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Fore!

Eighty-six years ago today, the Professional Golf Association was formed.

According to their website, "the PGA of America is the largest working sports organization in the world, comprised of more than 26,000 dedicated men and women promoting the game of golf to everyone, everywhere."

Golf has long been one of America's favorite pastimes. Paul Cadmus painted Aspects of Suburban Life: Golf in 1936. At first glance it seems a cheerful rendering of four golfers and their caddies in action. On closer examination, though, it appears to be a criticism of the elite class that had the leisure time and money to play the sport. In fact, the painting was so controversial that the New York post office that had commissioned the mural decided to turn it down.

See the other panels in the "Aspects of Suburban Life" series in our traveling exhibition Scenes of American Life: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, now on view at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio through March 24, 2002.

Pictured: Paul Cadmus, 1904–1999, Aspects of Suburban Life: Golf, 1936, oil and tempera on fiberboard, 31 3/4 x 50 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer form the U.S. Department of State.