Bobby Farino

[72Spider]

Spinner: This is primarily for you. Think you went to HS with the Farino brothers, either Kenny or Bobby or both. Don't know if you saw this article in SI or Golf Digest or not but Bobby Farino purchased Ben Hogan's famous 1 iron (that he hit on 18th fairway at Marion in 1950 US Open) back in 1983 among a golf bag of old clubs. He didn't know it at the time when he purchased the clubs (Bobby is a broker of golf clubs) but he noticed a worn spot on the club face of the 1 iron and it was a Ben Hogan private model. Only a pro could hit a 1 iron so consistently so he held on to the club and got Lanny Wadkins (a friend of Hogan's) to take it to Hogan to get confirmation. Hogan took one look at the club and casually said "yea, that's my club, I wondered where it went." Bobby Farino donated the club to the USGA and they have possession of it today. He could have sold it for thousands of dollars. Thought you might be interested if you didn't already know. Interestingly, I purchased a Ryder Cup golf bag from him several years ago when he had a store in Wmsbg. I played against him in baseball when he played for Ferguson and also the Post 25 Mariners.
This post was edited on 7/3 4:27 PM by 72Spider

 

[WebSpinner]

attended ferguson hs with all the farino bros, some ahead of me, some behind, all very good athletes. have driven by Bobby's golf place many times. last time i saw Kenny, he was an attorney in richmond, doing some commercial real estate development. Bubba was in my class and remember the entire clan would drive to florida during Christmas and one time they stopped at a service station to get some gas and relieve themselves and they departed and left Bubba there and was a while before they figured out he was not onboard. thanks for sharing that story and during the open at merion, where that one iron was struck, remember the talking heads reliving that shot many times and discussing the club. do not recall them giving
Bobby any credit but he should have gotten some on air, a nice gesture on his part. forget how many Farino bros there were but a large contingent and they played all sports and were outstanding, including wrestling.