America's Gift to Golf

The dean of American golf writers pays tribute to the nation’s greatest tournament

Over the course of his forty-year career at the New Yorker and Sports Illustrated, Herbert Warren Wind covered the game of golf from many different angles, providing readers with eloquent insights on the iconic courses of Scotland as well as Bing Crosby’s lifelong love affair with the sport. But no aspect of golf was closer to Wind’s heart, or more intimately associated with his name, than the annual Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Course.

Recounting Arnold Palmer’s victory in 1958, Wind coined the phrase “Amen Corner” to describe the fateful stretch of golf course including the 11th, 12th, and 13th holes. To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first Augusta National Invitation, held in 1934, Wind eloquently recounted a half-century’s worth of highlights, from Bobby Jones’s original vision of an informal competition between his old friends and the game’s rising stars, to Ben Crenshaw’s impressive defeat of Tom Watson in the 1984 tournament.
 
Full of the grand traditions—including green jackets, purple azaleas, and white jumpsuits—and dramatic moments that have made the Masters the most entertaining of the four major championships, America’s Gift to Golf brings the history of this majestic tournament to vivid life and testifies to the enduring legacy of Herbert Warren Wind.