When I first came across this I was just amused to see someone else doing something I do in my back yard most days.
Then I realized that I was sort of disoriented by this image. The picture isn’t labeled at all so I don’t know what year it was taken and I don’t understand what I’m looking at near the top right where all the cars are parked. I seem to be too tired to figure this out myself right now, so I’ll give you a gold star if you can explain it to me.
Bonus: 
That’s the RMC before the Ley Student Center. It predates me, because it looks like the main entrance is on Alumni Drive rather than the Lab Road side. The cars look like late 60’s to mid 70’s. The golfer is standing close to where the Skyspace is now. And of course you can see the Biology building with its open concourses. Call it 1975 or so. Grungy can probably correct me if necessary.
From the perspective, I’d say he’s closer to where the Baker Institute is now, or possibly the fountain. The Barrow is too far west for Anderson to be where it is in the shot.
That’s definitely the pre-Ley RMC and Biology, and I would say mid-70s from the hair and wide belt. I think the golfer has just walked across the street from Autry Court to take his swings for some reason. It’s too far away to be where the Baker Institute or fountain is now.
What about a flipped negative? With the building being Space Science?
Not a flipped negative.
I’ve written to the person I believe to be the subject – we’ll see if I’m right and what he might add.
The cars in the upper-right are parked in what was G-Lot, on the Sammy’s side.
The step-van just to their left is backed up to the Campus Store loading dock, on the other side of G-Lot.
G-Lot was a horseshoe shape.
That is Biology in the background.
The cars on the left are in what was H-Lot, which was where the Jones School is now.
I would venture that this was taken about mid-way between where the Baker Institute is now and the gym, and close to the road.
The grassy area up to the hedge on the verge of H-Lot was The MOB’s practice field.
That The Bozobus is not present just to the left of the step-van, against the wall of the loading dock, means that this was taken after ’76
It wasn’t who I thought.
Candidates?
It took me a while to figure this out as the only reason I recognized the white posts on Biology was from my time trying to avoid hitting similar white posts on Spac while playing disc golf, so I had to deduce that Bio would have similar posts in order to make sense of the placement of the MechE tower.
And all your fancy talk about skyscapes, baker, Jones, and the gym make me realize how little I’m going to recognize that part of campus when I’m there in Oct.
Umm….where’s the ball? (That’s his backswing, right?)
Yep. Between Baker Institute and the Gym north of, but near to, College Way. The grass looks trampled slightly right up the middle of the picture pointing toward the side of then H-lot possibly suggesting traffic from the east entrance of the Gym. (Popular path for those running late for early morning PE coming from Brown and Jones.)
Golfer appears to be in a downswing roughly toward the camera. Could be a practice swing taken a few steps back from a ball. Or perhaps just a swing for a photo op. If the location guess is correct, he would be striking a ball right at the Gym… a good reason not to have a ball.
Maybe he’s just mowing the grass.
Hi Melissa,
Judging by the hair and clothes, I would say this picture was taken in the ’70s (I am class of 1975). The location appears to be a field west of the student center (Towards the sta dium, with what I belie ve is the Biology (at least is was so named when I was a student) building in the background. I think this is about where either the music school or the Jones school is located now.
Terry Kilpatrick-Weaver
Here’s a nice aerial shot of what the campus looked like in ’77:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/gallery/Rice-at-100-50243/photo-3555033.php