Jack Grout

This book tells the remarkable story of a middle-class Oklahoman who discovered golf at the age of eight, was teaching it to others by age fifteen, and who would travel the ragtag early PGA Tour in drafty automobiles with men who became legends of the game: Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen and many others. Those tough days on the Tour led Jack Grout to a series of club-professional jobs, and eventually, into the orbit of a husky ten-year old redhead named Jackie Nicklaus the youngster who, under Grouts tutelage for thirty-nine years, became golfs greatest champion, the mighty Golden Bear. The book is about the evolution of American golf from country club-based to one of its most popular activities, and of a man who forged a solid career as a playing professional then a truly brilliant one as teacher of not only Jack Nicklaus, but also Raymond Floyd, David Graham, Lanny Wadkins, Olin Browne and other great champions. But it is not just a golf book. As Jack Nicklaus has noted, this is a book for golfers and non-golfers alike. It is the warm, eventful and often funny story of a quiet and humble family man who succeeded at every level in a profession that demands tremendous self-focus and intense competitiveness. And who did so while managing, always, to be just a really good guy.