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Sir Walter: Walter Hagen and the Invention of Professional Golf ReviewThis is a wonderful book, and an important American chronicle as well. Noted editor, journalist and golf writer Tom Clavin has gone where few have in the past, finally providing us with a stylish and authoritative biography of the great Walter Hagen, and of that man's lasting impact on the sport, both domestically and on the international stage. In doing so, Clavin has restored "The Haig" to his rightful place in the pantheon of golfing greats and as the true pioneer of American professional golf.
For anyone even remotely interested in the royal and ancient game, this book is a must and a joy. But for anyone who simply loves a good read, and one about a compelling personality-in other words, the type of sportsman who transcends his sport-this is also a book certainly worth the time and entertainment value.
Clearly, Clavin has a certain affection for this subject, but he also brings the cool eye of the practiced reporter to the tale, separating the caricature of "Sir Walter" from the reality, telling the man's story less as the tale of myth and exaggeration (which Hagen fully contributed to himself) that grew up around him, and is still filtered down to the present day by less talented and thorough writers.
Indeed, Hagen was perhaps the most colorful character ever to play the game at such a high level, and was certainly friendly with the most dynamic personalities and revelers of his era, such as Al Jolson and Babe Ruth. But he was also a fierce competitor and the frequent winner against a host of future Hall of Fame golfers, such as Ted Ray, J.H. Taylor, George Duncan, Chick Evans, Jock Hutchison, "Long" Jim Barnes, and of course, Gene Sarazen and Bobby Jones.
The widely known image of Hagen as a womanizer and party animal, the famous stories of Hagen staggering onto the first tee from a limo in a rumpled tuxedo just in time to make his morning tee time, and of course, the essential spirit of the man who so famously said he didn't necessarily want to be a millionaire, but to live like one, are all here in Clavin's story. But they are also balanced with a more realistic account of how Hagen both enjoyed himself to the full, and yet also sometimes used his image to lull opponents into complacency, or actually hoodwink them. For the first time I know of, Clavin provides some evidence that Hagen did in fact occasionally get a good night's sleep before an important match, often poured his double whiskey into a flower pot when no one was looking, and, even more surprising, was a fiend about practicing his famous putting stroke.
The end result of this balanced reporting is that Hagen the man, and the golfer, are all the better for it. He emerges in Clavin's telling as a fuller and more sympathetic human being, though one hardly less compelling. In addition, we learn of the deep sorrows of his life, which included the heartbreaking loss of his favorite grandson, and of the day Hagen accidentally ran down a little boy with his car, which led to a lifelong hatred of driving. Imagine, the flamboyant Hagen, who rented Daimler limos at the British Open, and had often sported the latest wheels from Detroit, later becoming a nervous, doddering driver and passenger.
Hagen won 40 official PGA tournaments, including 11 professional majors (second only to Jack Nicklaus's 18) and four straight PGA championships (still a record) when that event was a grueling match play affair. Overall, Hagen won five PGA's, while also taking the U.S. Open twice, the British Open four times (the first native-born American to do so) and five Western Opens, when that event was widely considered a major. Hagen was also a stalwart on Ryder Cup teams for a decade, either as a player and/or captain. But the PGA's are what stand out. What further evidence is needed of how steely a competitor Hagen was, and how he ranks as the all-time master of the psychological game? Hagen won 22 straight 36-hole matches in that tournament over various years, and between 1921 and 1928, won 32 of 33.
Clavin should also be thanked for finally pulling "Sir Walter" out from the shadow cast down through the ages by Robert Tyre (Bobby) Jones, Jr., to whom Hagen often had to play second fiddle in the story of American golf. Of course, the "saintly" Jones supposedly played golf for love, rather than money, though Jones had the advantage of hailing from a secure, upper class background (his attorney father built a home alongside the famous East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta), whereas Hagen emerged from the hardscrabble life of a Rochester, N.Y. working class family. It should also be noted, as Clavin does in the first chapter of this book, when Jones and Hagen went head-to-head in an exhibition (Jones could not play in the PGA Championship since he retained his amateur status), Hagen thoroughly dusted his heavily favored opponent.
But the goodies don't stop with Hagen's story alone. This book is also a complete and fascinating chronicle of the early days of American golf, and how the present-day, multi-million dollar PGA Tour emerged from the almost single-handed efforts of Hagen. By sheer force of personality and dash, Hagen helped raised the status of early golf pros from near-servant level to the marquee stars they are today. Leaving a cushy job as a club pro in Michigan, Hagen hit the road, becoming the first American golfer to unabashedly play both for the love of the game, and the love of the money he could make with his considerable skills. Hagen also toured the planet, staging exhibitions and spreading the gospel of golf in Europe, Africa, Australia and Japan, while also lifting a few notes of currency from the natives who turned out in droves to see the famous man play. As Arnold Palmer, the other golfing great who emerged from humble origins to later reign as the "The King" in his era said at a banquet honoring Hagen: "If not for you, Walter, this dinner tonight would be downstairs in the pro shop, not in the ballroom."
Clavin also tells his story by treating us to interviews culled from some of Hagen's great contemporaries (in some cases among the last interviews with those legends) such as the late Gene Sarazen and Paul Runyon, along with appreciations from the Great Lord Byron Nelson, and perhaps the greatest of them all, Jack Nicklaus. Clavin also doesn't mind taking the occasional sidetrack if the telling of a rare anecdote is worth the time and delight to the reader. My favorite in this book concerns an early British amateur champion, who had often played at the famously difficult Prince's Golf Club (I know, since I've played it myself and lost a box of balls, along with two pros I was paired with!), which lies along the southern coast of England. During World War II, the golfer turned RAF pilot, was hit by German fire over the Continent and had to carefully nurse his Spitfire back over the Channel. Needing a sure place to land, he naturally steered toward fairways of Princes and brought down his craft near the 9th hole, though he ended up in the rough rather than the fairway. "I never could hit that fairway," he famously groused afterward. Another tale Clavin tells is of the American golfer who had calmed his nerves before a U.S. Open round with several drams of scotch, and then proceeded to butcher a 185-yard par 3 hole with a record score of 18.
What a delight! Sir Walter, we hardly knew ye...until now.
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