Michael Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, undertakes an unusual road trip to visit golfers he wanted to meet across the United States 鈥� nine 鈥渓iving legends," including Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, and nine 鈥渟ecret legends,鈥� golfers who excelled beyond the limelight in other aspects of the sport, as a teaching pro, tournament director, tour caddie, and other positions. The trek takes Bamberger and a sidekick from a trailer park in northern California to Arnold Palmer鈥檚 private warehouse in Latrobe, Pa.
Here鈥檚 an excerpt from 鈥淢en in Green鈥�:
鈥淛ack [Nicklaus] was a plodding player, often annoyingly so. But he was also careful, and he was never involved in any sort of rules dispute. He called penalties on himself in the rare instance when something went wrong, but there was never a time when anybody accused him of being anything less than completely faithful to the rule book. Hundreds of thousands of shots, and never an issue.
鈥� 鈥榃hen you start playing as a kid, your dad teaches you good sportsmanship and to live by the rules,鈥� Jack told us. 鈥楾hat鈥檚 what my dad taught me, and I鈥檓 sure that鈥檚 what Arnold鈥檚 dad taught him. The rules are the rules. That鈥檚 golf.鈥� "
