The year was 1938. The U.S. was still 3 years from entering World War II, but on the tail end of fighting through the Great Depression. The fifth Augusta National Invitation Tournament had been played -- the last before it became known simply as the Masters.
In November of that year, Donald Duck was playing golf.
In a 75-year-old cartoon called "Donald's Golf Game," the surly swine took his sticks and caddie-nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie to the links for a round.
It's a great, 7-minute cartoon that show precisely what the Disney folks thought of the game.
The premise is pretty simple: The anger-prone Donald goes out for a quick 18 on a beautiful day but gets annoyed with the distractions from Mother Nature and his nephews. Hilarity ensues.
Some highlights:
- Some great things happen in this cartoon beyond Donald Duck's anger issues flaring up:
- At the 45-second mark, one of the nephews fashions a tee out of sand. Sand!
- Just 10 seconds later, the origination of the Jason Dufner waggle becomes evident.
- A little over a minute in, Donald yells are a bird for chirping. But he's also a bird.
- When the boys blow their nose simultaneously to distract Donald, the uncle doesn't quite use Ian Poulter's suggestion to silence hecklers, but they didn't have tasers in 1938.
- At around the 3-minute mark, Donald experiences what it must have felt like all week at the Presidents Cup (sans streaker, but then again, Donald Duck doesn't wear pants).
- A little before the 5-minute mark, Donald shows his true Woody Austin self, including a small cameo as Aquaman. Wrong animation house.
- One of the three nephews puts some Phil Mickelson backspin on one at 6:30.
- Donald never does finish a hole.
If you find some great cartoons featuring golf, let us know on Twitter and we'll review them here.
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