Gene Sarazen and Shell's Wonderful World of Golf [Hardcover]

Al Barkow (Author), Byron Nelson (Foreword), Mary Ann Sarazen (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2003

Behind-the-scenes story of this ground-breaking golf show from the birth of televised sports, as witnessed by the show's writer, Barkow, and host Sarazen's daughter. Includes 50 historical photos and 15 private letters to the legendary golfer Bobby Jones.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

When it debuted in 1962, Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf was a groundbreaking program in the still fairly new television industry. At the time, few golf tournaments were even televised—mostly majors—and then with only two or three black and white cameras to cover the action. With its first episode, Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf took the medium to a higher level. Not only did it cover 18 holes of golf with some of the best players in the world, it did so in color and on location around the globe.

For the millions of Americans who enjoyed the game, learning that golf was also played in such exotic places as Malaysia, Thailand, Greece and Australia was both staggering and exciting. Adding to their amazemant was the opportunity to see numerous famous courses that they had only heard or read about—St. Andrews in Scotland and Pine Valley in New Jersey among them—and the fact that the host of the show was legendary golfer Gene Sarazen. This thrilling combination had viewers glued to their TV sets for each program, and the result&mdas;in the years to come—was the spawning of a whole new industrt: golf tourism. And it all started with Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf.

As writer and associate producer of the Shell show, Al Barkow was “inside the ropes” from the beginning. Gene Sarazen and Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf is Barkow’s fascinating story of the who’s, what’s, where’s, how’s and why’s of this very historic, precedent-setting program. It’s one you’ll enjoy, one you’ll remember, and one you just won’t get enough of.

Like the original program, Gene Sarazen and Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf is entertainment at its best.

From the Back Cover

“The Show gave the game of golf a very attractive exposure—the travelogues alone were worth the price of admission—that went a long way toward promoting, and changing the image of the game into what is now a major sport in this country, and the world.”
—Golf Legend Byron Nelson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 159 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (July 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932202056
• ISBN-13: 978-1932202052
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,254,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Addition to Any Golf Library, August 2, 2003

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gene Sarazen and Shell's Wonderful World of Golf (Hardcover)

In the contemporary golf world where Tiger Woods receives the lion's share of attention, cable television channels abound, and made-for-television golf events are presented on a regular basis, most people do not recall the television show that was the forefather of the modern golf small screen presentation. In the summer of 1960, Monroe Spaght, the president of Shell U.S.A, watched a television production of All-Star Golf, the first made-for-television golf program. The show featured 18-hole matches between some of the top American players of the era. Initially, the matches were filmed in the Chicago area, but soon other courses around the country became involved. While Spaght found promise in the idea of golf on television, he saw the potential for something far beyond a match between two participants. Capitalizing on the worldwide presence of Shell's parent company, Royal Dutch Shell, he envisioned matches that would be played on the great courses of the world by the greatest golfers in the world. Thus was born Shell's Wonderful World of Golf.

GENE SARAZEN AND SHELL'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF GOLF, by Al Barkow with Mary Ann Sarazen, is the story of the beginnings of a television event that continues to be presented today. For over 40 years, the greatest golfers in the world have traveled the globe for individual matches that are a combination of golf, travelogue and history. Perhaps more than any program, Shell's Wonderful World of Golf has impacted and shaped the golf that most of us watch on television today.

Shell officials were not well versed in the nuances and history of golf. They hired Herbert Warren Wind as the show's golf writer and consultant. Wind had already achieved recognition as a golf writer and historian. He had written for The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated and had coauthored with Ben Hogan the classic golf instruction book, FIVE LESSONS: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf. Wind was the man who would select golf courses around the world for match sites and could also suggest foreign golfers, many of whom were unknown in America, as participants. He also suggested that golf legend Gene Sarazen be the host of the television show.

Barkow has provided the reader with a brief biography of Sarazen, a golf icon of the 20s and 30s. Born Eugenio Saraceni, Sarazen changed his name because "Saraceni sounded more like a violin player than a golfer." He became the first professional golfer to win all four major golf championships. He scored a spectacular and rare double eagle to clinch victory in the 1935 Masters. It was a shot that propelled the tournament and Sarazen into national prominence. Sarazen was perfect for the commentator role. His knowledge of the game, the players, and the courses around the world made him an invaluable asset to Shell. Sarazen would ultimately host nine years of programs covering 92 matches in 48 countries. His match with Henry Cotton, played at St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf, became a classic and can still be seen on The Golf Channel.

The most fascinating portion of the saga of SHELL'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF GOLF can be found in the descriptions of the production of the individual television shows. Contemporary golf fans have become complacent with modern technology and its impact on televised golf. Golf matches even avail themselves of lights to allow for evening matches. In the 1960s television technology was far more primitive. Two days were often required to film one 18-hole match. Players were sometimes forced to wait twenty minutes between shots as cameras, cables and crowds were repositioned for the next shot. On occasion, because an actual shot was not adequately filmed, producers had to include phony shots that were filmed separately from the actual match. To read these chapters is to understand how far televised golf and indeed all televised sports have come.

This book is a wonderful addition to any golf library, but it's also a little bit more. It reminds us of an era when television and the entertainment industry were still in their infant stages. How they were able to grow both artistically and technologically is the message that can be learned from SHELL'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF GOLF and its progeny.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, January 25, 2008

By 

Carl E. Johnson Jr. "cejjpj" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gene Sarazen and Shell's Wonderful World of Golf (Hardcover)

Shell's Wonderfull World of Golf is a series of made-for-tv exhibition golf matches, usually between a well-known U.S. professional and a foreign professional on a prominent golf course in the U.S. or another country. The original series lasted from 1962 to 1970 and pioneered television golf. Author Al Barkow was a writer and associate producer of the show in its early years. Gene Sarazen, the color commentator, had been one of the world's greatest golfers. Mary Ann Sarazen, the "with" author, is Gene's daughter. So, what is this very slim volune? The best way to describe it would be light memoir of Barkow's experience working on the show. I learned a few interesting facts about the show's production (which I will not reveal here), but little more. Here's an example of the book's amazing revelations. To travel to film a match on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island, three(!) different modes of transportation were used. First, there was the flight to Sidney on Cape Breton Island. Then, everyone got on a bus to go to the golf course. The bus got on a ferry for part of the trip (in order to avoid the longer road journey). Gene Sarazen is a legendary golfer, but you'll learn only a little about his accomplishmens in this book. Mary Ann's contributions include a two page introduction and the lending of a number of photographs. The second star is attributable to the small but nice black and white photos and a series of letters printed at the end of the book that Sarazen wrote to Bob (Bobby) Jones in Jones' declining years, letters that show Sarazen's humanity but not much else. This book is for the hardcore golf enthusiast only.