Hogan

Ben Hogan won four U.S. Opens in six years, three of them after a near-fatal head-on automobile collision. Driven by an obsessive dedication to the game, legend has it, he practiced until his hands bled. The concentration and precision he exhibited on the course awed spectators and fellow players alike.

In this extraordinary book—the first full-scale biography of the enigmatic Hogan in twenty years—Curt Sampson explores the milestones of Hogan's life—his father's suicide, his miraculous comeback after his brush with death, his many triumphs on the Tour. Sampson draws on interviews with fellow golf legends Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, and Sam Snead to present an in-depth portrait of a man with bullet-proof confidence and singlemindedness, a man who turned the negatives he encountered into a life of glory and achievement.

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.

Ben Hogan won four U.S. Opens in six years, three of them after a near-fatal head-on automobile collision. Driven by an obsessive dedication to the game, legend has it, he practiced until his hands bled. The concentration and precision he exhibited on the course awed spectators and fellow players alike.

In this extraordinary book—the first full-scale biography of the enigmatic Hogan in twenty years—Curt Sampson explores the milestones of Hogan's life—his father's suicide, his miraculous comeback after his brush with death, his many triumphs on the Tour. Sampson draws on interviews with fellow golf legends Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, and Sam Snead to present an in-depth portrait of a man with bullet-proof confidence and singlemindedness, a man who turned the negatives he encountered into a life of glory and achievement.

Curt Sampson enjoyed modest success as a junior, amateur, and college golfer but was a dud, he says, as a club and touring professional. The author of three other books, he lives in Bristol, Texas, with his wife and two children.