The Great Southern Club on the beach in east Gulfport is officially the oldest golf course hailing from 1910. The original nine holes had crushed oyster shell tee boxes and sand greens. The course hosted the PGA’s Gulfport Open in 1945, Sam Snead beat Byron Nelson in a playoff. The current Pass Christian Isles Golf Course may be older by eight years; however, it ceased to exist for a time and therefore has not been open consecutively, as has the Great Southern.
Excerpted by permission of The Nautilus Publishing Company from 501 Little-Known Facts, Obscure Trivia, World Records & Historical Minutia from the State of Mississippi
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