Only reason I’m not giving one star is simply because Dodson had access that no other writer was previously granted. I can only imagine what Curt Sampson would have done with all this extra information. The only reason I made it through this book is because I’m a Hogan geek. Anyone remotely well versed in Hogan’s history will notice a factual error in just about every chapter. And for those not well versed in Hogan’s history, there are many basic golf facts that don’t make sense. I write this without the book in front of me, but one instance still stands out: Dodson refers to a 10 birdie round of 64 – with no bogeys. I know times have changed, but I don’t recall many par 74 courses back in the day. By itself, this can seem like an innocent mistake, maybe even a typo. But when you pair it with the 100 other similar mistakes you lose credibility in the author. You also get the idea that Dodson himself isn’t very familiar with the game of golf itself – the type of guy who keeps score on his wrist watch and uses ‘golf’ as a verb. The last half of the book I was just reading to find a decent quote or two. There’s a reason Sampson’s book was so popular and this one wasn’t. Authorized, intimate, and definitive, Ben Hogan: A Life is the long-awaited biography of one of golfâs greatest, most enigmatic legends, narrated wi. continue reading.
Ben Hogan: An American Life
February 3rd, 2010