Happy Kirby (L) and Doc Grahame (R) on the road. Image via Newspapers.com- Marion Star, March 24, 1927.

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Plumber Doc Grahame’s Adventure Hitting a Golf Ball Across the Entire United States

In 1927, a young man set out to drive a golf ball a total of thousands of miles, from coast to coast

Andrew Martin
3 min readFeb 7, 2025

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Most people love a good challenge, even if at first it might seem impossible. Watching somebody embark on an attempt to accomplish an amazing feat has traditionally been considered good entertainment. That’s why a young golf-loving plumber from Alabama named Doc Grahame captivated the country in the 1920s, as he set out to drive a golf ball across the entirety of the United States.

Joe “Doc” Grahame was a young man living in Mobile, Alabama in 1927, where he was employed as a plumber. When he wasn’t working, he loved to play golf. His passion coincided with living at a time when there was a great emphasis on people performing remarkable public stunts. This led to him deciding to attempt to drive a golf ball across the country, starting in his home city and ending up on the California coast. It would allow him to swing the golf clubs a lot and he also hoped that his efforts would ultimately lead to him being offered work in the movies.

Estimating that his endeavor would require around 1,500,000 individual shots and take anywhere between five months and five years, he set out on February…

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Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin

Written by Andrew Martin

Dabbler in soccer, history, investing & writing. Master’s degree in baseball history. Passionate about history, diversity, culture, sports, film and investing .

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