Al Barkow - Sam: The One and Only Sam Snead

Sam

Sam

The One and Only Sam Snead

Al Barkow

Frontis photos: In this sequence of Sams swing in his late prime, we see his clean turn or pivot in the backswing, and then his unique sit, his downward push in the downswing that stabilized his body and created a foundation on which he could deliver his tremendously powerful blow to the ball. Ron Muszalski

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Copyright 2010 by Al Barkow

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Barkow, Al.

Sam : the one and only Sam Snead / Al Barkow.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-58979-524-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-58979-596-9 (electronic)

1. Snead, Sam, 1912 2. GolfersUnited StatesBiography. I. Title. II. Title: One and only Sam Snead.

GV964.S6B37 2010

796.352092dc22

[B]

2010020857

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

TAYLOR TRADE PUBLISHING

Lanham New York Boulder Toronto Plymouth, UK

Foreword by Jack Burke Jr. vii

Preface xi

Introduction xvii

The Sneads of Virginia 1

The Swing 29

The One That Got Away 55

The Open 65

Character 93

Marriage and Children 129

The Senior Years 143

For the Record 157

Acknowledgments 169

Index 171

Sam Snead deserves a thorough and honest
biography, and Al Barkow is the right guy to write it because he seems to have a good feel for those of us who came up in the game and in life through the Great Depression of the 1930s. Sam Snead was a product of those hard times and of a part of the country that was isolated from the social mainstream. The times and the geography had a strong influence on how Sam lived his life, on his value system, and how he was perceived by the public.

Sam was a very big celebrity not only in golf but also in all of sports. There were very few people in his time who could fill a stadium or a golf course with spectators, and Sam was one of them. He was just so good at the game, and looked so good playing, you had to go see it for yourself. Of course, that was the only way you could see him and others in the days before television, but I think the sports fans of that era had an advantage in that respect. To see Sam in the flesh, and to hear and see the sound and flight of the golf ball when he hit it, simply cannot be captured on the tube. I cant think of another great athlete in any game who had that capacity. Joe DiMaggio, maybe, chasing a fly ball; but Joe looked like he was working when he was at bat. Sam never looked strained, and it set him apart from the rest of us. He was a winner not just because he had a pretty golf swing and could hit the ball a long waya very long way. He was a winner, a big winner, because he knew how to play , how to put shots together, and could maintain a very high level of concentration. It was often said of Sam that he was a poor putter, especially from up close, and couldnt handle the pressure. Well, how does someone win all those tournaments Sam won if he cant putt and cant make putts when he needs them?

But maybe more than anything, Sam absolutely loved to play and to compete. It was that which made him so distinctive a player and personality. And yet, Im not sure people saw that fierceness in him. Sam had this jaunty sort of look about him, with his straw hat and country-boy sayings delivered with a sly smile, but underneath all of that, he was as tough as they come. The thing about Sam and golf was that he saw the whole game. I read once about a pool shark who said he didnt see the cue ball, the other balls, the pockets, he saw the total game. Thats the way Sam was about golf.

Sam was kind of a phenomenon. He had a special gift for golf and made the most of it. He loved a crowd and entertained people with his storytelling, but like every great player or anyone of a creative nature, he had a lot of loner in him. He loved having a crowd around him, loved telling his stories and getting laughs, enjoyed showing off his game to the gallery, but he could do without all that. People like Sam, like a Michelangelo or a Beethoven, dont need people around them. They like their own company and are so sure of themselves they dont feel a need to share their thoughts, their problems, and their inner life with others. This gives them an air of mystery. Now that Sam is gone, some of that mystery can be unveiled, because people do like some insight on special people. Al Barkow has done that with his biography of Sam; its a story of Sam he would never tell himself, but one that needs to be told. It will enrich the memory of him for those who knew him and saw him play and give him a presence he deserves.

Jack Burke Jr.

There are certain experiences one has in a lifetime that can be classified as privileges. One of those for me was getting to watch Sam Snead in his prime hitting golf balls. Those who never had this experience have truly missed something. To be sure, they can watch it on film or video, but it is simply not the same.

I had that opportunity as a teenage caddie in the 1940s at the fabulous Tam O Shanter Country Club, in a north suburb of Chicago. For two consecutive weeks every summer all the great golfers in the world, men and women, pros and amateurs, came to Tam OShanter to play in the All-American and the World championship tournaments held for each category. The pros played for the most purse money ever offered up to that timean incredible $50,000 for winning the World event.

Sam Snead was of course one of the brightest stars in the golfing sky at the time, and as I think back I believe that even if you somehow didnt know of Sams achievements you would have been able to tell by the way he walked, dressed, and above all swung his clubs. There was in his carriage and performance a remarkable combination of elegance and strength. He was Fred Astaire in a tuxedo dancing Ginger Rogers around a marble floor, as well as Charles Atlas getting back at the guys who had kicked sand in his face when he was a skinny kid with pimples. Sam Snead awakened in me a richer vision of athleticism. Playing games was not simply brute force. For a kid who wasnt all that big physically but had good form in sports, this was a nice thing to know.