Sam: The One And Only Sam Snead (Hardcover)

by Al Barkow (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The sound when Sam Snead hit an iron shot was like the sound of a Rolls Royce door slamming shut. The contact with the ball and the turf – which was absolutely simultaneous – had a rich sound unmatched in his day, or perhaps any other. With the driver, the sound was different; it had more of an explosive quality, the brisk but definitive report of a rifle shot.

Even today, 68 years after bursting onto the national scene, he remains the standard. The man with the most admired golf swing in the history of the game? Forget Woods, forget Hogan, forget Jones. Even today, the vote is almost always unanimous: Sam Snead, of course.

Slammin’ Sam. The PGA Tour’s all-time victory leader with 82 wins. The oldest winner on the PGA Tour at age 52. Winner of seven major championships (3 Masters, 3 PGAs, 1 British Open). Seven-time member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Eight-time winner of the Greater Greensboro Open. Six-time winner of the Miami Open. Original member of the World Golf Hall of Fame (1974). Golf partner of presidents, royalty, and celebrities. Idol of millions of golf fans for over fifty years.

Until today, though, few people could truly say they knew this man. His fears, his secrets, his dark side. Until today, there has never been a definitive biography of one of the greatest golfers of all time. Sam: The One and Only Sam Snead—by award-winning golf writer Al Barkow—is not only a peek behind the mask, but an arresting look into the life of one of the game’s most engaging yet enigmatic figures. Until today, millions of golf fans thought they knew who Sam Snead was. They were wrong.

About the Author
Al Barkow is a veteran golf reporter and recipient of the 2005 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. His work on golf and golfers includes That's Golf: The Best of Barkow; Gene Sarazen and Shell's Wonderful World of Golf with Mary Ann Sarazen; and The Golden Era of Golf: How America Rose to Dominate the Old Scots Game, among many others. Barkow was chief writer on the original Shell's Wonderful World of Golf television series and has coauthored numerous books of golf instruction with PGA professionals, including Ken Venturi, Billy Casper, and Dave Stockton.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 161 pages
• Publisher: Sports Media Group (September 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587261812
• ISBN-13: 978-1587261817
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #606,850 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!, October 26, 2005

By	armchairinterviews.com (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

Do you love golf? Do you love history? Do you love biographies? If you answered "yes" to any two of these three, then you should read Sam--The One and Only Sam Snead.

Al Barkow does a wonderful job of making Sam Snead come alive as a player and a person. Sam Snead was probably one of the most athletically gifted people to ever play golf. Well into his sixties he could jump straight up from a standing position and touch the top of a seven foot door with his foot. In his seventies he could still bend over to pick up a golf ball from a cup without bending his knees. He was the Tiger Woods and John Daly of his day. In an exhibition he often used a persimmon driver and a balata ball and would average over three hundred yards with them.

He won 81 PGA tournaments, a record that still stands, yet his career winnings from all of them would total less than one first place finish of a mid-level tour event today. As a human being he was generous to family, friends, and the community. He bought the house his brother Homer raised his family in and provided another house for his sister, Janet. Nearly every church in the county where he lived most of his life can point to a piano, organ, or new roof only because of Sam's private generosity.

Any tour pro or club professional down on his luck could count on Sam to help out--even if the debt could never be repaid.

Sam Snead had character and was a character and this book allows you to see both. And there are a fair number of great golf tips and tournament and exhibition stories sprinkled throughout.

Armchair Interviews says: Buy it for your coffee table or collection, but take the time to read it first.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sam - The One and Only, December 6, 2005

By	Gene Haas (Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews

Al Barkow has created a winner with his book - "SAM - The One and Only Sam Snead."

For those who only know the current crop of golfers, e.e., Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, as being outstanding, there just happened to be an abundance of great golfers more than fifty years ago. The likes of Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Ralph Guldahl, Jimmy Demaret, Jackie Burke, Jr., Lloyd Mangrum, Bobbie Locke, Julius Boros, Porky Oliver, Henry Picard, Johnny Bulla....and a host of others, most of whom have long been forgotten... and then, the one-and-only Sam Snead,take a back seat to no one.

Snead was probably the greatest golfer of them all, although Hogan and Nelson followers may not agree with that statement. Unfortunately, golf greatness is often measured by victories in majors, especially the US Open. Since Sam never won one of these, his name doesn't surface to the top when evaluating the greats. Wisconsin's own Andy North, won two US Opens, but he doesn't come close to Snead's accomplishments. Snead's eighty-four PGA Tour victories, and more than one hundred tournament wins, easily outdistances him from all the other golfers.

Aside from Sam's golf achievements, Barkow has wonderfully described Snead's heritage and upbringing, along with the many tragedies that occurred in his life. Somehow, after reading the book you feel that you've known Sam Snead all your life. The unshameful manner that he conducted himself with other people, regardless of their status in life, set Sam aside from his peers. His down-home style of conversation, and even his raunchy joke story-telling before large social groups, told everyone that "this was Sam speaking."

Al Barkow has put it all together in this book, the facts, the faults, the fame, everything that made Sam Snead the legend that he has become - they're all there.

This is a must read for everyone who might fancy himself or herself as a golf history buff. You just gotta know the Sam Snead story....and Al Barkow has put it there for all of us to absorb.

Gene Haas
WSGA (Retired)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A graduate course in the career of Sam Snead!, May 20, 2006

By	Samuel E. Spear (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Sam Snead was a legend in every sense of that much-overused word and veteran golf writer Al Barkow has fashioned a biography that anyone will enjoy. However, if you're a serious student of The Slammer's career (that is, if you've already read 1962's "The Education of a Golfer" and 1996's "The Game I Love"), you'll find "Sam - The One and Only Sam Snead" absolutely invaluable for filling in gaps that have existed for years. In this book, you'll learn about the family relationships that motivated (and sometimes hindered) Sam Snead, including several quite poignant passages concerning his disabled son. You'll also learn about the only golf lesson Sam Snead ever had, the reasons he was viewed with some disdain by the golfing "establishment", and the heretofore unmentioned reasons that he never won the U. S. Open (including a possible conspiracy by longtime USGA director Joe Dey). You'll also learn for the first time EXACTLY how many U. S. Opens Sam Snead would have won if he could have shot 69 in the final round every time. An amusing bonus consists of a short chapter that "reconstructs" what he was thinking as he made that fateful 8 on the 72nd hole to lose the 1939 U. S. Open. If you're looking for an exceptionally informative course of "graduate studies" concerning the career of Sam Snead, this is the book you've been waiting for!