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.

-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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

One of the most gifted athletes in the world, Babe Didrikson Zaharias dominated track and field, winning two Olympic gold medals in 1932. She went on to compete in baseball, bowling, basketball, tennis, and particularly in golf. The American public was smitten with her wit, frankness, and "unladylike" bravado. She became an American legend. The legend was challenged, however, by members of the press and society who insinuated that her femininity, even her femaleness, were suspect--that there was something different, even wrong, about this preternaturally gifted woman in a male-dominated world. She had ably used her androgyny and her powerful athleticism to promote herself, but she soon felt compelled to craft herself into a more marketable female role model--particularly in connection with the "proper" world of golf. To increase her opportunities for competitive play in this field, she became a co-founder and officer of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). As a major step in her makeover, Babe already had married George Zaharias, a wrestling promoter who was a vital partner in her constant efforts at self-promotion. But by 1950 Babe was deeply involved with a young golfer, Betty Dodd, whose for-the-record discussion of their remarkable love is included in Babe. Stricken with cancer in her prime, Babe went on to courageously and publicly fight the disease. Babe is a comprehensive, in-depth biography of a woman who was a great athlete at a time when it was extremely difficult for a woman to be her own person. Through interviews with members of Babe's family, her golf peers, and medical personnel, Cayleff caringly reveals the life and probes the legend of this unusual American hero. She unflinchingly examines the athletic community, the media, and the society that both loved and judged Babe, whose story embodies the struggle of all women who dare to transcend stereotypes and claim their own definitions and unique identities. Babe allows her to be all the hero--and all the human being--she was meant to be.

Bringing The Monster to its Knees: Ben Hogan, Oakland Hills, and the 1951 U.S. Open is the first full-length book on a victory that the four-time U.S. Open champion always maintained was the "most satisfying" of his long and storied Hall of Fame career. It fills an important void in previous books on Hogan's tournament play, books covering his championship quests from Merion in 1950 to the Olympic Club in San Francisco in 1955 to Cherry Hills in 1960. The 1951 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills is unique in that it represents the first time the USGA deliberately altered a course for a championship, a practice that became common in the years that followed and continues to this day. The result was "The Monster," a creation of famed course architect Robert Trent Jones. It remains the most infamous course layout in history and arguably the most torturous test ever presented to golfers anywhere. Overcoming chronic pain that was a vestige of his near-fatal car crash in 1949, a field filled with future Hall of Fame players, and a course so devilish in its design that it was labeled "Oakland Hells," Hogan called his record-setting final round 67 in the '51 Open the "greatest round I have ever played." He then issued one of the most famous quotes in sports history: "I'm glad I brought this course—this monster—to its knees."