Truly one of the best, most informative , most enjoyable books of golf ever written. I absolutely could not put it down. I learned more about Hogan, Nelson, Venturi and Ward from this book than i knew in 55 years. Everyone that loves golf should read this book.

Amazing recap of a real Match between 4 golf legends. Frost works the story like a great golf course and weaves in a wonderful history of the 4 legends and the how the game of golf changed from an amateur world to the professional world that we all know today.

This book is for someone that loves golf....if they are not an avid golfer, I am not sure this book will hold the interest of a general sport fan or just novel reader.

I recommend the good, great read.

Enjoy

Talks about and brings back the birth of the excitement of Professional Golf. The facts about the personal histories of the early major players are interesting.Their personal stories bring back memories of these men who were major factors in making the game what it is today.One of the players in this "Match" is a personal friend and the story of his life makes you understand why he became such a great individual.The story of "The Match" itself is exciting to read and very hard to put down. For anyone with even a remote interest in the game it will make you a fan.

If you've enjoyed any of Mr. Frost's other books about golf and golfers (Grand Slam, The: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf or The Greatest Game Ever Played: A True Story) you will enjoy this one just as much. It's hard to believe this match actually happened. Mr. Frost really brings the story to life, with his usual style, deftly using suspense and interesting narrative that makes you feel like you were right there with the guys during this (now) famous match. The research behind the story must have been a monumental task, especially since many of the principles are no longer living and the match was not broadcast at the time. It is clear that Mark Frost loves the game of golf; its history, the players, the competition, and the compelling stories that have arisen from this greatest game ever played.

i like to read about famous golfers of the past and their personal struggles as well as their excellence on the course .. this is an excellent book for those who enjoy that genre .

Enjoyable story about the match itself surrounded by historical details of the players' lives, Cypress Point GC, and the professional golf scene of the day.

This is a very interesting book about a little-known golf match between two famous golf pros and two amateurs. It is an easy read with some interesting historical facts about the evolution of professional golf in the U.S.

You can almost see the course contours, smell the salt air and feel the lush grass underfoot in this epic depiction of the towering talents of four larger-than-life golf heroes. If this were fiction, the reader would beguiled by the sheer momentum in this solitary golf match . . . but it is absolutely true!

I caddied once in my youth for one of the golfing giants prtrayed in this book and later in life interviewed one of the players in THE MATCH so I have a more-than-passing interest in this memorable tale. Memories of the bygone days of renowned amateur golfers, the honor of the game and competition that goes far beyond money burst forth from every page of this book that is detined to be a classic.

A lifetime of golfing recollections washed over me in a book that I could not put down. This book would be a marvelous gift for every golfer in your world.

I found this incredible interview regarding how the game of Golf has changed over the years. You wouldn't believe the evolution! If you have any interest in the history of Golf, this is a must read. If you want to become even more knowledgeable on the subject, scroll to the bottom of the interview and get in touch with the author. After reading, I guarantee you will be able to lead the most interesting discussions and impress your friends!

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/interviewroden.html

I found this incredible interview regarding how the game of Golf has changed over the years. You wouldn't believe the evolution! If you have any interest in the history of Golf, this is a must read. If you want to become even more knowledgeable on the subject, scroll to the bottom of the interview and get in touch with the author. After reading, I guarantee you will be able to lead the most interesting discussions and impress your friends!

In The Greatest Game Ever Played, Mark Frost provides a brilliant account of 20-year-old Francis Ouimet's 18-hole playoff victory over Britons Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in the 1913 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, where Ouimet once caddied. That said, I think his account of an 18-hole match at Cypress Point Golf Club on the Monterey Peninsula (just before the annual "Crosby Clambake" in 1956) between professionals Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson against amateurs Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi describes a match at least as significant. His is certainly the best book on golf competition that I have ever read.

With the curiosity of a cultural anthropologist and the skills of a master storyteller, Frost establishes and then explores a context within which four of the greatest golfers in the 1950s agreed to a "friendly match." They knew each other, respected each other, and enjoyed each other's company. However, in his own unique way, each was a ferocious competitor, especially when engaged in match play competition. Frost provides a hole-by-hole account (the primary story line) but he also brings to life each of the four competitors, explaining their respective backgrounds, personalities, and motivations while stressing their passion for the game of golf. The supporting cast includes Eddie Lowery who, when years old, caddied for Ouimet during his Open victory and is now a wealthy car dealer and among the leaders of the USGA. Also George Coleman, also a multi-millionaire as well as a member of Cypress Point who accepts Lowery's challenge to select any two professionals to compete against Ward and Venturi.

Credit Frost with accomplishing two separate but related objectives: to provide a riveting account of the match itself over an especially challenging as well as beautiful course designed by Alister MacKenzie, and, to place the match within a much larger frame-of-reference that includes the emergence of professional golf following the retirement of Bob Jones, real estate development of the Monterey Peninsula area, and the evolving controversy about the meaning of the term "amateur," given the fact that both Venturi and Ward were two of Lowery's salaried employees who devoted almost all of their time and energy to competitive golf.

Even those who have little (if any) interest in golf will thoroughly enjoy reading this book. It has everything: a full cast of colorful characters, several compelling story lines, multi-dimensional social commentary, and following the conclusion of the match, an "Afterward" that provides what Paul Harvey calls "the rest of the story" concerning the four competitors and their two supporters. Then in an Appendix, Frost provides historical information about the Peninsula before focusing his attention on Marion Hollins and her involvement in both competitive golf and efforts to realize her "oversized dreams" for the area.

This is one of very few works of non-fiction that I have read in recent years that created in me a growing sense of sadness as I approached the last few pages. I really enjoyed it that much? Yes. In fact, I began to re-read it the next day and although I knew the outcome of the match, enjoyed the second reading at least as much as the first. Thank you, Mark Frost.

Mark Frost leaves you breathless as he paints an unmatched literary canvas with words--you can hear it, see it, smell it, feel the tension. Throughout he intersperses snippets and bios of the players so you can't wait to get back to the action. Each time I put it down I looked forward to picking it up and reading it again. I have read also The Greatest Game Ever Played and The Grand Slam. Both excellent, but "The Match" to me was one of the richest literary creations on golf I have ever read.

Frost is an incredibly gifted writer ... perhaps the most gifted of any sports book author. This comes from an obvious formal and dedicated writing background, and an exceptional understanding of the game of golf. Add to that social awareness and historical depth, and you easily have the best author of golf books.

In this instant classic, Frost details how an impromptu match between legendary pros Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan, versus top amateurs (at the time) Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward, would present a fork in the road for the future of golf: would it remain the gentlemanly game of well heeled men playing only for honor, or would the best players come from the pro ranks where commercialism and money were also part of the incentive? Eras and egos collide, but in the end the participants celebrate the match with laughs over drinks in the Cypress clubhouse.

Frost captures all the important shots with expert delivery of the risk/reward calculations involved, to the delight of readers that are also better players. All 4 played inspired golf shooting in "the 60's." Magical golf like this from everyone in the group is almost always the product of intense match play and, fittingly, the difference in the match was a truly perfect shot.

The lives of the 4 participants plus the 2 men that sponsored the match are seamlessly weaved into the golfing tale, to the point where it's impossible to determine where the golf story ends and personal stories begin. You'll be on the proverbial "edge of your seat" wanting to know how both the golf and personal histories conclude.

When Arnold Palmer burst onto the professional scene thereafer, it was clear where the future of golf was headed. And he's rightly credited with bringing golf to the masses. But importantly the stage had been set for the arrival of an Arnie-like character as a result of "The Match" played several years earlier.

* Beyond "The Match" the history of the making of Cypress Golf at the book's end is worthy of special note. The visionary behind Cypress was an accomplished woman golfer from Long Island striking out on her own, and the original architect was Seth Raynor, associated with legendary Long Island courses The National and Shinnecock. When he died prior to laying out a plan, he was replaced by Alistair MacKenzie. The Englishman MacKenzie had been a battlefield surgeon in WWI, and he drew upon the "camoflouge" aspect of that battlegound experience and others in his golf course design philosophy. Although this resulted in highly difficult courses, his artistry meant players were too caught up in the visuals to even notice. Through Cypress, Bobby Jones met MacKenzie and subsequently commissioned him to design Augusta National. And the rest, as they, "is history."

Though I am wary of contributing to the incessant, effusive praise for just about everything in contemporary life, I must admit that The Match is the finest sports book I have read in many years. Mark Frost's prose is enjoyable and balanced - not too simple; not overreaching. The structure of the book leaves the reader in a state of wonderful anticipation throughout. Finally, the true sports fan gains newfound appreciation and respect for the evolution of the game of golf and the men who contributed so greatly to bringing it into the mainstream. These were not great golfers; they were great Americans. Frost has written a masterpiece. Do not hesitate to pick it up.

Frost's trilogy is must reading for every golf nut. The Match is much shorter than his finest work, The Greatest Game Ever Played, and his essential biography of Bobby Jones, The Grand Slam, but it is nonetheless a gripping, page turning tale of 18 holes played by four of golf's outstanding personalities on one of the nation's most beguiling courses, Cypress Point CC. Historical facts concering the men and the state of the game of golf in that era are accurately and entertainingly woven into the story of a single match. Each stroke in the match is described, while concise biographies of each character are woven throughout. Frost is a master at transporting you to 1954 and the Monterrey Peninsula, you can see the ocean, feel the breeze, and smell the fresh cut grass. I especially appreciated the thoroughly researched afterward which included a short history of the Monterrey Peninsula and Cypress Point CC in particular, as well as the bios of the players following the Match. Read this book if you love the game.

Another great book by Mark Frost. The Match ranks right up there with Mr Frosts other book "The Greatest Game Ever Played".This book gives wonderful historical perspective on golf in the Monteray Bay area.

Those of us who love golf- its traditions and history, will ove this true story of a match that was arranged as a wager, and turned out to be one of the best of all time

A quick read, good golf book, didn't really capture me, but held me enough to finish it.

If I had read "The Match..." before I read Mark Frost's other golf-related books ("The Greatest Game Ever Played" and "The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf") I would have missed out on a couple of really good reads - because I would never have picked up another of his books.

The main substance of this book - the story of a unique, one-time golf match between two aging masters of the professional game (Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson) and two up-and-coming young amateurs (Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward) at one of the most beautiful, and exclusive, golf courses in the country, Cypress Point, on California's Monterey Peninsula - would have made a good magazine article. In order to tease it out to book length, however, Frost intersperses biographical chapters on the lives of the four participants, as well as the two instigators of the match, Eddie Lowery (Francis Ouimet's then-pint-sized caddy for his improbable 1913 US Open victory over Englishmen Harry Vardon and Ted Ray, 40-odd years later a successful Bay Area businessman and supporter of amateur golf) and George Coleman, a wealthy California business figure. It's mostly blatant, and superfluous, padding - the material on Hogan has been better chronicled elsewhere, with a lighter touch, by more skilled writers (Curt Sampson comes to mind...) and the dirt-digging on Eddie Lowery's business dealings and troubles with the amateur golf establishment border on the sordid.

Frost's florid writing style in this book is off-putting and sensationalistic; he leaves no superlative unturned, and must have worn out his thesaurus in the search for more and better adjectives the further he got along in the story. His chapters on Hogan are fawning and overly-sentimental, reminiscent of James Dodson's saccharine 2004 biography of the man (no surprise that Frost singles out Dodson for mention in his Oscar show-length thank you's).

One thing that Frost never pays off on is the title's tagline: "The Day The Game of Golf Changed Forever". How can event that was witnessed by a relative handful of people, a private golf match with no title or championship significance, be said to have changed the game of golf forever? The match did occur at a cusp in the sport, as golf was changing from a pastime of the wealthy, in which amateur sportsmen were held in higher esteem than the professional practitioners of the sport, to the Arnold Palmer-inspired pastime of suburban professionals and blue-collar workers, when TV and its attendant influx of money made it a national sensation that provided a viable, even lucrative, living for the touring professionals in the game - but none of those changes hinged on, or were precipitated by "The Match".

Razor out the biographical padding, leaving only the chapters on the match itself and the afterword on the history of the course (but my enjoyment of that portion of the book may be attributable to local interest, as I was born and raised just inland of the Monterey Peninsula, in the Salinas Valley) and you'll have an enjoyable lunchtime read; and if you're ready to immerse yourself in more of the early history of the game, pick up "The Greatest Game Ever Played" and "The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf" - they are much better books.

This little book is packed with history of the game of golf. The Match was the perfect vehicle to present the six characters who make this event come to life. Thanks for introducing me to Harvie Ward. To anyone who plays, loves, and/or enjoys this game you must take the few hours it takes to read this compelling story.

Two recent golf books stand out above all others: The Match and Fairway to Hell: Around the World in 18 Holes, which is far and way the most hilarious and insightful. I looked forward to The Match because I had heard it takes place at Cypress Point and I've always dreamed of playing that course, so it was a treat to walk and play it with some of the greatest golfers of all time. In case you haven't heard, the centerpiece of this story is a casual best ball match play round between Ben Hogan and Bryron Nelson (representing the pros) and Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward (representing the amateurs). The time is 1956 and Venturi and Ward are the last of the gentleman amateurs playing at the highest levels of the game. The event is precipitated by a bet instigated by none other than Eddie Lowery, the pint-sized ten-year old caddie from "Greatest Game" who has (believe it or not) become a millionaire California car dealer. This connection to the earlier book is more than a coincidence and Lowery becomes more important to the story than one might expect. The Match is required reading for any serious golfer. On one level learning more about the life story and personality of these great players as well as that of Cypress Point and the Crosby Clambake are quintessential elements of the glory of golf in America. As before, Mark Frost does an amazing job illuminating this background (including a great recounting of the famous Hogan comeback after his accident.)

If you ejoyed The Greatest Game Ever Played, this is a must. If you play and enjoy golf, this is a must. Was Byron Nelson really that good in '45? Tiger-ya got aways ta go.
The surrounding stories of the players of that incredible day are wonderfully told. Imagine watching Ken Venturi at his amatuer peak, learning about Harvey Ward, was he really considered the second coming of Bobby Jones? The amateurs vs the pros, and not just any pros but Nelson and Hogan. Stroke by stroke, I could actually envision the day, the course, the event...what I wouldn't have given to be there.

This book is an excellent history of the birth of PGA golf in America. It goes into detail the lives of many of the great players who elevated the game to today's level. Such greats as: Ken Venturi, Ben Hogan, and Byron Nelson; along with several amateur players. This is a must read for any golf nut!

I loved this book and so did my husband. It does help that I knew and worked with Harvie and that I used to go watch Bing Crosby Tournaments in the 70's.

Lots of drama and even more background on the characters involved. Very good book, not in the league of The Greatest Game Ever Played, but quite good and worth the money.

A great enjoyable look at the game of golf before it became the "professional" game that it is today. The weaving in and out of the four players life stories as the Match is beautifully told is masterful in itself. If you have any appreciation for the history and game of golf you'll love this book.

Mark Frost presents a wonderful golf story that is easily read. The reader will learn about some of the greatest golf legends of the twentieth century: Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward, who I had never heard of until reading this story.

Also of interest is the story of Cypress Point golf course, which Alister MacKenzie claimed to be one of his best designs.

There are a lot of books about golf, but this is one of the few that is worth reading. Good stuff! You won't be disappointed.

It is a well written book for the hard core golf enthusiast. It is probably a book that a non golf fanatic would not enjoy. However, if you love the game this is an entertaining read.

Well written and full of great detail on both history and individuals.
Would recommend to anyone who loves the game or just loves sports.

It is impossible to imagine any golfer not being absolutely thrilled with this book.

The description of the game makes you feel as if you are walking the course with the players and what players they were.

A book for anyone who loves golf and its traditions. The conditions, the times and the principals will never converge again. At least we can savor the skillful retelling and wish that we could have been there to witness this singular event.

Extremely good read but one has to question the accuracy of the shot by shot details since unfortunately only one of the participants is still alive. The most amazing thing to me is the quality of golf played on a quality golf course with irons the size of butter knives and drivers the size of today's hybrids. Not to mention balls that were like marshmallows. What could these players have done with 460cc drivers and Pro V1's?

Mark Frost is to golf writing what Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward were to golf....

Some golf books you read and pass along to your friends. Some you keep. This is a Keeper of the first order. Your friends can buy their own...

As with his earlier golf books, "The Grand Slam" and "The Greatest Game Ever Played," Frost can tell a story, a story of people, personalities, a story of drama on and off the golf course, and he brings it all to together in such a warm, affectionate--sometimes critical, but always honest and objective--way that you, the reader, feel you know these people. You care about them. You feel their joy, their pain, their hopes, their dreams and their heartache. You pull for them.

Like the old CBS Televison series, "You Are There," Frost takes you "there", in this case to one of the greatest and most unusual matches ever played, and you, if not in body, then certainly in mind and spirit, are "there"

Great writer, great golfers and a great story makes for a great read which this book is.

One question, however. Given the antipathy Hogan felt for Nelson as their careers diverged--Nelson, once his best friend was not even invited to Hogan's by-invitation funeral--why did Hogan so readily agree to play the match with Nelson as his partner against Venturi and Ward?

If you know the answer or have an opinion, post it as a comment to this review...As Dan Jenkins would say, "Fairways and Greens...Fairways and Greens..." Keep hitting the fairways and the greens...and life will be good....

"The Match" is without a doubt one of the best GOLF books ever written...For someone who has loved golf since the late 40's it has helped me re-live those wonderful years and some of the history of those four great players and that era...If you love golf and its history do not miss this book...It compares favorably to another great book "The Walter Hagen Story" ...If you love the game and its history, both books are must reads !

I finished The Match last night. Where can I begin? I've probably read 40 novels on golf, and this was clearly tops. Mark Frost may be the best writer I've ever read. I'm a big history buff, and Frost ties together this true story that occurred in 1956 with historical info that intertwines throughout. This book had me smiling and it had me crying. But most of all it taught me a huge amount about the sport I love so much, and the people who have graced its history. I'm just in awe over what I finished reading at midnight last night. I'm leaving for a week's vacation tomorrow, and I'm wishing I hadn't read it yet so I could read it on the beach, it was that good. I've already ordered 8 copies via Amazon to give to several of my best golfing buddies. A++ !!!!!

I knew three of the five principals about whom the book is written. I knew them at the time that "The Match" took place. Well written and particularly special to me. You can feel the ebb and flow of the game.

This is a must read for all serious golf fans. It is brilliantly written and researched and will not disappoint.

The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever

This is not just one of the finest golf books or sports books I have read in many years but a piece of seriously great story telling. I won't detail what the book is about -- others have done that here quite well. I will say that my opinion of Hogan, Nelson, Ward and Venturi -- lifelong heroes all -- has shot to even loftier heights. I agree with some of the other reviewers -- this book moved me to tears at times. If you liked "The Greatest Game Ever Played," you owe yourself this lovely tome.

I have always dreamed of playing one of the great courses on the Monterey Peninsula and always thought that Pebble Beach would be my choice for that ultimate experience. After reading this, I think I would die a happy man if I could experience Cyprus Point. The story pivots around Alistair MacKenzie's masterpiece by the sea. And while I fantasize -- what would it be like to see Tiger play Ben and Byron in their primes? Who would you bet on? And if you by chance read this Ken Venturi -- God bless you and thanks for sharing your memories here and on CBS for so many wonderful years. I miss your steady voice on Sunday afternoons.

This book was easy to read and very rich with golf history. I don't agree with the title, though, because the game of golf didn't really change because of The Match. I still enjoyed it, though, and have already passed it on to one of my golf buddies. Frost provides some solid background of the key players. Finally, I think that the book went on about 2 chapters too long.

I received the book and immediately opened it up to find multiple ink blotches on approximately 25 pages. Most were in the front of the book, but occasionally another inked page would pop up throughout the book.

I liked the book. I finished it in two days and recommended it to my friends.

That being said, I would have liked a map or photos of the course. Mr. Frost's descriptions are fine, but an illustrated approach would have been better. I went online and printed a course map to give me a better idea of the course layout.

The biography of each of the players was OK. Hogan's and Nelson's stories are well known and nothing is added to them. He could have compressed Hogan's to one chapter instead of two. Venturi and Ward was interesting.

More information on the golf clubs and ball might have added to the story.

As good as it gets. A quick and great read, if you are inclined to like the game.

I found this book to be very interesting in that it enlightened me to the merits of Ken Venturi, for one, but also acquainted me with the personalities of Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and Mr. Harvie Ward, of whom I was not really acquainted. I only wish that I could have been witness to that great match. It would truly have been a spectacle to see.
I highly recommend this reading for the avid golfer.

While I enjoy an occasional round of golf and watching PGA tournaments on TV, I m not much of a golf history buff. When I heard an interview with Mark Frost on a podcast, discussing The Match, I knew I had to read it.

The Match is the story of a friendly round of golf instigated by Eddie Lowery, the boy caddie of Francis Ouimet, whose story was chronicled by Frost in his earlier book The Greatest Game Ever Played Grade: A+ . What made The Match unique, was the foursome that played: Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Ken Venturi, and Harvie Ward. Nelson and Hogan were legendary professional golfers, though somewhat past their prime. Venturi and Ward were a couple of young amateurs who worked for Lowery at his car dealership an arrangement that proved detrimental to Ward .

The book casts this battle as one between golf professionals and amateurs for the future of golf. Contrary to the current climate, the PGA tour was hardly a jetsetting high-paying profession. It was a grind that saw pros driving from tournament to tournament, staying in cheap motels, and hoping to earn enough money to buy their meals and repay their backers.

The Match took place at Cypress Point Golf Club, an apparently extraordinary course that is no longer host to PGA events. It was played prior to the 1956 Crosby Clambake, which has since become the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The backstory about Cypress Point and the Clambake is fascinating enough in its own right. But what makes the book a page turner is the tension of The Match itself. The four golfers played an almost unbelievable round of match play, in which neither side ever led by more than one hole I won t spoil the story by telling you which team won. Interspersed are the life stories of the four protagonists. While I knew of Nelson, Hogan, and Venturi, I didn t know the story of their lives and how they intertwined. I hadn t heard of Ward, which is a shame, because he was an incredible amateur golfer who was seen as the successor to Bobby Jones.

My one complaint with the book was the prose Frost occasionally used in describing the golfers lives. For example:

"You didn't need a crystal ball to see that worldly success waited just down the road for Harvie; he wore the can t miss sign in neon lights a mile high and exuded the rare intangible confidence of a man supremely comfortable in his own skin. That future appeared all mapped out; Harvie just had to fill in the details on the requisition; sign on the dotted line; and start living the life of Reilly."

I'm not sure what exactly bothers me about the language, perhaps the use of cliches or hyperbole. However, this is outweighed by the way Frost paints the picture of Cypress Point and The Match.

If you have even a passing interest in golf, or appreciate the competition of elite athletes, you owe it to yourself to read The Match.

I give what I consider to be the best golf book for Christmas to several of my friends and relatives each year. This is the one for '07!

Loved the book!

I would like to know why it takes so long to be shipped if they are in stock and extra handling will get it shipped and to me within three days. Obviously you are trying to promote and receive extra revenue from the ridiculously high S&H charges. I would like a reponse.
jjb

If you are a person with some knowledge of golf history "The Match" is a must read. Before I read the book a did not know about the 1956 match at Cypress Point. Reading the hole by hole account, I followed along using an aerial view of the golf course from Goggle Map on my computer, it was great. The short to the point facts about Ken Venturi, Ben Hogan, Harvie Ward, Byron Nelson, and of course Eddie Lowery were stories within itself. Golf and sports before the big money, what a great period of time.

Having the opportunity to play Cypress Point twice and getting to know Harvie Ward a number of years after "The Match', this book had special meaning to me. First I was able to appreciate the great feat that these four golfers accomplished on that special day and second what a great golfer and special friend Harvie Ward was, something that I didn't appreciate back then. Thanks Mark Frost for bringing this back to life.

Larry Wagner

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A Great dramatic match sandwiched between stories of great golfers who are now only mentioned in passing at the televised Majors.

The author's description of Cypress Point cannot compete with actually seeing this amazing course. I ended up googling Cypress Point to see 15 through 18.... I know its lame, but pictures of the course would have been a plus.

Written in the same exciting and engrossing style as his earlier book "The Greatest Game Ever Played", Mark Frost brings to life what may have been the greatest golf competition every concieved. Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson paired against Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward in a best ball match by Eddie Lowery, the smart-mouthed middle-aged former caddie for Francis Ouimet who carried the bag at nine years old when Ouimet became the first amateur to win the U. S. Open in 1913.

Frost's organization for the book makes it impossible to put down, and easy to read in a day or so. He weaves the hole-by-hole descriptions of the match with interlaced stories of each of the main characters, in a style that is humorous, poignant and informative.

This match marked the beginning of the end of amateur golf as Bobby Jones envisioned it and the end of the beginning of professional golf as we know it today.

Anyone who loves golf and wants to understand its rich history in America must read Frost's books.