The Age of Palmer: Pro golf in the 1960s, its greatest era

In late November 1964-seven months after Arnold Palmer won his fourth Masters title on an idyllic spring day with 40,000 patrons in attendance at Augusta National-he and Jack Nicklaus played 36 holes in a cold rain before a smattering of fans in Lafayette, Louisiana. For Palmer and Nicklaus, the stakes at the backwater Cajun Classic could not have been higher. It was the last PGA Tour event of the season, and Palmer led Nicklaus by a mere ＄318.87. Long before there was such a thing as Official World Golf Rankings and the FedEx Cup, next to major championships, the money title was that most coveted.

The decade of the 1960s was pro golf’s Golden Era. The game came of age through the infusion of television and endorsement dollars that made pro golf’s Big Three--Palmer, Nicklaus, and Gary Player-wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, and Byron Nelson. The Age of Palmer is the first book to chronicle pro golf’s most thrilling and pivotal decade.

Acclaimed writer and golf historian Patrick Hand (Global Golf Post) leads readers on a narrative that starts in early 1960, when Palmer undeniably was the greatest player in the world, and proceeds through December 1969 as Nicklaus, Player, Billy Casper, Tony Lema, Frank Beard, Tony Jacklin, and Lee Trevino challenged Palmer for supremacy. In the tradition of Lawrence Ritter’s The Glory of Their Times, Hand supplements his stirring prose with fascinating tales-often hilarious and poignant-from his interviews with the men who played and lived pro golf in the 1960s. Stories from Nicklaus, Player, Jacklin, Beard, and Trevino are featured, along with those of supporting players Chi Chi Rodriguez, Bob Goalby, Bobby Nichols, Charles Coody, Tommy Aaron, Bruce Devlin, and many others.

Every major tournament from the 1960s is covered, as well as numerous other events on the PGA Tour and abroad. Colorful personalities Lema, Doug Sanders, and Tommy Bolt are remembered, as well as more obscure characters like Dean Refram and Wes Ellis. While Palmer and Nicklaus flew their own airplanes to tournaments, rank-and-file pros carpooled and shared rooms at inexpensive motels. Their exploits on the golf course, and escapades off, are described in wonderful detail, with recurring reference to the momentous events of the 1960s such as the John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinations, the Vietnam War, space launches, and Woodstock.

The Age of Palmer will stand as the definitive work about pro golf’s greatest era.