Product Description

Was there ever a year in golf like 1960?
        It was the year that the sport and its vivid personalities exploded on the consciousness of the nation, when the past, present, and future of the sport collided. Here was Arnold Palmer, the workingman's hero, "sweating, chain-smoking, shirt-tail flying"; Ben Hogan, the greatest player of the fifties, a perfectionist battling twin demons of age and nerves; and, making his big-time debut, a crew-cut college kid who seemed to have the makings of a champion: twenty-year-old Jack Nicklaus.
        And of course, the rest: Ken Venturi, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Doug Sanders, Gary Player, and the many other colorful characters who chased around a little white ball--and a dream.
        Would Palmer win the mythical Grand Slam of golf? Could Hogan win one more major tournament? Was Nicklaus the real thing? Even more than an intimate portrait of these men and their exciting times, The Eternal Summer is also an entertaining, perceptive, and hypnotically readable exploration of professional golf in America.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103005 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-03
• Released on: 2000-10-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Sampson ( Texas Golf Legends ) makes a convincing case that 1960 was a watershed for the pro links game. It was the year when the aging Ben Hogan, almost literally on his last legs (he had been badly mangled in an auto crash), was barely hanging on to his past glory; rising star Arnold Palmer was starting to draw the crowds of fans who eventually turned into Arnie's Army; and 20-year-old Jackie Nicklaus was just making his presence known. Even more significant, however, was the increasing interest of major corporations in associating themselves with events on the pro tour and in promising larger and larger purses, a trend that did indeed change the game forever. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Although certainly not a groundbreaking book, this is a well-told reminiscence of professional golf during the 1960 season. Sampson, a former professional, writes from a love for the sport and deftly weaves in the careers of stellar performers Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, and Jack Nicklaus. While each golfer was at a different career stage, during this one season their paths crossed at several events, most notably the U.S. Open. Chapters outlining each golfer and detailing their beginnings in the sport are included. This volume succeeds in bringing the three together, just as they were in 1960. A good selection for strong golf collections.
- Jeffrey Gay, Bridgewater P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
While it's arguable that 1960--as golf-pro turned golf-writer Sampson claims--was the watershed year for professional golf, it does offer a springboard for an interesting if slipshod study of golfing greats Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Ben Hogan at contrasting stages of their careers. At age 19, Nicklaus, the chubby ``Golden Bear,'' was in 1960 the youngest National Amateur champion since 1910. A pharmacology student at Ohio State, he had no intention of turning pro (and didn't until 1962). In the meantime, Palmer, 31, was enjoying one of the great hot streaks in the history of golf, winning the US and British Opens and going on to win 38 other tournaments during the decade, beginning with the 1960 Masters, in which his thrilling come-from-behind charge gave birth to ``Arnie's Army.'' Palmer would cash in on his fame, Sampson notes, eventually earning $8 million annually in endorsements. And while 1960 wasn't quite Ben Hogan's ``last hurrah,'' at age 47 his putting was embarrassingly bad and his attention was divided between the golf course and the boardroom. Though Sampson strives to find drama in the competition among the three golfers, there actually was little: At the Masters, for instance, Hogan tied for sixth, while Nicklaus finished 12th. At the US Open, though, where Palmer came from eight strokes behind to win, Nicklaus finished second, his 282 total a new amateur record for the Open, while Hogan, in contention up to the 17th hole, misplayed a chip shot and triple-bogeyed the final hole. Sampson concludes anticlimactically, with the P.G.A., won by Jay Hebert. There, Hogan missed the cut and Palmer came in a distant seventh. An update on the narrative's major players closes the text. Sampson fails to reach the authority and quality achieved by Michael Bamberger in To the Linksland (reviewed above), but his book has obvious appeal for golf-history and nostalgia buffs. (Sixteen-page b&w photo insert--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

One of the greatest golf books ever, back in print.
I've read a lot of golf books. This is one of my favorites, and I'm glad to see it's finally back in print--there are a lot of golfers I need to recommend this to. It's more just plain fun to read than almost any one I can name. One of golf's great years, and one of the sport's all-time great cast of characters: Hogan, past his prime at 48 but trying to win one more major; Arnie, the greatest golfer of the 50s, trying to win the Grand Slam; 20-year-old Nicklaus, the chunky college kid; and plenty of other characters, like the irascible Charlie Sifford, the first black player on the tour; the legendary Sam Snead; Chi Chi Rodriguez, who weighed 118 pounds; party animal Doug Sanders; Gary Player, the Man in Black from South Africa; and several others. Reading about these guys is just fascinating, they come alive in this book, and the story of how several of them could have and should have won the Open is one of the best in golf. Sampson has a breezy, highly readable style and has a good sense of humor. I highly recommend this book to any fan of golf.

This One's for the Ages---Like Gene Sarazen's Double Eagle at Augusta.
This is the story of events that happened 40 years ago to golfers retired or departed from this earth. Yet, with Curt Sampson's writing and story telling ability, it is as fresh and real as if it was last summer.

A good, good book.

In the age of Tiger, Phil, Sergio, Adam Scott and others, this is a book worth reading or re-reading in this or any other age.

Palmer, Nicklaus, Hogan, Snead, Demeret, Venturi, Souchak, singer/golfer Don Cherry and all the others of that place and time, here again, living, breathing, laughing, joking, competing as if it was yesterday.

An outstanding piece of work about an outstanding time in the sport of golf.

Down Golf's Nostalgia lane
Curt Sampson has ably resurrected the magic of golf in 1960, the famous year in which Palmer became King, Nicklaus loomed, and Hogan and Snead made last runs at majors. Reading this tale one is transported back to what seems to us nostalgically as a simpler time. For a golf nut it is so much fun to relive those dramatic events. I would have given this book 5 stars except John Feinstein has demonstrated what a 5-star golf book is really like (The Majors, A Good Walk Spoiled). Sampson does not quite write with the same level of detail and insight as Feinstein, and lapses a bit more into the rehashing of familiar stories, but he is still quite good.