“If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball” is a jocular saying that, since at least 1989, has been credited to actor Jack Lemmon (1925-2001). Lemmon probably didn’t say it first.
“Any time you get to thinking how hard it is to meet new people, pick up the wrong golf ball” was credited to the Wall Street Journal in March 1962.
5 March 1962, Evening World-Herald (Omaha, NE), “A Smile or Two,” pg. 14, col. 2:
Any time you get to thinking how hard it is to meet new people, pick up the wrong golf ball.—Wall Street Journal.
29 April 1962, Bridgeport (CT) Sunday Post, “This Is Our Town,” pg. C-2, col. 2:
Mickey Homa of Rolling Hills says any time you get to thinking how hard it is to meet people, pick up the wrong golf ball.
25 June 1962, Newark (OH) Advocate, pg. 1, left masthead:
TODAY’S SMILE
Any time you get to thinking how hard it is to meet new people, pick up the wrong golf ball.
8 February 1989, Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, OH), pg. A-5, col. 2:
TODAY’S QUOTE: “If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.”—Jack Lemmon
Google Books
Golf, It’s Just a Game:
The Best Quotes & Cartoons About Golf
By Bruce Lansky
New York, NY: Meadowbrook Press
1996
Pg. ?:
New Member: How does one meet new people at this club?
Old Member: Try picking up the wrong golf ball.
—Anonymous
Google Books
The Greatest Guide to Golf
By John Cook
Warwick (UK): Greatest Guides
2010
Pg. 63:
“If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.”
Jack Lemmon
Twitter
TeeReserve.com
@TeeReserve
“If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.” - Jack Lemmon
2:31 PM - 2 Mar 2014
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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