Was there ever a year in golf like 1960?
It was the year that the sport and its vivid personalities exploded on the consciousness of the nation, when the past, present, and future of the game collided. Television, still a new medium, provided a fresh window to this fascinating show and enabled this "rich man's sport" to win over millions of new fans.
Here was Arnold Palmer, the working man's hero, "sweating, chain-smoking, shirt-tail flying," winning, it seemed, every tournament with a last-second charge; grim Ben Hogan, Arnie's opposite, the greatest player of the '50s, a perfectionist battling the twin demons of age and nerves; and, making his debut in the big time, a chunky, crewcut college kid who seemed to have the makings of a champion—twenty-year-old Jack Nicklaus.
"If you don't appreciate the summer of 1960, don't call yourself a golfer. The Eternal Summer is what professional golf used to be and should be—colorful, exciting, and memorable."
