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The Longest Shot: Jack Fleck, Ben Hogan, and Pro Golf's Greatest Upset at the 1955 U.S. Open
The inspirational story of the unknown golfer from Iowa who beat his idol in the 1955 U.S. Open
With the overlooked Jack Fleck still playing the course, NBC-TV proclaimed that the legendary Ben Hogan had won his record fifth U.S. Open and signed off from San Francisco. Undaunted, the forgotten Iowan rallied to overcome a nine-shot deficit over the last three rounds—still a U.S. Open record—and made a pressure-packed putt to tie Hogan on the final hole of regulation play. The two men then squared off in a tense, 18-hole playoff from which Fleck emerged victorious in one of the most startling upsets in sports history.
On par with the classic golf narratives of Mark Frost and John Feinstein, The Longest Shot will surprise and delight fans as they trace the improbable journey of an unheralded former caddie who played his way into the record books by out-dueling the sport's greatest champion of his time.
With the overlooked Jack Fleck still playing the course, NBC-TV proclaimed that the legendary Ben Hogan had won his record fifth U.S. Open and signed off from San Francisco. Undaunted, the forgotten Iowan rallied to overcome a nine-shot deficit over the last three rounds—still a U.S. Open record—and made a pressure-packed putt to tie Hogan on the final hole of regulation play. The two men then squared off in a tense, 18-hole playoff from which Fleck emerged victorious in one of the most startling upsets in sports history.
On par with the classic golf narratives of Mark Frost and John Feinstein, The Longest Shot will surprise and delight fans as they trace the improbable journey of an unheralded former caddie who played his way into the record books by out-dueling the sport's greatest champion of his time.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 22, 2012
4 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Neil Sagebiel
4 books11 followersI'm an author, writer and blogger who started ARMCHAIR GOLF BLOG in 2005. Through my golf blog, I met Jack Fleck and wrote THE LONGEST SHOT: Jack Fleck, Ben Hogan, and Pro Golf's Greatest Upset at the 1955 U.S. Open. THE LONGEST SHOT was named one of the Top 10 Sports Books of 2012 by Booklist.
My second book, DRAW IN THE DUNES: The 1969 Ryder Cup and the Finish That Shocked the World, published in September 2014. It includes a foreword by Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin.
I live in Staunton, Virginia. To learn more, visit http://www.armchairgolfblog.blogspot.com or http://www.headlinesfromfloyd.com.
My second book, DRAW IN THE DUNES: The 1969 Ryder Cup and the Finish That Shocked the World, published in September 2014. It includes a foreword by Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin.
I live in Staunton, Virginia. To learn more, visit http://www.armchairgolfblog.blogspot.com or http://www.headlinesfromfloyd.com.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 20, 2017
This is a great book, a story told really, really well, an undiscovered classic.
April 18, 2014
Old school golf. When the U S Open played 36 holes on Saturday and NBC covered one hour of the final round and Arnie was a new kid on the block!
July 17, 2014
One of the best written golf books I've ever read.
March 17, 2018
excellent account of the greatest upset in pro golf- it was like watching it on tv- riveting
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May 11, 2020I loved this book and I got to learn a lot about Ben Hogan and Jack Fleck.
June 29, 2012
This book is 300 pages long and needs to be half that size. Unbelievably repetitive and overwritten, it nevertheless contains some wonderful drama, especially the chapters covering round 4 and the playoff between Hogan and Fleck. However, by the end of the book, I was sick of hearing:
1) That Hogan's legs hurt him
2) That Hogan was kind to Fleck because he had grown up poor.
3) That Fleck had Mario Lanza records to listen to every night during the Open
etc ETC ETC!!!
So many of the author's anecdotes were repeated ad nauseum. When he got down to straight golf reporting, it was a different story. Every shot of the playoff was described, building the drama to the final holes. It was after all, a truly momentous event in golf history. However, the painstaking background information on so many unimportant characters was totally superfluous and detracted from the main event. It was as if the author had a pile of research and felt he had to get it all in. In addition, he had to repeat many of the points several times. You know what I mean, repeat repeat repeat UGH.
1) That Hogan's legs hurt him
2) That Hogan was kind to Fleck because he had grown up poor.
3) That Fleck had Mario Lanza records to listen to every night during the Open
etc ETC ETC!!!
So many of the author's anecdotes were repeated ad nauseum. When he got down to straight golf reporting, it was a different story. Every shot of the playoff was described, building the drama to the final holes. It was after all, a truly momentous event in golf history. However, the painstaking background information on so many unimportant characters was totally superfluous and detracted from the main event. It was as if the author had a pile of research and felt he had to get it all in. In addition, he had to repeat many of the points several times. You know what I mean, repeat repeat repeat UGH.
July 7, 2012
Very interesting account of the huge upset of Ben Hogan by municipal golf pro Jack Fleck at the 1955 U.S. Open. Many things have changed in professional golf since those days and I enjoyed reading about past practices. The author also took the time to gauge the impact of the victory on Fleck's career.
November 18, 2014
I've never played a round of golf in my life, but I have a better understanding of the game and its intensity after reading The Longest Shot
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews