Ben Hogan is probably the best golfer in the history of the game, having won 63 PGA tournaments--third only to Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus. Hogan portrays the poignant and private life of this man who overcame poverty, insanity, and a potentially fatal car crash to be the only man to win the U.S. Open, the British Open and the Masters in one year.
Curt Sampson, golf professional turned golf writer, came from a large, athletic family. Golf was something his father did. Sampson caddied for his dad for years before trying to fit the game into his crowded sports schedule. Two things piqued his interest, both occurring when he turned 12. He began to caddie full-time at Lake Forest Country Club in Hudson, Ohio; and he discovered that he could not hit a Little League curve ball.
Sampson spent the money earned caddying on plaid pants, entry fees, and travel to tournaments. His most notable win before college was in the Mid-American Junior in 1970. He accepted a scholarship to Kent State University, where he won one tournament, finished second in another, and made the All-MAC team twice. And twice during his four years at KSU, the team missed qualifying for the NCAA by one shot. Current Kent Men's Head Coach Herb Page and Women's Head Coach Mike Morrow were teammates.
Sampson toiled as a club pro for several years following graduation. He toured internationally for a short time, and played in mini-tours in Florida. In his only try to get on the PGA Tour--at Pinehurst in 1977--he missed the cut badly, and applied for and received a return to amateur status.
Following a ten year career in sales (wiring conduit, hydraulic hose, labeling machines, lumber) Sampson began writing full-time in November 1988.
Texas Golf Legends, his first book, was collaboration with Santa Fe-based artist Paul Milosevich. Researching TGL gained Sampson introductions with people he has written about many times since: Hogan, Nelson, Crenshaw, Trevino, and a few dozen others. His next book--The Eternal Summer, a recreation of golf's summer of 1960, when Hogan, Palmer, and Nicklaus battled--is still selling 15 years after its debut, a rarity in the publishing world.
Sampson's biography of the enigmatic William Ben Hogan struck a chord. Both Hogan and his next book, The Masters, appeared on the New York Times bestseller lists. Subsequent books and scores of magazine articles cemented Sampson's reputation as readable and sometimes controversial, a writer with an eye for humor and the telling detail.
