How’s this for a book concept? You make a list of nine living golf legends and nine living secret legends. You round up a wingman who is well known, a thoroughly down to earth tour professional who just so happens to double as a great travel companion. Then you set out to visit the 18 legends with your traveling companion, oftentimes driving from one legend to the next, oftentimes on lonely stretches of country back roads. When you’re finally done with this new version of fear and loathing through modern golf history, you write a book about the entire experience. Sounds like a pretty cool adventure if you ask me.
Michael Bamberger is a longtime golf writer for Sports Illustrated. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he began his journalism career in the early 1980s with the Martha’s Vineyard Gazette and then moved on to the Philadelphia Inquirer. He also wrote a couple of outstanding golf books that have been reviewed in this column, namely The Green Road Home and This Golfing Life. These books are about golf from the perspective of the tour caddie. He has caddied for George Archer at the Masters, looped for a very young Steve Elkington, and hung out in the caddie yard at famous courses in America and Scotland. Bamberger is also remembered as the reporter who, after the fact, pointed out an inaccurate drop made by Michelle Wie in a tournament, an act that led to her disqualification at the 2005 Samsung.
Bamberger’s latest golf book is entitled Men in Green (Simon and Schuster, $27). He makes a list of living legends that include Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Ken Venturi, Tom Watson, Curtis Strange, Freddie Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin and Mickey Wright. His not as famous ninesome includes Sandy Tatum, Jaime Diaz, Billy Harmon, Neil Oxman, Golf Ball Hull, Randy Erskine, Cliff Dunley, Chuck Witt and Mike Donald. The members of the second-tiered group are known entities to only the most serious of golf fans. For instance, Tatum is a former Stanford golfer who won the NCAA title in 1942, served as the USGA president in the 1970s, led the charge for the resurgence of San Francisco’s Harding Park, and designed Spanish Bay at Pebble Beach alongside Tom Watson and Robert Trent Jones II. Golf Ball is a former tour caddie. Harmon is the son of former Masters’ champ Claude Harmon and the little brother of well-known golf instructor Butch Harmon. Neil Oxman is Tom Watson’s caddie.
The most interesting aspect of Bamberger’s book is the saga of the wingman. The wingman doubles as one of the secret legends. Mike Donald was a tour pro in the 1980s and 1990s. He was a well-respected journeyman professional who had one lone tour victory. He is best known for losing a 19-hole playoff to Hale Irwin in the 1990 United States Open at Medinah. Donald, who turns out to be extremely well liked by some of the older legends such as Palmer, Nicklaus and Crenshaw, adds an interesting dimension to the journey with his insights as well as some of the interviews. As one can imagine, the Hale Irwin visit has its own set of dynamics.
Bamberger is most interested in “when and where were you happiest?” It is the overriding question of note to all of his subjects. As one can imagine, the Arnold Palmer interview was one of great memories by a most cordial host. Palmer’s reputation is only furthered by what one reads in the book. Jack Nicklaus comes off as a very distinguished hero of a once golden era. Palmer and Nicklaus come off as successful men who are very comfortable in their skin.
On the other hand, Ken Venturi comes off as totally self-absorbed and extremely bitter. He brought up a 50-year-old feud with former San Francisco Examiner golf writer Harry Haywood, was petty in his regard for Palmer and their battles at the Masters in 1958 and 1960, and seemed to only talk about himself. Bamberger’s visit to Napa to interview Venturi’s first wife, Connie, painted a very disappointing portrait of Venturi. Freddie Couples turned out to be a non-communicative legend. He wouldn’t meet with Bamberger and at one point Bamberger writes that getting Couples to commit to an interview is as “easy as getting a rhino into a dental chair.” Hall of Famer Mickey Wright, who was the Jack Nicklaus of the LPGA Tour, was also a non-communicator, living her life as a total recluse. There is a Mickey Wright exhibit at Golf House, right next to the Arnold Palmer exhibit, yet Wright refused to attend its opening several years ago. She also blew off the 50-year anniversary celebration of the LPGA Tour. Not too surprising that she wouldn’t sit down for an afternoon with Bamberger and Donald.
Dolphus Hall is an aging black man who spent the majority of his life as a caddie during the post-war growth of the PGA Tour. Long and lanky, he was nicknamed “Golf Ball.” He was best known for having caddied for Raymond Floyd in the 1960s and 1970s. When Bamberger visited him in Jackson, Mississippi, he was completely bedridden, living in a senior citizen nursing home. Yet his mind was clear as a bell. At one point, Mike Donald, the wingman who had won his only tour event at the Anheuser-Busch, asked Golf Ball to name the three black professional golfers who had won the Anheuser. Dolphus immediately answered him spot on by naming Calvin Peete and Lee Elder. Yet he struggled with a third name. He finally gave up and Donald jokingly responded with the name Ronnie Black. Golf Ball heartily laughed at the play on words.
Finally, the most eye-opening segment of the book was the Palmer interview. The talk gravitated to Tiger Woods. Arnie’s comments were most interesting. When assessing the current state of Tiger’s game, Palmer contended that “Tiger was somewhat of a robot golfer. He was so endeared to his father and what his father had him doing that it is almost difficult to explain. As long as he stuck to the routine that his father had lined out for him, he was going to succeed.” Yet Palmer contended that after Earl Woods passed away in 2006, Tiger lost his desire and his way. Arnold felt that Tiger needed to try to return to his old ways, not try to find his game with new teachers and new swing thoughts. He added, “Could he get back to where he was? He could. Do I think he will? No.”
Michael Bamberger’s Men in Green is a most entertaining read with over one dozen great interviews as well as lots of fascinating stories about the world of professional golf from the post-World War II era to today. Truth, be told, the great weather of early February will soon be gone and the winds and rains of El Nino will be back. It might be as good a time as any to check out Michael Bamberger and Mike Donald’s journey to visit the famous and the near famous.
