Author takes trip down memory lane with golf legends

Reading Michael Bamberger’s latest nonfiction book, Men in Green, is like taking a golf trip back in time.

It covers mainly the era of the late 1950s through the 1960s when pros drove in cars together between tournaments, shared hotel rooms to cut costs and wore Sansabelt slacks.

The idea of the book, which is being released Tuesday, came to Bamberger, an author and Sports Illustrated golf writer, at the 2012 Ryder Cup. He drew up a list of his nine personal legends of the game and nine lesser-known figures in golf whom he called his secret legends. The list totaled 18, just like a round of golf.

They all had to still be living because Bamberger’s plan was to get into his car, find them and ask them about their golf careers. Among the questions he wanted to ask them: When and where were they the happiest in their careers?

As Bamberger writes, the book is a “tour through yesteryear,” and he happily added that many of those he encountered still had a “language from a certain place and time.”

So does Bamberger, who came of age during this time period. After first identifying Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus in the book, they are referred to simply as Arnold and Big Jack the rest of the way.

Bamberger found candor from most of his legends, a “certain what-the-hell quality” that surprised him, as it will readers.

All the legends, both living and secret, he writes, “had one thing in common: Golf coursed through their veins.”

The living legends on his list are past their golf prime, and only three of them (Ben Crenshaw, Tom Watson and Fred Couples) are playing in this week’s Masters Tournament. Couples is the youngest, at age 55.

Tiger Woods isn’t one of Bam­berger’s legends, but his name comes up throughout the book.

Only two of the secret legends are, or were, pro golfers. The others are caddies, a former amateur golfer and USGA president now in his 90s, a former tournament director, a former TV golf director and a golf writer.

As the book’s title (and the cover shot of legends Nicklaus and Palmer in their green jackets) suggests, the Masters weaves its way into almost every visit with the living legends and secret legends.

The first visit is to Palmer and the second-to-last is to Nicklaus at his office in Golden Bear Plaza in North Palm Beach, Fla. The final visit is again with Palmer, when Bamberger tells him of many of the things he learned on his odyssey and gets his reactions.

The title of the book could have other meanings – green for jealousy, green for the money players were trying to make to stay on the tour, and green for the golf courses they played.

Bamberger doesn’t do it alone in his Subaru Outback. His companion is former pro Mike Donald, who travels with him on most of the visits. Donald’s opinions are priceless, which is why he’s not only on Bamberger’s secret legends list but also the secret weapon in the book. Because Donald was a respected journeyman who played the tour with many of the legends they visited, they seem to open up in his presence.

The star of the book is Palmer, who is the only one with two official visits. Part of the first visit revisits Palmer’s controversial drop behind the 12th green in the final round of his first Masters victory, in 1958. That incident pops up in other chapters until the truth about the ruling and how it affected Ken Venturi, Palmer’s playing partner that day, is finally revealed.

Venturi, one of Bamberger’s legends, died in 2013, but not before meeting with Bamberger. Their meeting in a restaurant in Palm Desert, Calif., results in one of the book’s most fascinating chapters.

Not all the legends agreed to meet with Bamberger. Couples and Crenshaw couldn’t work it out in their schedules, and Mickey Wright, the lone female legend, politely refused.

Because he couldn’t talk to Cren­shaw, Bamberger – a dogged reporter – instead tracks down Crenshaw’s ex-wife Polly in Austin, Texas. It leads to one of the best chapters.

He visited Rhonda Glenn, the unofficial histor­ian of Wright, who gave him plenty of insight to her. Glenn, a trailblazing sportscaster and author, died in February.

Even if somehow you didn’t know any of Bamberger’s legends, Men in Green is a journey worth taking just for the life lessons.

And, if you think you already know their stories, you will be surprised to learn what Bamberger, who calls himself a “detective in the golf division,” discovers along the way.