A Great Golfer Lost in 2008
USGA Museum Committee Member
Bob Labbance Will Be Greatly Missed

by Joe Stine

          Bob Labbance, a member of the USGA Museum & Library Committee since 2006, died on Saturday, August, 23, 2008, after a battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis [ALS], often referred to as "Lou Gherig's Disease.
          On the following page is an article reprinted from the Fall 2005 issue of Florida Golf Magazine that was written by Bob. It is about an in-depth interview he had in June 2002 with one of his literary heroes, Herbert Warren Wind.
          Wind, who was postumously inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November of 2008, died in April of 2005, and Bob’s interview turned out to be one of the very last interviews known to be granted by Wind. It is a very sensitive and poignant piece of work and a joy to read, as was pretty much everything that Bob’s wrote.
          Most within the golf community, be it a superintendent or a writer, invariably knew Bob, had read his writings and had tremendous respect for him. He wrote seventeen books on golf, served as the golf editor for “The Valley News,” was a managing editor at “Turf Magazine,” edited six northeastern state golf magazines for many years, wrote a series of greenkeeping histories for “Superintendent Magazine,” and played a crucial role in researching and editing “The Architects of Golf,“ by Geoffrey Cornish.
          It is often said that the true measure of a man is what others thought of him. Geoffrey Cornish’s inscription on Bob’s copy of “The Architects of Golf,” reads: “I trust you realize I am not unmindful of the contributions you made to bringing this volume to a successful conclusion.”
          Bob never sought recognition for his work; he simply wanted the recognition for his subjects, such as Walter Travis, Wayne Stiles and the courses whose histories he researched and wrote. However, an important piece of Bob’s golf writing has been unknown until now. In the spring of 2003, Bob joined the great tradition begun many years ago by Joe Murdoch. He wrote under a pen name for the British Golf Collectors Society’s magazine, “Through The Green,” known only to him and their editor. Bob was “Bunkie Foozle” and he took great delight when many of their readers wrote to complain about Bunkie because he had criticized the “esteemed” Bob Labbance in an article having to do with Balkan politics.
          Bob grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut. His first golf experience came during the third grade at a friend’s backyard apple orchard around 1960. By the time he was 11 in 1963, he had started caddying at the Country Club of Fairfield, where he looped for three seasons. He played on Mondays when the course was closed and he must have been a highly desired caddie, as he was on the bag for Julius Boros during that first season. It was his personal highlight at a time when the name Seth Raynor, the club’s famous architect, meant nothing to him.
          By the late 1980s Bob was covering golf tournaments, initially as a member of the print media, and then as a photographer. Some of his early press credentials include photo badge #00038 from the 1988 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., a credential from the 1989 U.S. Open at Oak Hill CC in Rochester, N.Y., and a press badge for the 1990 Masters, a tournament he covered several times. It was at The Country Club in 1988 when he first met Herbert Warren Wind, who had a significant impact on Bob, as he did with so many of us.
          Not only could Bob answer questions about so many of the great, yet still relatively unknown golf architects, in most cases he knew about their courses, and further still about the current and previous superintendents. To Bob, the “supers” were the most important person at any golf course, and he had tremendous respect for them. They taught him all he knew about agronomy, and his knowledge of that field was encyclopedic. And of course, the golf architects themselves, from the “Golden Age” designers we never met to all of today’s household names, were held in great esteem by Bob. In going through his inscribed volumes, their words say the world about Bob.
          On the 2002 Bethpage Black Course Field Notes: “For Bob Labbance – A true golf course architecture aficionado who is a credit to the golf industry – all the best – Rees Jones.”
          On the 1988 edition of The Game of Golf and The Printed Word 1566-1985: “To Bob Labbance, Who loves the printed word…. And plays a hell of a game. With the best wishes, Dick Donovan.”
          On August 31, 2004, Bob suffered a serious spinal injury while he was researching yet another Wayne Stiles course. Having fallen off a bridge head first (wearing his golf bag) into a stream, he was almost totally paralyzed, underwent spinal surgery a few days later and spent months in a rehab facility. Through it all, he kept his grace and his humor, and of course, his love for the game of golf. Over the next three years, he continued to write and recover, working his way back onto the golf course, although he was no longer able to walk more than a few holes. He was a proud USGA Walking Member, and joined the USGA Museum Committee in 2006.
          Then his legs started failing him unexpectedly in early 2007. Finally, in the fall of 2007, Bob was diagnosed with ALS. He continued working, and finished the Wayne Stiles book, all the while, continuing to edit the Golf Collectors Society Bulletin, as well as writing greenkeeping histories and researching several golf club histories with long time friend and collaborator Patrick White.
          Through it all, Bob’s dignity and courage were unfailing. The golf world will miss his eloquent writing and the wonderful arc of his four wood off the tee.