The latest issue of PGA Partners has a column by Tom Lehman in which he reminisces about the late, great Byron Nelson. Lehman confirms what most golf fans already knew about Lord Byron: that as great a player as he was, he was a greater human being.

And then Lehman drops a historical bombshell (ok, perhaps it was only a grenade). Once, in a conversation with Lehman, Nelson let it slip that he had actually won 12 in a row in the summer of 1945, not 11. The twelfth, however, was not counted at the time because it was for a purse of less than the $500 minimum.

Nelson, always a modest man, apparently never mentioned it to anyone else.

The fact that in all of the dozens of articles I read on Nelson after his passing, this was not mentioned even once makes me wonder about golf’s historical record keeping. Such a thing would not have gone unnoticed by baseball historians, who pore over old newspapers divining information about even the most obscure of games and players.

Golf apparently doesn’t inspire such meticulous review. The PGA, or the Tour, with all of their millions, should commission a team of researchers to do just what baseball historians have been doing: trying to uncover every stat about every professional and major match ever played. (And if they already have such people then they aren’t doing such a good job if the story on the twelfth win didn’t come up when Nelson died).

And here’s another item for thought: $500 in 1945 translates to about $5600 in today’s currency. And folks, that was the purse, not the first place take. 

The Senate has moved to posthumously award Byron Nelson a Congressional Gold Medal—one of 137 ever awarded. Previous recipients included Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, the Little Rock Nine, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson and Mother Theresa.

The bill cited Nelson’s philanthropy as well as his play as a golfer. Nelson’s tournament has raised more than $88 million for charity.

It’s a fine thing to be awarded a Congressional Medal. I’m just sorry, however, that the awards have waited—as they so often do—until after the recipient has passed away.

Still, from everything I’ve read about Byron Nelson, I don’t think he would have been very impressed by the award. And I’m almost certain that he would not have appreciated the fuss. Men like Nelson don’t do things for the awards and the recognition—they do it in spite of them.

“Lord” Byron Nelson died peacefully on Tuesday at his home in Roanoke, Texas.

Nelson was a PGA Tour legend, having won 11 straight tournaments in 1945. He won 31 of 54 tournaments over the 1944 - 1945 seasons and retired after the following season at the age of 36. He had achieved his goal of buying a ranch with his golf earnings.

“When I was playing regularly, I had a goal,” Nelson once said. “I could see the prize money going into the ranch, buying a tractor, or a cow. It gave me incentive.”

Nelson won the Masters in 1937 and ‘42, the U.S. Open in 1939 and the PGA Championship in 1940 and ‘45.

He was also, until this last year, the only living player to have a tournament namesake.

As I read more about the history of golf, I have come to realize that the current controversy over the distance game is an old story. Bobby Jones and the best of his contemporaries regularly hit shots that left them driver-wedge. But how Jones, Ted Ray, Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen et. al. hit 300 yard drives with persimmon heads and low-tech balls is beyond me.

And now, I’ve found this bit in Sam Snead’s 1962 book, Education of a Golfer

I’d rather play a wedge second shot out of rough than a 5-iron from the fairway if I gain 40 or 50 yards by doing it ... There’s ninety ways to get out of the rough after a long drive, but no way at all to pick up those yards you’ve lost by hitting them soft.

Snead, of course, was the longest hitter on Tour at the time. He could uncork a 300 yarder seemingly at will. While working at the Greenbrier as an assistant pro, he once drove the 335 yard fifth three times in a row. The first time he did it, everyone thought it was a trick ... so he had to do it twice more for disbelieving eyes.

You can’t tell from watching television, but Jack Nicklaus introducted a major change to PGA Tour course setups this week at his Memorial Tournament.

He changed the designs of the rakes.

That’s right. The rakes.

Whereas the old rakes left the surface smooth and playable, the new ones are designed to leave furrows that will penalize players whose balls land there.

It is said that Nicklaus—and word has it PGA Tour officials—were frustrated by constantly having to increase the length of a course to adapt to the big hitters. Instead, it was decided to further punish wayward shots.

“Nowadays all the bunkers are so perfect, there’s no penalty any more,” Nicklaus said. “Bunkers are really supposed to be a penalty. All I’m trying to do is make the guy think he doesn’t want to be in the bunker, and it’s not the place to aim for.”

Several news outlets have reported that PGA officials have been considering the move for some time. But a fear of player backlash has stayed their hand.

That’s where Jack comes in. No one is going to question what the Golden Bear does at his own tournament. And once they get used to the idea, we may see the new rakes at more Tour stops.

But Nicklaus is not the first to introduce a shot penalizing rake. Henry Fownes, founder of the fabled Oakmont course also designed a special rake to leave deep furrows in the sand. He felt that being in the sand should be a severe penalty.

Of course, Fownes was a bit of a golf madman. He is said to have followed groups of players around to see where their shots were landing. Then—magically—overnight, a new hazard would appear to take even those spots away. The first hole at Oakmont is said to be the most difficult in golf.

Fownes’ philosophy was “a shot poorly played should be a shot irrevocably lost.”

I am in total agreement with Nicklaus’ move. As I have said on several occasions here, the way to deal with the bomb and gouge players is to make it more difficult for them to gouge. Make them consider more carefully the costs and benefits of thirty extra yards as opposed to being in the fairway. I don’t think that the average tour stop has to go to the extremes of the USGA and its Open, but a few modifications are in order.

And a new rake is a good idea.