(Reuters) – Mickey Mouse, the Jetsons, Tom and Jerry and dozens of other colorful characters are now taking up permanent residence at the USGA Golf Museum after an Indiana couple donated more than 560 golf-themed comic books to the archive.
The collection, the most significant of its kind in the world, contains comics dating to the 1930s that depict Dennis the Menace, Beetle Bailey and others playing golf.
The Simpson’s Mr. Burns can be seen bulldozing trees to make way for a new course in another.
The museum said the collection reflects the periods in American history when they were published and changing attitudes toward the game, which is championed for its difficulty but criticized for historically being accessible only to the ultra-wealthy, Richie Rich’s of the world.
“Beginning with the golf boom of the late 1800s, golf was featured in just about every form of artistic and cultural expression, including music, theater, film, art and literature,” said Rand Jerris of the USGA.
“Collections such as this provide alternative methods of storytelling that create important pathways for more people to be exposed to golf.”
A selection of the covers has been digitized and can be found here https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/galleries/usga-museum-comic-book-acquisition.html#expanded.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
