“PRO” FILE – TOURING PROFESSIONAL CALVIN PEETE

The golfing world learned with great regret the passing of Calvin Peete this past April 29. His story is so remarkable that a script of his life presented to Hollywood producers would probably be labeled as fiction, but every bit of it is true. He was born in 1943 in Detroit, Michigan, and as a kid, he broke his left arm and it was never properly set. As a result, he was unable to straighten it out completely, but arguably this led to his uncanny accuracy as a tour player. He sold goods to migrant workers as a young adult and first picked up a club at the age of 23 – that’s right, 23. Peete soon showed a talent for the game, and he qualified for the PGA Tour in 1975 at the relatively advanced age of 32. Peete would go on to win 12 times, but is perhaps better known for the fact that he led the tour in driving accuracy for 10 years straight, often by wide margins. He also led the greens in regulation category for three years and was in the top 10 eight times. In discussions about the greatest ballstriker of all time, the names Ben Hogan and Moe Norman are often mentioned as the best ever, but Peete certainly deserves to be in the conversation. He never achieved any sort of success on the Champions Tour, and retired from competitive golf while still in his mid-50s. He is survived by his wife Pepper and seven children.