Life — October 14, 1920 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a humorous instructional comic strip showing a rotund, flexible character named "Mr. Doublejoint" attempting to learn golf. The sequence depicts his increasingly contorted and ridiculous body positions as he struggles through a golf swing, with dotted lines showing the erratic path of his shots. The joke relies on physical comedy: his extreme obesity and apparent lack of athletic coordination make each attempt more absurd than the last. The final panel shows him completely frustrated, exclaiming "IT'S GONE... SIMPLE NINETY!" — apparently his ball has disappeared or traveled an unexpectedly distance. This represents early 20th-century satirical humor targeting amateur golfers and their comical struggles with the sport, a popular leisure activity among the middle and upper classes of that era.