In 1958 at the inaugural World Amateur Team Championship at the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, Bill Hyndman struck a shot golfing immortal Bobby Jones called “the greatest clutch shot I have ever seen.”
Three years before, the then-42-year-old, had been crushed in the finals of the U.S. Amateur Championship by Harvie Ward, the man some believed would rival Jones as the greatest amateur golfer of all time. It was the first of four losses for Hyndman in the finals of a national championship. At the time Hyndman struck that shot, he was in the early stages of a psychological battle with himself to overcome a plague of self-doubt. The fight he was in would last for decades, but with the support of his life partner, Ginny, whom he called “the best pick I ever made,” he not only persevered—he triumphed.
Bill Hyndman’s story is one of life and death, fathers and sons, faith and love. Born in the year Babe Ruth hit his first home run, Hyndman endured the loss of his father at age 14, the suffering and death of his 3-year-old daughter, Patsy, and the sudden loss in WWII of the kid brother he had guided through life. Through it all he turned to his faith and the woman he loved to sustain him during the tough times and to help him fulfill the passion he had to one day win a national championship.
The Hyndman story is also the story of amateur golf during the mid-20th century—a time when the great amateurs frequently matched up against Hogan, Snead, Palmer, Player, and Nicklaus. The charismatic golfer built relationships with these giants of the game but always kept family and friends first. He managed to build his golf career at a time most early rivals had faded from the scene. And when he reached the pinnacle of the game, he was already old enough to be the father of the emerging golf stars he would have to beat. He would make a habit out of surprising them all.
