A Game with an Elitist Reputation.

Like tennis, golf in America was a game that had grown around the nation's country clubs. Its participants were white and affluent — men and women of leisure who could afford to spend four hours of their day touring the lush, rolling links that were cared for by those who could not afford to play the game.

The Hogan Era.

In the 1950s, however, golf was no longer just a game for the idle rich: the game became a sport. This transformation had much to do with a wiry, poker-faced Texan — Ben Hogan. Hogan attacked the golf course with a single-minded ferocity that came closer to evoking an image of a linebacker than that of a golfer. His mental and physical toughness were beyond question. After suffering serious injuries in a 1949 car crash, he came back to win...