Sam Snead

Golfer

• Born: May 27, 1912
• Birthplace: Ashwood, Virginia
• Died: May 23, 2002
• Place of death: Hot Springs, Virginia

Sport: Golf

Early Life

Samuel Jackson Snead was born on May 27, 1912, in Ashwood, Virginia. With his four older brothers and one sister, Sam grew up on a farm. Although the family was not destitute, there was little money for travel or for leisure activities. Sam enjoyed hunting and fishing, activities he continued long after leaving home. He credited squirrel hunting with developing his accurate eye, which proved to be of great value on the golf course.

Sam’s oldest brother, Harold, was Sam’s mentor. They made golf clubs out of tree branches, and under Harold’s tutelage, Sam showed great aptitude for the game. By age twelve, he was caddying on the nearby Homestead Hotel golf course, earning some much desired pocket money. Surprisingly, he did not excel in the game while in high school.

The Road to Excellence

At Valley High School in nearby Hot Springs, Sam was an all-around athlete. He participated successfully in track, boxing, football, baseball, and basketball. His high school coach convinced Sam to avoid liquor and tobacco, and he abstained from both throughout his career.

In 1935, Sam became an assistant golf professional at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, earning $25 a week, and in 1936, he was promoted to teaching professional at Cascades Inn in Hot Springs. He turned professional in 1937, placing seventh at the Los Angeles Open and first in the Oakland Open, where he became an overnight sensation. That same year, he won the Bing Crosby Invitational, the Miami Open, and the St. Paul and Nassau Opens. He was runner-up in the U.S. Open, phenomenal for a relative newcomer to professional golf.

Sam ended 1937 as the third-highest golfer in money won, with $10,243. In 1938, he was the number-one money winner, with $19,334, and the most popular golfer on the circuit, drawing big crowds wherever he played. Fred Corcoran, the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) tournament manager, recruited Sam for the professional tour, recognizing his skills.

The Emerging Champion

Sam had a good year in 1938. He won the Canadian Open and came in second in the U.S. Open and the PGA tournament. He won the Vardon Memorial Trophy for the lowest strokes-per-round average in PGA-sponsored competition that year, the first of four such awards.

Sportswriters noted Sam’s golf skills, citing his “swing of beauty” as both functional and artistic. Sam also had a grass-roots appeal, his folksy manner endearing him to spectators. He was a colorful player, always friendly and a pleasure to watch. At first, the press referred to him as “the hillbilly from the backwoods of Virginia,” but soon he was affectionately nicknamed “Slammin’ Sam” by both press and fans.

Sam served in the Navy from 1942 to 1944 and was unable to play professionally; however, overall, the 1940’s were a successful decade for him. He won the Canadian Open in 1940 and 1941, the PGA Championship in 1942, and the Portland and Richmond Opens in 1944. A high point was his victory in the British Open in 1946, the first time the title returned to the United States since 1933.

In spite of Sam’s many tournament wins, he sometimes lost “sure” matches because of erratic putting, often losing by two, three, or four strokes. In 1949, a fine record subdued the talk that he choked in “clutch” situations, as he won both the PGA Championship and The Masters and began a fantastic run of wins.

Continuing the Story

In the 1950’s, Sam’s chief rival was another golfing great, Ben Hogan. The two monopolized The Masters: Sam won in 1949, 1952, and 1954, and Ben won in 1951 and 1953. Clearly, Sam was at his peak, but he never won the big one: The U.S. Open. In spite of his more than one hundred tournament victories, Sam was badgered repeatedly for his failure to win the U.S. Open, although he was runner-up four times. He did not, however, let this failure deter him from enjoying golf and continuing to play in the manner that brought him much fame and money. He played to the best of his ability and continued his winning ways well into his sixties.

Until Arnold Palmer began dominating golf in the 1960’s, Sam remained the leading money-winner and the most popular figure on the professional tour. He also took great pride in the fact that he helped bring prestigious foreign titles to the United States. In 1946, he won the British Open and, between 1937 and 1955, he was a Ryder Cup team member eight times, playing singles and in foursomes. His record was impressive: five wins and one loss in singles play and five wins and one loss in the foursomes.

Age did not slow Sam much. He had a good year in 1955, winning four open tournaments. In 1956, he won the Greensboro Open. In 1965, at the age of fifty-two, he won the Greensboro Open again and, at the age of sixty-two, tied for third in the 1974 National PGA. The “swing of beauty” had not deserted him.

Summary

In 1953, with Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, Sam Snead was elected to the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame. He continued playing tournaments well into the 1970’s, earning respectable scores and much adulation from fans. Fittingly, Sam won the first Legends of Golf tournament held in Austin, Texas, in 1978. The Golfers’ Creed views the game as “a contest, calling for courage, skill, strategy, and self-control”—all of which Sam had in abundance.

Bibliography

Barkow, Al. Sam: The One and Only Sam Snead. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Sports Media Group, 2005.

“Sam Snead on How to Shake the Shanks.” Golf Magazine 49, no. 4 (April, 2007): 63.

Snead, Sam, and George Mendoza. Slammin’ Sam. New York: Donald I. Fine, 1986.

Snead, Sam, and Francis J. Pirozzolo. The Game I Love: Wisdom, Insight, and Instruction from Golf’s Greatest Player. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.

Snead, Sam, and Al Stump. The Education of a Golfer. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1962.

Towle, Mike. I Remember Sam Snead: Memories and Anecdotes of Golf’s Slammin’ Sammy. Nashville, Tenn.: Cumberland House, 2003.

Yocum, Guy. My Shot: The Very Best Interviews from Golf Digest Magazine. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2007.