

Here's the hustle that will form my puzzle. He once bet a group of businessmen that he could hit a golfball a mile. He went to the Grand Canyon and simply hit the golf ball off the edge. He told them that he felt bad and then offered to bet double of nothing that he could hit a ball over 500 yards horizontally. They took the bet. This is a time when given the hickory clubs of the time, it was hard to hit a ball over 200 yards.

How did he win? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

Hidden Content

We done bonanova. Here's a link to his wiki page that mentions that bet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_Thompson

Here's a good biography about him. Interesting life: http://www.amazon.com/Unsinkable-Titanic-Thompson-Carlton-Stowers/dp/0963401580

He certainly personifies my favorite line from Guys and Dolls: 

One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to show you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken. Then this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not accept this bet, because as sure as you stand there, you're going to wind up with an ear full of cider.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Answer this question...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...