The King of Swings: Johnny Goodman, The Last Amateur To Beat The Pros at Their Own Game

by Michael Blaine

An inspirational profile of unlikely golf champion Johnny Goodman describes how an orphaned Omaha caddy from the wrong side of the tracks beat the legendary Bobby Jones in the nation's first national golf tournament at Pebble Beach in 1929.

332 pages, Hardcover

First published June 5, 2006

Reviews

[Turi Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you haven't noticed, I try to keep up on new golf books that are published. I think the only one I've read recently, though, was Dream Golf, about Bandon Dunes. Saw this one on the New Book shelf at the Downtown Reno Library last week: The King of Swings: Johnny Goodman, The Last Amateur To Beat the Pros at Their Own Game. Liked it so much that I went out and bought the paperback for my father-in-law. (I'm 100% certain that he doesn't read this blog, so no-one ruin my suprise, eh?) Anyway, it's a rags-to if not riches, then at least fleeting fame in the golf world story - a poor kid from Omaha, Nebraska who teaches himself the game while caddying, and goes on to beat some of the greats (Bobby Jones, Francis Ouimet.) Has a lot in common with another golf book I really enjoyed from a couple years ago, The Greatest Game Ever Played. (Really liked the book, but the movie had to include a Hollywood love story, which kind of detracted from the whole thing for me...)

[Bob plunkett · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book about a little known story about the last best amateur golfer