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.
David Sowell has written about golf and golf history for numerous publications, including the United States Golf Association's Golf Journal, Links Magazine, and Golf Illustrated. He is the author of three books, including The Masters: A Hole-by-Hole History of America's Golf Classic (Nebraska, 2019).
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
"Golfers love good stories to share on a tee box or in a grill room, and this book is stuffed with tales to impress even the most seasoned golf storyteller. One great anecdote after the next, each chapter is a dive into America's rich golf history, with a cast of characters broader than any field in golf. A breezy, joyful stroll through the American golf story."-Tom Coyne, New York Times best-selling author of A Course Called America "No sport has such a rich history as golf, and David Sowell brings that past to life in this entertaining book about golf in America. This is a must for every golfer's library. The prose is as pure as a well-struck seven iron. Pour a tumbler of scotch, settle into your favorite chair, and enjoy."-Philip Reed, author of In Search of the Greatest Golf Swing
