The game of golf developed in Scotland in the 15th century. This trio of books chronicles the life, times and competition records (blow by blow and, occasionally, hole by hole) of three golfers who on any reckoning rank among its ten greatest exponents of all time.
They cover three distinct periods of the 20th century and open windows on social as well as sporting history. The career of Bobby Jones climaxed in 1929 when he won the then Grand Slam of US and British Open and Amateur Championships in an era when (which would be inconceivable today) an amateur could match strokes with the professionals; and the professionals used the tradesmen’s entrance in club houses.
The career of Ben Hogan spanned the middle of the century and reached its acme when in a single year, 1953, he won three of the four majors, the US Open and Masters, and the British Open, confirming that the professional game was by now on a different and superior plane to the amateur, and that its practitioners enjoyed not only status but considerable income.
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