Bob Toski
| Bob Toski | |
|---|---|
| — Golfer — | |
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Robert John Toski |
| Born | September 18, 1926 Haydenville, Massachusetts |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Weight | 135 lb (61 kg; 9.6 st) |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Career | |
| Turned professional | 1945 |
| Former tour(s) | PGA Tour Champions Tour |
| Professional wins | 11 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| PGA Tour | 5 |
| Other | 6 |
| Best results in major championships |
|
| Masters Tournament | T18: 1951 |
| U.S. Open | T17: 1956 |
| The Open Championship | DNP |
| PGA Championship | T9: 1950, 1954 |
| Achievements and awards | |
| PGA Tour leading money winner |
1954 |
Robert John Toski, born Algustoski (born September 18, 1926), is an American professional golfer and golf instructor. He was inducted into the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame in 2013.[1]
Contents
Early years
He was born in Haydenville, Massachusetts of Polish descent, the eighth of nine children born to Walenty Algutoski and his wife Mary. He learned to play golf at Northampton Country Club, where he caddied and where two of his elder brothers were assistant professionals.[1]
PGA Tour
He joined the PGA Tour in 1949 and was the leading money winner in 1954, winning four times, including $50,000 at the World Championship of Golf, which was then by far the richest prize-money golf event in the world. Toski found stardom on the Tour despite weighing only 135 pounds. For many years, until the arrival of the similar-sized Chi-Chi Rodriguez, he was the smallest Tour player.
Club professional, coach, author, broadcaster
Toski left the tour aged 30 so he could spend more time with his young family (perhaps influenced by having lost his own mother at age six), and took a series of jobs as a club professional, while still competing occasionally on the Tour.
Later he found renewed fame as a leading golf coach, assisting tour pros such as World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Tom Kite and Judy Rankin as well as Australian star Bruce Crampton. He also wrote several golf instructional books, and made some of the earliest golf instruction videos. In the early 1980s he was a regular on NBC Sports golf telecasts.
Senior PGA Tour
Toski began playing on the Senior PGA Tour (now Champions Tour) upon its formation in 1980. He left the Tour in January 1986 after he became involved in a controversy over how he marked his ball in a tournament in Japan.[2] Fellow Senior PGA Tour player Gay Brewer stated that Toski improved his lie by marking it away from a spike mark near where his ball had come to rest on the green. Toski said that he had no recollection of any rules infraction. He returned in April 1986[3] and played several more years on the Tour.
Legacy
He was the first living instructor inducted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame, and he is also a member of the National Polish-American Hall of Fame.
Professional wins (11)
PGA Tour wins (5)
- 1953 (1) Insurance City Open
- 1954 (4) Baton Rouge Open, Azalea Open, Eastern Open, World Championship of Golf
Other wins (4)
this list is probably incomplete
- 1958 Massachusetts Open, Jamaica Open, Puerto Rico Open
- 1959 Maine Open
Other senior wins (2)
- 1990 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Legendary Division (with Mike Fetchick)
- 1992 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Legendary Division (with Mike Fetchick)
Results in major championships
| Tournament | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | DNP | T18 | T40 | DNP | T22 | T41 | DNP | CUT | DNP | DNP |
| U.S. Open | T20 | CUT | DNP | DNP | T18 | DNP | T17 | DNP | CUT | CUT |
| PGA Championship | R16 | R64 | R64 | R32 | R16 | DNP | DNP | R128 | T20 | CUT |
| Tournament | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| U.S. Open | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| PGA Championship | DNP | CUT | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T51 |
Note: Toski never played in The Open Championship.
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
Yellow background for top-10.
Major works
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- Find Your Own Fundamentals (with Jim Flick), Golf Digest, 1992
See also
References
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- Bob Toski at the PGA Tour official site
- GolfOnline bio and guide to Toski's coaching theory
- Toski Golf - golf equipment company
- Toski-Battersby Golf Learning Center - Toski's golf school in Florida
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