Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people on average are six, or fewer, social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It is also known as the six handshakes rule. The concept was originally set out in a 1929 short story by Frigyes Karinthy, where a group of people play a game trying to connect any person in the world to themselves by a chain of five others.
‒ Wikipedia
In 1970, I attended a golf class in college that was taught by Les Bolstad. He didn't mention it, but he was one of the top golfers in the 1920's and '30's and competed in many major tournaments.
 |
| "Golfing the Les Bolstad Way" is available on Amazon. |
In 1931, Bolstad was in Walter Hagen's group in the St. Paul Open and is shown in the picture below on the green with "the Haig."
 |
| Minneapolis Star-Tribune |
Bolstad is also famous as the mentor to Patty Berg, the female golf phenom of the 1930's and 40's. She won 57 tournaments and 15 majors. "I took lessons from him for more than 40 years," she said, "whenever I was having any problems with my game, no matter where I was, I would come back to Minnesota to get some lessons from him. I just loved Lester." (Minneapolis Star-Tribune Obituary for Les Bolstad, March 16, 1998).
My golf game didn't improve much under Les Bolstad's tutelage, which says more about the student than the teacher. I feel certain he remembered me for one incident in class. After I asked a question, he asked me to demonstrate my swing in front of entire class. It was hot, I was nervous, my palms were damp. The leather grip on the club was slippery. I swung and hit the ball well, but the club slipped through my hands, flew upwards and got caught in the netting, about ten feet overhead. There was a stunned silence from the class. "You need to work on your follow through," he said with a chuckle. The tallest person in class was called on to retrieve the club.The Les Bolstad connection gives me one degree of separation with many of the great golfers of that era. The connection to Walter Hagen allows me to boast of two degrees of separation with his social connections, including the immortals from that era of St. Petersburg history ‒ Walter P. Fuller, Al Lang, Babe Ruth, Jack Taylor, and the rest.
 |
| John Montague (2 degrees), Babe Ruth (2 degrees), Ty Cobb (2 degrees), Walter Hagen. |
