Bobby Jones and Tiger Woods won their first majors at the age of 21. Jack Nicklaus and Jordan Spieth claimed their first majors at the age of 22. By the time he was 21, Gene Sarazen had won three. Considered one of the top golfers in the 1920s and ’30s, he is one of only a handful of golfers to win all the major championships—the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, the Open Championship, and the Masters Tournament. Sarazen: The Story of a Golfing Legend and His Epic Moment details Sarazen’s life and storied career, from his days sweeping floors in a pro shop through his rise in the golfing world to become one of the country’s foremost players. Central to the story is Sarazen’s iconic moment in the sport, a long shot from 235 yards that somehow found the bottom of the cup at Augusta National—perhaps fitting for a man whose golfing career was once considered a long shot itself. It became the greatest shot in golf history and put the Augusta National Golf Club on the map. Sarazen offers an in-depth look at a golfing legend and provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of golf during a time when the game was still rising in prominence. Rich in detail and including many little-known anecdotes, this book will be enjoyed by golfing enthusiasts and historians across generations.
American National Biography is the first new comprehensive biographical dicionary focused on American history to be published in seventy years. Produced under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies, the ANB contains over 17,500 profiles on historical figures written by an expert in the field and completed with a bibliography. The scope of the work is enormous--from the earlest recorded European explorations to the very recent past.
Behind-the-scenes story of this ground-breaking golf show from the birth of televised sports, as witnessed by the show's writer, Barkow, and host Sarazen's daughter. Includes 50 historical photos and 15 private letters to the legendary golfer Bobby Jones.
-ALL PERSONNEL TO BATTLE STATIONS! Words that would change the fate of what remains of humanity. As a third generation searcher, it never occurred to Clary Starborn that she might someday be in charge of anything other than her little botany lab. One hundred and fifty years ago the most powerful countries of Earth built and launched five ships. Ships meant to carry what remained of humanity out into the space beyond their known galaxy to search for a new home. From birth, they had trained and drilled, prepared as best they could for the inevitable contact with other species. One hundred and fifty years, and their first contact with alien life is hostile. The starship Aria is under attack. Within a matter of hours, the crew of thousands is decimated. -PRIMARY TARGET ACQUIRED. PREPARE TO ENGAGE. The First Warship came out of the Void and Tarek, Commander of the Sarazen Armada, had anticipated the victory of finally destroying the enemy ship that had been evading him for weeks. Instead, they come upon a smaller vessel, woefully unequipped to deal with the bombardment of the attacking Na'ah. One shuttle managed to escape with seven life signs registering. Tarek ordered the shuttle to board the Sarazen warship, never even considering one of the fragile beings on board, might be his One. Nothing could have prepared Clary for Tarek. She had never seen anything like him, never experienced the rush of instant connection or deep yearning to be called, his One. She didn't know what it would mean for her or the other human survivors. But the offer of a new home, a new solar system to explore and a gigantic alien mate who claimed she was his to share it with, was far too good an offer to pass up.
The definitive account of modern golf’s foremost architect from the New York Times bestselling author of First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong Robert Trent Jones was the most prolific and influential golf course architect of the twentieth century and became the archetypical modern golf course designer. Jones spread the gospel of golf by designing courses in forty-two US states and twenty-eight countries. Twenty U.S. Opens, America’s national championship, have been contested on Jones-designed courses. New York Times bestselling biographer James R. Hansen, author of First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, recounts how an English immigrant boy arrived in upstate New York in 1912, just as golf was emerging as a popular pastime in America. Jones excelled as a golfer, earning admission to Cornell University, whose faculty consented to a curriculum tailored to teach him the knowledge needed to design golf courses. Cornell provided the springboard for an act of self-invention that propelled Jones from obscurity to worldwide fame. Jones believed that every hole should be “a difficult par but an easy bogey.” As gifted as he was at golf design, Jones was equally skilled as a salesman, promoter, and entrepreneur. Golf Digest’s annual rankings of the 100 Greatest Golf Courses have regularly featured about fifty Jones designs, paving the path for his two sons, Robert Jr., and Rees, whose work would carry on their father’s tradition. Hansen examines Jones’s legacy in all its complexity and influence, including the fraternal rivalry of Jones’s distinguished sons.
The obsessive book about the obsessive game, and more fun to read than a green at Ballybunion. Written by two authors who have misspent their lives in thrall to the sport, A DISORDERLY COMPENDIUM OF GOLF digs into the odd, the fascinating, the historical, the random, the unexpected, and the curmudgeonly, and serves up hundreds of pages of lists, anecdotes, humor, surprises, and the sheer compelling minutiae of a game whose pleasure lies in the details. It's all here, including history: oldest courses, top 5 money-winners at 10-year intervals, the importance of James II of Scotland. Colorful characters, like the hustler who would bet you that he could roll out of bed in the morning and make a 40-foot putt on his first try, and his secret for doing it every time. Odd rules: Did you know youmay take a free drop from a fireant hill but not from poison ivy? Good golf instructionÑhow to hit Phil Mickelson's trademark flop shotÑand confusing golf instruction: Tom Watson says ÒNever feel you're reaching for the ball,Ó while Johnny Miller advisesÒ Reach for the ball. . . .Ó Embarrassing moments and helpful tips. The lexicon: professional caddie nicknames, terms for an ugly shot, names of golf balls. Plus gambling games, the grasses used in greens, unusual patents, Shakespearean quotes on golf, golf at midnight, longest and shortest holes . . . and more, and more.
The Golden Era of Golf chronicles the rise of the sport in America from 1950 to the present by one of the most prolific and respected golf writers today. Until now, no one has made the point directly and unequivocally that the game "invented" by ancient Scots would not have reached its present stature in the world of sports if Americans had never gotten hold of it. Is this to say that Al Barkow is, in The Golden Era of Golf, being a narrow-minded, American-flag-waving jingoist? Not at all. In detailing how America expanded on the old Scots game, Barkow does not deny that the United States more or less fell into certain advantages that led to its dominion over the game - there is the geography, the luck of not having to endure the physical devastation of two world wars, and a naturally broader economic strength. Still, Barkow also makes it clear that there were, and there remains, certain especially American characteristics - a singular energy and enthusiasm for participation in and observation of games, for melding sports with business, for technological and industrial innovation, and by all means democratic traditions - that turned what had been (and would probably have remained) an insular, parochial past time into a game played by millions around the world. America has been golf's great nurturing force, and Barkow details why and how it happened. The history of American golf is not exactly a varnished treatment, a mindless glorification full of nationalist ardor, which is in keeping with the author's well-established reputation, developed over the past 37 years as a golf journalist, magazine editor, historian, and television commentator, as someone who looks with a sharp and candid eye at the game. Barkow has points of view and takes positions on affairs and personalities that impact on every aspect of golf. Is the United States Golf Association, in its restrictions on equipment, playing ostrich to inevitable technological innovation? Hasn't it always? And, hasn't the association always been hypocritical in its definition of amateurism? Was the Ryder Cup ever really a demonstration of pure hands-across-the-sea good fellowship? Why did it take so long for the members of the Augusta National Golf Club to invite a black to play in its vaunted Masters tournament? Barkow was one of the first journalists to research in depth and write about how blacks were excluded from mainstream American golf for most of this century. Here, he expands on an element of history which is intrinsic to the larger American experience and which led to the coming of Tiger Woods. How good has television been for golf, and when and by whom did this most powerful of mediums get involved in the game? Is Greg Norman's celebrity (and personal wealth) an example or the result of modern-day image making that gives greater value to impressions of greatness than the reality of actual performance? Although some curmudgeon emerges in this chronicle of golf, what also comes through, and on a larger note, is the author's passion for the game itself. Its demands on each player's will, determination, and both inherent and developed physical skills are so penetrating, and the satisfaction that comes from just coming close to fulfillment so great, that the manipulations of the golf "operators" - administrators, agents, some of its players, et al. - become mere sidebars. This is golf history with a certain perspective that arises from someone who has lived intimately with the game as a player and writer for at least half the century that is covered, and in particular the last half, on which there is the greater emphasis. It runs the gamut - from feisty, albeit well-considered, criticism to an evocation of the human drama that is finally the most vivid expression of any activity man takes on.
In a long, award-winning career writing about golf, Bill Fields has sought out the most interesting stories—not just those featuring big winners and losers, but the ones that get at the very character of the game. Collected here, his pieces offer an intriguing portrait of golf over the past century. The legends are here in vivid profiles of such familiar figures as Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Mickey Wright, and Tiger Woods. But so are lesser-known golfers like John Schlee, Billy Joe Patton, and Bert Yancey, whose tales are no less compelling. The book is filled with colorful moments and perceptive observations about golf greats ranging from the first American-born U.S. Open champion, Johnny McDermott, to Seve Ballesteros, the Spaniard who led Europe’s resurgence in the game in the late twentieth century. Fields gives us golf writing at its finest, capturing the game’s larger dramas and finer details, its personalities and its enduring appeal.
Ever wonder whether Tiger Woods in his prime would have beaten Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, or Jack Nicklaus in their primes? And could any of them have beaten Babe Zaharias? Obviously, if Bobby Jones were returned to life and health and then given his old hickory-shafted mashie, persimmon-headed driver, and rubber-core ball in a match against Jordan Spieth, the outcome would be foreordained. But what if the impact of the training, equipment, courses, and traveling conditions could be neutralized in order to create a measurement? Now for the first time, questions are answered about the relative abilities of the greatest players in the history of professional golf. In The Hole Truth Bill Felber provides a relativistic approach for evaluating and comparing the performance of golfers while acknowledging the game's changing nature. The Hole Truth analyzes the performances of players relative to their peers, creating an index of exceptionality that automatically factors the changing nature of the game through time. That index is based on the standard deviation of the performances of players in golf's recognized major championships dating back to 1860. More than two hundred players are rated in comparison with one another, more than sixty of them in detail with profiles providing context on their ranking. For the dedicated golf fan, The Hole Truth is an engaging way to see in the numbers where their favorite golfers rank across eras and where current players like Rory McIlroy and Inbee Park compare to the game's greats.
Revered as the most prestigious tournament in golf, the Masters commands international attention, even among nongolfers. The first and second editions of The Masters: A Hole-by-Hole History of America’s Golf Classic took the unique approach of tackling Augusta National hole by hole. Each hole had its own chapter, with colorful stories on the greatest shots, biggest disasters, and most amazing events that took place on each. David Sowell returns to Augusta with the third edition of The Masters, adding more history and updating each hole with additional stories of greatness and tales of woe for a new generation of golfers led by Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Patrick Reed, as well as from an older guard represented by Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, and Sergio García. The legends of the Masters are in full force in this lively look at America’s golf classic. From Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to Bubba Watson and Jordan Spieth, all the greatest Masters moments of the greatest—and not so great—golfers are here in one book. This third edition provides a rich historical view of the course where success breeds legends and where failure can haunt even the most brilliant golfer’s career.
