In 1887 a linen salesman from New York City visited the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, considered to be the oldest golf course in the world. While there, he visited the shop of golf legend Old Tom Morris. He purchased six clubs and some balls. Soon after his return home, this purchase triggered a golf explosion that would soon see America not only take up the game but also take it over. America Tees Off tracks golf’s impact on the country and the game since this historic purchase, with dozens of wide-ranging stories from when the game first took hold in the United States to the present day.
These stories cover both the great amateur and professional players, as well as the golf adventures of average players and the not-so-average, like U.S. presidents, athletes in other sports, Hollywood stars, and the mega-wealthy. You’ll read about what was thought to be a highly questionable land purchase in the Sandhills of North Carolina in 1895 that led to the golf mecca of Pinehurst, how Babe Didrikson Zaharias’s husband used his cigar to give her assistance during tournament play, and how the scientist who worked on the atomic bomb at Los Alamos helped President Eisenhower improve his game.
America Tees Off also covers the effect of American ingenuity on the game’s equipment and how the sport was televised. These lesser-known, behind-the-scenes true stories will entertain and inform the most serious golf enthusiasts as well as those just getting into the sport’s colorful history.
Acknowledgements
Father of American Golf
The Most Flamboyant Player on Tour Outdoes Himself
Young Tiger Overcomes a Rough Patch
A Young Executive Goes Rogue
Babe Ruth Agrees to Become a Yankee at the 18th Green
Arnold Palmer Resuscitates the British Open
Golf Grabs Michael Jordan
President Obama Cuts His Golf Short for Good Reason
Golf Infects the USA's Two Richest Men
A Big Opening in Tinsel Town
Anchors Away Sam Snead
Picture-Perfect Tackle
Bryson Does His Thing
American Golf Goes Public
A Surprising Defeat Leads to a Stellar Collaboration
It Was Alice’s Idea
It Was Do or Die
The Seller Thought the Buyer Had More Money Than Common Sense
Golf Lessons in an Office Suite in the Heart of New York City
Golf, Bitter Cold, and Panty Hose
Scottie Records His First Professional Win
USGA’s First Tournaments and USA Golf’s First Cinderella Story
132 Was the Winning 18 Hole Score
The First Roar at the Masters
Augusta National and Eisenhower Part I
Augusta National and Eisenhower Part II
“Anytime You Are Playing With Arnold That Happens”
“Be the Right Club . . . Be the Right Club Today!”
Keeping Your Golf Balls From Getting Too Hot
Golf and Nuptials
Burning Tree Club: A Male Bastion
He Walked to the Beat of a Different Drummer
It Would Have Been A Great Story
Sunday Golf
A Blessed Final Round?
Bobby Jones Goes Hollywood
A Member of the USA’s Atomic Team Aids President Eisenhower’s Game
The Golden Bear and Inverrary
Two Former Prodigies Battle it Out in a Playoff
Golf Plays a Huge Role in the First Gigantic Corporate Deal
Ben Is Back
Mr. Icicle
A Bad Look for Bubba
The Schenectady Putter: Born in a Bonfire
A Sand Trap in a Department Store
A Big Change for the United States Open
Arnie the Pilot
Under Unusual Circumstances, a Player Makes Quite a Debut in a U.S. Open
Baseball Almost Loses Out to Augusta National
Ben Who?
He Scoffs at a Huge Fine by the Government
It Looked Like an Ice Cream Scoop on a Stick
Nixon’s Golf
White House Helicopter Goes Out of Bounds
Overrated?
A President Overdoses On Golf
A President Plays an Enormous Amount of Golf Without Any Criticism
A Golf Games Ends a Bitter Hollywood Feud
The State of the Union
Detroit Loses Its Golf Soul
The Country Club at Brookline Could Have Missed Out
The Nation’s Top Sports Journalist Attempts to Qualify for the U.S. Open
The Most Politically Significant Round of Golf Ever Played
Gene Sarazen, Howard Hughes, and the Sand Wedge
Bryson Had the Distance Twice
A Former Champion Tries to Avoid the Heat but Ends Up Being Toast
Walter Hagen Makes a Ground-Breaking Decision
From a Hospital Bed in Santa Monica
Two Trailblazers Need Assistance with Finding a Place to Play
A Triumphant Comeback
Michelle Gets Her Major
Twelve Golfers Play It Off for Eleven Spots
Two Sad Passings
Walter Hagen’s a Victim of a Crime
A Marathon Stretch of Golf
Golf and the Cold War-Part I
Golf and the Cold War–Part Two
Tiger Puts on a Staggering Spectacle and Nicklaus Bows Out
Hollywood’s Hustler
More Hollywood’s Hustler
Even More Hollywood’s Hustler
A Bag-in-One
Some Golf on the Silver Screen
The President’s Caddie
John F. Kennedy: The Hit and Run Golfer
One of the Game of Golf's Most Staunch Traditionalists Makes the Switch
A Caddie Named Shirley
Mighty Mo
The USA’s First Olympic Golfers
Will Rogers's Disdain for Golf
Sam Snead Takes a Couple of Swings at Wrigley Field
A Former Artillery Officer Unleashes a Birdie Barrage
A Record-Setting Final Round Comeback
President Trump Honors Babe
Friday the 13th
An American Woman’s Play With a British Royal and Stirs Up Golf Fashion
Battle of the Sexes
Ben and Terrible Tommy
Highly Regarded CBS Golf Commentator Goes Out of Bounds
Slow Play Results in a U.S. Senator Decking a Prominent D.C. Surgeon
Walter’s Shenanigans
Arnold Palmer’s Hearing Spurred Him to Two of His Masters Wins
John Daly Wins For the First Time in a “Sober” Fashion
It Was an Odd Finish to a Playoff
Two American Standouts Have Problems in Great Britain
Ticker Tapes and Toots
A Special Friendship
Spouses, Ex-Spouses, and Significant Others
About the Author
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