Author Description

It is Everyman's (and Everywoman's!) Game, and can be played practically from cradle to grave. Once the birthright of all Scotsmen and the semi-exclusive preserve of the upper classes of England and the Colonies, golf today a most democratic sport, played all over the world in all circumstances, by a staggering number of people, in numbers that increase impressively each year. "The Game of a Lifetime" is both a compendium and history of the Grand Auld, Game, tracing its roots in Highland pastures and Scottish links three hundred years ago to today's designer courses, assailed by pros and duffers alike equipped with Space Age drivers and an assortment of clubs with closer ties to NASA than to the mashies and niblicks of yore. Golf lends itself to an anecdotal history as well as a dispassionate recounting of the facts, and both approaches are taken in this 252-page volume that brings to life Auld Tom Morris, The Triumvirate, Francis Ouimet, the caddy who staged the Boston Tee Party that transformed the United States into a golf-mad nation just prior to World War I. The Golden Amateur, Bobby Jones, who earned two tickertape parades in New York City for his feats on both sides of the Atlantic, and then sealed his place in Golf's Hall of Fame by introducing a "wee invitational event" in his home state of Georgia that would become the Master's, is here, as are, the early greats Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead. This book looks over the sweeping vista of golf in its distinctive eras: -- The English School and links to the past -- The Grand Auld Game comes to North America -- The PGA Tour's earliest beginnings -- Golf and the TelevisionAge -- The World's Game -- The Latest Generation -- The Grand Slams (the early version and the current one) -- The Cups (Ryder, Federation, Walker, and President's) -- The Big Three of Palmer, Nicklaus and Player -- The Brat Pack of Couples, Love III, Azing