March 10, 1944 – The Goofy Short Film How To Play Golf is Released to Theaters
“Contrary to popular belief, golf is not a waste of time.”
On March 10, 1944, the Goofy short film How to Play Golf was released to theaters. It was directed by Jack Kinney, with Fred Shields as the voice of the narrator.
The narrator begins by trying to explain why golf is not a “waste of time.” Goofy steps on the course and tries to pull out his club, and ends up pulling out all of them at the same time, sending them flying over the green. Undeterred, he grabs his tee and his ball and sets up his shot. While the narrator tries to explain the grip, Goofy ends up knotting his fingers together. As he swings, he ends up hitting himself in the jaw, and tangles himself up even more trying to free his fingers. As he bounces all over the green, the ball ends up on his nose, and he creates what the narrator calls a divot, “caused by an indirect swing.” The ball slides down the divot, and into Goofy’s mouth, where he accidentally swallows it.
The figure and Goofy square off on the ball, not realizing they are about to hit each other
The narrator then begins to explain a proper swing, separating Goofy from a diagrammatical figure that Goofy tries to emulate. The figure is alarmed that Goofy’s swing has swung the poor guy around and around. The figure then takes on the task of untangling Goofy, sending him flying through the blueprint paper behind him. He finally fixes Goofy, but the two end up smacking each other with their clubs by accident, sending the ball straight into Goofy’s eye. Back on the green, Goofy sends the ball flying near the hole, where he needs to putt. He checks all the variables before his shot, including wind velocity, humidity, rotation of the earth, time of day, temperature, drift indication, lay of the land, trajectory angle, longitude, and latitude. However, Goofy misses the putt, with rather dramatic results.
The next shot is an incorrect shot known as a hook, which has Goofy’s ball sailing around the hole and into the woods, burying itself in the dirt near some tree roots. When Goofy tries to move his ball to a better position, the figure slaps him on the hand, as moving the ball is strictly forbidden. Another example of playing the ball where it lies is when Goofy is stuck in a sand trap, and has dug himself a hole deep into the earth, with the ball just dancing around his feet. He finally sends it flying up the side, but it just slides back down into the pit, sending Goofy into a rage. The figure helps him get the ball out of the pit, but Goofy runs into another problem when the sprinkler system turns on. However he overcomes the problem and continues the play the ball where it lies – including on a bull’s nose. Goofy and the figure sprint across the green as the bull gives chase, with Goofy still playing the ball. Finally, Goofy makes it back to the bar in the lodge, where he, the bull, and the figure sit together for a drink, singing “Auld Lang Sine.”
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