Men in Green

Very entertaining, amusing, engaging, and insightful book. Bamberger is one of the best golf writers going. This book is about the old school guys. Hopefully he's got one in the works about the Young Guns.

I was expecting more about the men in green jackets... I learned more about Ken Venturi being very angry and the relationship between the author and Mike Donald... I wanted some more depth regarding the golf heros!!! Kind of disappointed ...

I absolutely loved Men in Green. Would have died to have been along with Michael Bamberger and Mike Donald just to hear the stories that
didn't make the book !! Hope there is a sequel in a few years...

I purchased Men in Green with the expectation of reading about several great golfers and gaining insight into their professional lives. Unfortunately I found little, if any, enjoyment in reading Bamberger's anecdotes about most of the golfers that were the focus of this book. The men and women whose stories are being related deserve recognition for their accomplishments, not their dalliances. In addition, I found the book very poorly organized, quite difficult to follow, and generally a very poor read. I would certainly advise other readers interested in the lives of the eighteen players Bamberger discusses to look elsewhere.
On a positive note, I did enjoy the sections on Dolphus Hull (aka Golf Ball). I knew nothing about him and thought Bamberger’s interview and stories about him were interesting.

The concept of this novel is unique. Bamberger weaves across America with a true pro`s pro Mike Donald meeting all his golf legends. Some well known some not. Somehow though by the end you just wish he had a longer list of legends. Well done.

Someplace between a "personal journey memoir", a "buddy" book, and a series of profiles, this book didn't hit any of those notes. The "journey" is never put in much context nor meaning, the "buddy" aspect (with Mike Donald) is neither well-explained nor very clear as to how/why, and the profiles are disappointing.
This was a self-indulgent road trip to express thanks and good-bye along the way. It pales in comparison to the great golf books, the cover being misleading, even fraudulent. Don't waste your time with this book.

Great book for golfers of all generations but especially those who watched these 'green jacket society' men play...the author reveals the inside scoop on some of PGA golfs most famous dust ups...awesome summer reading...Thank You Michael Bamberger!

As a senior golfer this book was a pleasure to read. Golfers of all ages should enjoy this book. Some of the younger tour players and club players could learn a few tips about how being a gentleman and golf compliment each other.

It was a gift for my husband. He couldn't put it down, said it was one of his top 10 recent books. He had recommended it to several friends! That being said I give it 5 stars!! (He's not easily impressed).

If you've ever seen a great threesome that you wanted to join as a welcome fourth, Men in Green is for you. Just about every major story of the golf pantheon was addressed. The best part of that was we got the story behind the story, which is always best but often elusive. Not here. As Bamberger drove around the country in his Subaru station wagon with Mike Donald--yes that Mike Donald of 1990 US Open fame-- I felt like I was in the backseat listening to story after story, learning who the guy Hale Irwin beat in a playoff really is. And throughout the book Bamberger puts a lot of skin in it, making himself vulnerable by revealing how unrich his life may have been had golf not been in it. He sang my song. And, I think, the same song of anyone else who loves the game.

An entertaining, quirky journey that is funny, touching, and occasionally profane----sort of like an "R" rated version of a Feherty interview. Not really for the casual fan, but rather golf aficionados. There is nothing quite like Bamberger's and Donald's odyssey in golf literature.

This is not a story about the Masters per se. So if you are looking for that kind of book, you will be disappointed. Instead it's about some of the more interesting people who have left their mark on the game of golf. Players, some more famous than others, caddies, wives, TV producers, and other assortment of characters. Bamberger and his accomplice, golfer Mike Donald, travel the country talking to these people, peeling back the public façade to reveal their true personalities, showing the good, bad and ugly. If you love sports, history, and learning things you never knew before (as I do), then this book is well worth your time. I couldn't put it down once I started and hated to see it end.

This provides a fascinating behind the scenes look at both the famous golfers and other contributors (caddies and such) to the great game. It's well written and I enjoy the varied nature of his characters. Any golf lover will appreciate it and savor the little aspects of pro golf/touring. I wish it were longer....my only criticism.

Intrigued to find out about some of my golf heroes originally, I found a wonderful story teller and some really insightful facts about tour life. Finding out that Bamberger was basically the same age as me made this even more interesting. I never had the guts or the access to try the caddy life, but always wanted to, so those insights were a nice bonus. Also confirmation that my gut instinct about Ken Venturi was on the mark made it even more special.

I did not care for this book. I had hoped it would be about Masters winners and their exploits when they actually won the event. Thebook actually read like a taloid showing the negitive side of people at different times in their life. This author to me is the type of person who makes his living obtaining some confidence from people and then exploiting it to make a living. If you don't want to talk to this type of person your still placed in a negative light as being aloof. The book has no structure and jumps around from one character to another and back tothe same character again. The authoer should stick toshort articles and not novels.

Bamberger is an entertaining and educational golf writer. He blends the history, facts and personal anecdotes perfectly. I am a lifelong golf spectator and this book added immeasurably to my knowledge and pleasure in the game.

Golfers will enjoy gaining insights to the personas of some of the major figures in professional golf. For that matter, the game itself is viewed in a different context from that with which most of us are familiar.

Terrific book by a great writer. I read Bamberger's three other books on golf and they were all "5 star". Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys the game and the legends and secret legends that the game produces.

We were very disappointed in the foul language that was used in this book. We bought it for our 91 year old mother. She loves golf, and though she does not play anymore, she watches it all the time on TV. We thought she would enjoy reading about some of the famous golfers, however, was embarrassed by the language used. It took away the pleasure of reading.

Too much about Mike and Mike, not enough about "Men in Green". Great book title if Mr. Bamberger had focused on Master's winners rather than caddies, girl friends and wives. Written as a "groupie" as opposed to a a serious effort to share insights to the world's greatest players.

The book was very disjointed and bounced around a great deal. It seemed like the author could not just stick to the story of one golfer at a time. Also, he seems to have a man crush on Fred who he takes on all the interviews and whose claim to fame is he once shot a 64 on the first day of the Masters, but an 80 on day 2. Did he even make the cut? Could not finish the book.

This is a very simple and moderately entertaining book, written by a Sports Illustrated columnist about various stars and people behind the scenes of the PGA Tour. The concept was to identify nine “big names” like Palmer, Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Ken Venturi, etc. and nine lesser known journeymen, caddies, tournament organizers, tour wives. You get the picture.

While it wasn’t terribly well organized, there were a number of very enlightening and interesting stories related in the book. I must say that the author seemed to have a morbid fascination concerning the 1958 Masters and the possible rules infraction concerning Arnold Palmer and Ken Venturi. He must have come back to revisit the issue half a dozen times throughout the book. I’m also not sure why he elected to title the book “Men in Green”, as the book really has nothing to do with the Masters. I guess insinuating a connection with the Masters and putting a picture of Nicklaus and Palmer on the cover helps to sell the book.

Presents very interesting perspective on some of golf history's most famous names, their caddies and other people closely surrounding their lives. This book will likely have a greater appeal to PGA fans. The memories and anecdotal stories run a full gambit of emotions for those who have actually attended a PGA tournament, or carefully followed a favorite pro golfer while on tour. You will like the many examples of strong character and decency so many of these sport legends exhibit in their personal lives.

Several of my favorite books about sports involve a return in time to when Stanley Ralph Ross's immortal phrase, "the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition," really meant something very special. That is especially true of the material provided in Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer, John Feinstein's One on One: Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game, and two by Mark Frost: The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf and The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever.

To that list I had hoped to add Men in Green in which Michael Bamberger shares what he learned during interviews of those in two groups of golf luminaries on his list: nine "Living Legends" (players) and nine "Secret Legends" (mostly non-players unknown to the general public). Bamberger was accompanied by one of the "Secret Legends," Mike Donald, who finished second in the U.S. Open in 1990.

They travel extensively across the United States but seldom go back in time to experiences of their own (except for a few of Donald's unpleasant memories), deferring to the lively memories of Arnold Palmer, Ken Venturi, Billy Harmon, Sandy Tatum, Fred Couples, Dolphus ("Golf Ball") Hull, Tom Watson, Jaime Diaz, Curtis Strange, Hale Irwin, Cliff Danley, Randy Erskine, Neil Oxman, and Jack Nicklaus. For various reasons, they were unable to meet with Mickey Wright and Ben Crenshaw but were able to meet with one of Wright's best friends, Barbara Wommack, and Crenshaw's former wife, Polly Crenshaw Price.

Overall, I think this book often lacks cohesion, pace, and consistency. For whatever reasons, some of the "luminaries" receive far more attention than do others. The coverage of Jack Nicklaus, for example, was underwhelming as was the coverage of Irwin, Couples, and a few others. With regard to the "Secret Legends," only Billy Harmon and Hull were of significant interest. It lacks an index. Also, Bamberger seems to lose interest along the way in a question to be posed: "When and where were you happiest?"

Which of the material did I find most interesting? Certainly what I learned about Ken Venturi character, personality, temperament, and values that apparently determined the nature and extent of most of his relationships, especially with Arnold Palmer. The discussion of Curtis Strange had the same punch as Strange's on-air comments tend to have. I also thought that coverage of Mickey Wright, without her cooperation, did her full justice as one of the best golfers ever, male or female.

I am glad I read the book because of some of the material but, for reasons indicated, cannot give it a higher rating.

If you are a golfer, watch professional golf on television, or if you're just a golf nerd who appreciates the history of the game, I cannot recommend to you highly enough that you read "Men in Green" by Sports Illustrated writer Michael Bamberger. As teenager in the 1970's, when the PGA Tour was, and he puts it, in it's "Sansabelt-and-persimmon heyday", Bamberger fell in love with the game. He supported himself through college and in his early sports writing days as a Tour caddy, and went on to write about the game in various newspapers, as a freelancer for golf magazines, and, now, with Sports Illustrated. He has also written a number of books on the subject.

For "Men in Green", he drew up a list of nine of golf's Living Legends, and nine of what he calls his own Secret Legends. The Living Legends are whom you would expect - Palmer, Nicklaus, Venturi, Watson etc. The Secret Legends are some folks you may never have heard of - a couple of caddies, a TV executive, a retired USGA official, an instructor, a sportswriter, and one golfer, Mike Donald. He then sets out to interview all of these legends to try to find what he calls the soul of golf. He is accompanied for most of his journey by Secret Legend Mike Donald, who he characterizes as the ultimate Tour grinder.

A word or two about Mike Donald. Golf nerds will remember Donald as a thirty-five year old guy who came out of nowhere in 1990 to finish in a tie for the lead at the US Open. He lost in an 18 hole playoff with a 19th sudden death hole to Hale Irwin. It was the highlight of Donald's career. In a career that spanned thirty-some years, Donald played in 550 PGA Tour events, made 296 cuts, won once, and earned $1.97 million (or about what Jordan Speith earned in any two given weeks on Tour in 2015). He played thirty to thirty-five events every year and never finished higher than 22nd on the money list. As Bamberger put it, while players like Tiger and Phil and Rory can drop in and drop out on tour events as it suits them, it is guys like Donald who are at the very heart and soul of the Tour, and Donald's insights are very much a key part of this book.

Two members of Bamberger's Legends list emerge as the featured players in this book. One of them, as you might guess, is Arnold Palmer, and the other is Ken Venturi, whose careers managed to intertwine on the twelfth hole of the final round at the 1958 Masters. Palmer invoked a rule that allowed him to play a second ball when he felt tat he was not granted relief from an embedded ball. (As is often the case with the sometimes arcane Rules of Golf, the details are too lengthy to go into here, so just trust me on this.) The invocation of this rule, which was ultimately upheld by the Masters Rules officials, allowed Palmer to score a three rather than a five on the hole. He finished ahead of Venturi by one stroke in winning his first Masters. Venturi thought that Palmer was wrong and that he, Venturi, got jobbed by the Augusta National officials.

Palmer went on from that first Major Championship win to become, well, Arnold Palmer, and while Venturi went on to have pretty good life (multiple tour wins, a US Open win in 1964, a storied career as broadcaster on CBS, and a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame), he never had the life that he envisioned for himself, the life that that Masters win would have brought him, and he became a pretty bitter guy over it. Bamberger interviewed him not long before he died in 2013, and the anger and bitterness towards Palmer and the folks at Augusta National (which stems from something that happened to him at the 1956 Masters, but that is a whole 'nother story, as they say), was with him to the very end. And that same story ultimately came up with many of the other "legends" that Bamberger encountered in gathering material for the book. He even spoke to Venturi's first wife, and that was one of the more eye-opening parts of the book.

Another part that I found interesting was Palmer talking about "the edge" that all top level golfers have to have in order to continually succeed on the Tour. Palmer himself says that winning a US Open was an obsession with him, and that after he won it in 1960, he was never the same. "After you win it, you have to stay aggressive, stay the way you were when you won it. And it's difficult to do." In other words, he had lost his "edge". Strange when you consider that after that 1960 Open, Palmer went on the win dozens of other Tour events, including two British Opens and two more Masters. However, he never won another Open, although he seriously contended for the Championship five more times over the years, and lost two of them in playoffs.

In speaking about the hard to define edge, Palmer went on to say "It's so fine. You have to get in there and you have to stay in there, and once you get out, it's very hard to get back in. It's happened to every golfer. Hogan, Nicklaus. Every golfer. It's just a question of when."

Interestingly, when Bamberger talked to Jack Nicklaus about that 1960 Open, a tournament that Jack, then a twenty year old amateur, led for a brief point during the final round, Nicklaus said that not winning that Open was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was too young and had he won, he would have felt that his game was ready for anything, when, by not winning, he knew that it was not. The rest of the Nicklaus Story is history.

Anyway, I would say that this book is 260 pages of must reading for any golf fan. Really good stuff that I could write on and on about, but read it, because, trust me, Bamberger is a much better writer than I. However, I will leave you with one more comment about Palmer, this one from the guy who may know him the best, Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus, who says that "Arnold is as close a friend as I've got" was making a reference about how good Palmer is in a crowd and at golf course openings, something with which both of them have spent much of their post-playing days doing. This is Nickalus' quote:

"I don't want to cut the ribbon or do the cocktail party. Arnold wants to cut the ribbon. He wants to do the cocktail party. We were always different that way. I'd invite Arnold to dinner, but Arnold would rather go to a party with forty people he didn't know than go to dinner with one friend. That's the difference between the two of us. I'm not criticizing Arnold. We're just different."

Terrific book.

As an avid reader of Michael Bamberger in SI.com and Golf Magazine -- and as a former golf writer -- I really was a bit disappointed in this book. Much like his road trips with Mike Donald, it just kind of rambles around, which I guess is OK, but I'm not sure it's deserving of a place in the Pantheon of Great Golf Literature. It's an enjoyable book, very interesting on some subjects, refreshingly candid -- but again, Bamberger just kind of strolls around like a 12-handicapper looking for a lost ball. And as a writer, Bamberger ain't a 12. More like a plus-4.
I still haven't figured out the title or the book jacket. Both imply it is heavy on Masters lore, but other than the 1958 Masters and the Arnold Palmer v. Ken Venturi dust-up -- covered and explained exceptionally well -- there's not much there. Bamberger introduces us to several of golf's down-marquee personalities who are interesting, but his effort to connect all the dots is less than stellar. It's kind of like trying to explain serendipity.
However, I really appreciated Bamberger's gentle but thorough exposure of Venturi as the arrogant pxxxk I always got the feeling he was from his broadcast days. One other thing: Bamberger makes no bones about his near idolization of Jack Nicklaus, and that's fine. Except when he finally gets around to writing about Nicklaus -- late in the book -- it reads like an after-thought.That really was a bit of a let-down.
Anyway, it's a good book and I'm glad I bought it (at full price, I might add) and read it, but I believe Bamberger is a better writer than this. I eagerly await his next offering.

I enjoyed the book. It was a good break from some of the "heavier" stuff I had been hooked on. I found his comments about the various players insightful, but though he spent a bit too much time Ken Venturi's various issues. Once over would have been good...let OL' Ken rest in peace.

This is a wonderful account what defines true champions. This is a story about not only winning but it is about character, integrity and how to give back to others. These men set an example that has lead the way for other golfers to follow.

Excellent book about a bygone era of golf and the insight of the tour. Thought the writing about Palmer was well done. Good stories about all the greats of the game featured in the book plus caddies. If your old enough to remember that period of golf on the PGA tour then I would recommend this as a good read.

I just finished Men in Green and I must say I'm completely lost. The title and cover photo of Jack and Arnie in the 60's wearing their Green Jackets, and the book's release during Master's week leads us to believe that there is going to be some new revelations about Augusta National and it's members, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, The Masters isn't even mentioned except for the telling and multiple regurgitation's of the 1958 rules situation involving Ken Venturi and Arnold Palmer at Augusta's 12th hole, and Venturi's allegation that Palmer cheated (Palmer was ultimately absolved). In actuality the book is nothing more than a description of the people Bamberger considers to be his personal favorites involved with the game during his lifetime, and the road trip that evolves as a result of this journey. I really wish I could get excited about this book, but, as with most of Bamberger's books, I just can't. This will be one of the very few books I have EVER read in my 50+ years of reading that will only be read once.

Fascinating profiles of little known or - unfortunately - forgotten personalities in golf. The recent excellent profile of Mike Donald on the Golf Channel took on a much richer meaning after reading this book.

The old saying "don't judge a book by it's cover" was never more true than with this one. When I first heard about this book coming out I guessed by the title and jacket image one of favorite golf writers had written a history of the Masters. I was more than pleasantly surprised to find instead I was taking a trip down memory lane to probably my favorite era and some of my favorite personalities in the game. I was also pleasantly surprised to find I knew all but one person on the two "legends" lists. Thank you Mr. Bamberger for sharing your memories and excellent reporting skills and reviving a number of memories of my own. Highly recommended.

Am I the only one bothered by the fact that Ken Venturi's mother's name was misspelled throughout the book? It should be Ethel not Ethyl. "Ethel" is a lady's name while "Ethyl" is a ​chemical ​compound often used in ​producing ​biofuels.

The best book I've ever read about golf, and I've read a lot of them. Worth reading for the portrait of Ken Venturi alone, but there is so much more here. Funny, sentimental, revealing, truthful, full of love for golf and the small group of people who played it at the highest level in the 1970s.

Disappointing book mainly due to its hatchet job of Ken Venturi, about whom the author went out of his way to tear down a dead man's legacy. I expected vignettes about each of the subjects, for some reason the author insisted on revisiting Venturi's alleged shortfalls as a human being. He even relied on the man's ex-wife from the 60's to talk about him, which most would agree might not be the most objective interview. I could have accepted the negatives if he had talked about Venturi's philanthropy, which was barely mentioned but a significant aspect of the man. His conclusion was that Venturi harbored resentment because he did not win the Masters as an amateur, and then because Palmer became a bigger star. Which is it? Bottom line, the focus on Venturi in this book detracted from some better stories about Mike Donald, caddies from the 1970's... The stories about Venturi sounded as if Bamberger was satisfying some personal grudge. I expected better from an author I have enjoyed in the past.

Just bought the book but refuse to read after listening to Michael Bamberger on Saturday as a speaker with the commentators at the USGA. He spend the entire time trashing Dustin Johnson, who was in seconds place. Spewiing out unidentified sources of the # of times DJ had been tested positive for drugs and the types of drugs. He alluded that DJ was not worthy to be one of the leaders. Instead of taking the opportunity to praise an athlete for overcoming adversity, he condemned!! Michael is not a writer to be admired!!

I really wanted to like this book but the harder I tried the more I regretted spending my money on this. What a joke. Bamberger toured the country with his buddy Mike Donald interviewing golf legends. The problem is they all know Bamberger is trouble so they don't share amything meaningful. Trust me, there's nothing here.