Walter HagenHenry CottonDai ReesBobby JonesBen HoganBobby LockePeter ThomsonPercy AllissGeorge DuncanAbe MitchellJoyce WetheredBabe DidriksonCharles WhitcombeErnest WhitcombeReg WhitcombeJoe KirkwoodJoe EzarThe Prince of WalesThe Aga KhanPrince Aly KhanBob HopeBing CrosbyPlus thirteen amazing fictional stories published for the first time - all with a golfing connection."e;How very pleasant to read of the golfing experiences of such a remarkable man as Leo van Weenen, who caddied for my father back in the 1920s. I enjoyed the book immensely and would thoroughly recommend it to others interested in the exploits of the past masters of the game."e; Peter Alliss, Golf World Ltd
Walter Hagen Henry Cotton Dai Rees Bobby Jones Ben Hogan Bobby Locke Peter Thomson Percy Alliss George Duncan Abe Mitchell Joyce Wethered Babe Didrikson Charles Whitcombe Ernest Whitcombe Reg Whitcombe Joe Kirkwood Joe Ezar The Prince of Wales The Aga Khan Prince Aly Khan Bob Hope Bing Crosby Plus thirteen amazing fictional stories published for the first time - all with a golfing connection. "How very pleasant to read of the golfing experiences of such a remarkable man as Leo van Weenen, who caddied for my father back in the 1920s. I enjoyed the book immensely and would thoroughly recommend it to others interested in the exploits of the past masters of the game." Peter Alliss, Golf World Ltd
“I never wanted to be a millionaire—I just wanted to live like one...”—Walter Hagen THIS IS Walter Hagen’s own story of the two decades when he ruled the golfing world as King. Hagen not only won a major tournament every year for twenty years—a record never even approached by any other golfer—but his personality dominated the game over that period. Before he came along, professional golfers had the status of hired hands. The Haig was the man who crashed the front door of the clubhouses, and he brought along with him the entire fraternity of golf professionals. He was a magnificent showman and, in addition to changing the social standing of the golf pro, his competitive skill and flamboyant character built up public in interest in golf throughout the world. The result was perhaps best expressed in Gene Sarazen’s own memoirs when he said, “All the professionals who have a chance to go after the big money today should say silent thanks to Walter Hagen each time they stretch a check between their fingers. It was Walter Hagen who made professional golf what it is.” The picture of sartorial elegance, he became the fashion plate that others copied for years. He was the honoured guest of emperors and the tutor and personal friend of the young Edward, then Prince of Wales. An idol both at home and abroad (he won the U.S. Open twice, made the P.G.A. Championship almost his exclusive personal property through the twenties, and won the British Open four times), he toured the world with Joe Kirkwood as the most outstanding ambassador of good will that golf ever produced. All this and much more is set down in this book in a style which has the same swashbuckling flavour as characterized his long playing career.
This is Walter Hagen's own story of the two decades when he ruled the golfing world as king. Hagen not only won a major tournament every year for twenty years-a record never even approached by any other golfer-but his personality dominated the game during that period. Before he came along, professional golfers held the status of hired hands. The Haig was the man who crashed the front door of the clubhouses, and he brought along with him the entire fraternity of golf professionals. This book is a volume in Sports Media Group's Rare Book Collection. Collecting this series of reprint editions of golf's most important and rare books will enhance your understanding of the game while building a library of golf's most treasured volumes.
Before there were titanium woods and graphite shafts, golf clubs were made from the wood of hickory trees and had intriguing names like cleek, mashie and jigger. Golf was a game played not with high-tech equipment but with skill, finesse, and creativity. And the greatest hickory player of all time was Walter Hagen---until the day he met a teenage caddie at a country club outside Chicago. America's first touring golf professional, Hagen made (and spent) more prize money than his friends Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey earned from baseball and boxing during the Golden Age of Sports. In this novel, set in the halcyon post-war Midwest of 1946, Hagen comes to historic Midlothian Country Club as the champion he is---but also as a man handicapped by a secret. Waiting for him are two caddies. Harrison Cornell—a onetime rich playboy from the Bahamas—has a past; the other---Tommy O'Shea, a farm boy who caddies at the country club---may have a future . . . but only if he can somehow beat Hagen on the links, in one last game played with hickory. Cornell is a mystery man who appears from nowhere and presents himself as a "looper," a professional caddie. Soon everyone sees that he has a gift---within weeks he has improved the games of dozens of members. Only Tommy O'Shea, his eager pupil, knows Cornell's real motive for coming to the club: his grudge against Walter Hagen, over something that happened during the Second World War in the lovely paradise known as the Bahamas. As the playboy and the farm boy become friends, Harrison teaches Tommy the secrets of playing golf with hickory, along with lessons in life and love. But the shadow of Hagen, and the upcoming match, fall across the Midwest summer, and as the competition nears, Tommy's hopes for the future---and his love for a member's daughter---are threatened when the truth about Harrison's past is revealed. Not until the climax, played out in an exciting shot-for-shot match, will all the questions be answered and all the scores settled. As in his previous novel, The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan, author John Coyne has created a world rich in characters, action, and golf lore---this time including the fascinating history of hickory play. An entertaining, suspenseful read for anyone who loves the game, it is also a book that offers a pure dose of Midwestern soul, written by a new voice in golf literature who has firmly established himself as one of the leaders of the genre. Praise for The Caddie Who Played with Hickory: "A highly entertaining must-read for anyone interested in hickory golf or the history of the game. I loved it!" -- Randy Jensen, 7-time National Hickory Golf Champion "John Coyne knows his golf history, its characters and the game. He spins a story that includes a mysterious character, a hero, a romance, a semi-villain, and a classic golf match into a believable tale." -- Dr. Gary Wiren, noted golf teacher, and former Director of Research and Learning for the PGA of America "The legendary Walter Hagen, Chicago's greatest amateur golfer, Chick Evans, hickory clubs and Chicago's Midlothian Country Club are all featured in this tense story of championship golf and summer romance. John Coyne spins a tale so involving, the reader is in enjoyable suspense about the outcome of every putt." -- Jerry Dudek, Director of Development, Evans Scholars Foundation/Western Golf Association
Though he was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, home of fabled Augusta National and The Masters, as a child Tripp Bowden was too young and too removed from the game of golf to realize what Augusta National really was, what it meant to his town and the world and the sport; its history, nostalgia, prestige and secrecy. All the ten year old Bowden knew about golf was that it was a stupid game that took up too much of his father’s time, and that he’d much rather kick around a soccer ball or stay home and read a book. But all that changed once Bowden’s father, a renowned local doctor, introduced him to one of his patients, Freddie Bennett, the legendary Augusta National caddie master. Though Bowden was a white child of considerable privilege and Bennett was an older black gentleman of more modest means, the two formed an unusual bond. It was Bennett who introduced Bowden to the game of golf, a sport that would one day earn him a Division 1 golf scholarship and lead him to the final stage of a British Open qualifier. But it was the lessons Bennett taught the young Bowden off the course that had their profoundest impact on his life. Through Freddie and his particular brand of homespun wisdom, the author learned invaluable lessons about personal responsibility, hard work, and respect for others regardless of age, race or religion. He also learned that there’s much more to life than just playing golf. Soon to be a major motion picture, Freddie & Me is a heartwarming tale of an uncommon bond forged through sport.
ANOTHER ROUND OF INSPIRATION AND INSTRUCTION When Harvey Penick signed copies of his now classic first book, Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, Bud Shrake, his coauthor, noticed that he often inscribed them with the line "To my fried and pupil." When Shrake asked him why, Penick replied "Well, if you read my book, you're my pupil, and if you play golf, you're my friend." Taking up where the Little Red Book left off, this is the second dose of Penick's singular brand of wit and wisdom, full of the simple and easy-to-understand lessons on golf that Penick is known and admired for. Like its predecessor, And If You Play Golf, You're My Friend is rich with Penick's great love of the game, a love that he delighted in sharing with golfers of all ages and levels of ability.
