Al Barkow (born 1932) is an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, ...

, lecturer,

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er.

College

Barkow was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. He attended

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. History Western Illin ...

for three years, later graduating from

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a Private school, private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois, Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Frankli ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, where he received a B.A. degree in 1960. He was a member of the NAIA national championship college

team (Western Illinois Univ., 1959); and qualified and competed in the

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

(1971).

Journalism

The main focus of Barkow's journalistic work has been as a golf writer, although Barkow has written on subjects beside golf -

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

- and on food. He has published hundreds of articles over a 46-year career in numerous leading publications. He has contributed hundreds of articles on golf, in magazines, newspapers, and more recently as an

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

writer.

Publications

Barkow has made significant journalistic contributions to the following publications: ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

Golf Magazine ''Golf Magazine'' is a monthly golf magazine. It was started in April 1959 by Universal Publishing and Distributing, who sold it to Times Mirror in 1972. Time Inc. acquired it in 2000. It was acquired by Howard Milstein in 2018. It was the worl ...

'', ''

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's compet ...

'', ''

Golf World ''Golf World'' was a weekly magazine covering the game of golf published by Condé Nast. It was in circulation between 1947 and 2014. Currently, ''Golf World'' still available in digital form and from May 13, 2019 to April 8, 2022, the brand has b ...

'', ''

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

'', ''Senior Golfer'', ''Golf Monthly'' (UK), ''

USGA The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

Golf Journal'', ''

Travel & Leisure ''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark rig ...

'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

Sunday Magazine'', ''Signature'', ''Diversion'', ''Golf Journal'', ''Links Magazine'', ''The Majors Series'', ''Golfiana'', ''Golf Tips Magazine'', ''The GolfWeb'', ''IDV/Sports''.

Editor

Barkow was editor-in-chief of ''

'' (1970–72) and ''Golf Illustrated'' (1985–90; 1994–1996). He is currently Contributing Writer ''Golf World''. He produced his own golf newsletter, ''Al Barkow's Golf Report'' (1991–92), and was the editor of ''The Journal of the Shivas Irons Society'' (2005–07).

Author

Barkow's books include histories - ''Golf's Golden Grind: the History of the Tour'' (1974- Reprinted, 2000); ''Gettin' to the Dance Floor: an Oral History of American Golf'' (1986-Reprinted, 2000) ''The History of the PGA Tour'' (1989); ''The Golden Age of Golf: How America Came to Dominate the Old Scotsgame'' (2000); and ''Gene Sarazen and Shell's Wonderful World of Golf'' (2004). ''Gettin' to the Dance Floor'' was the winner of the inaugural

International Golf Book of the Year Award (1986). A collection of his articles entitled ''That's Golf: The Best of Barkow'' was published in 2002 by Burford Books. His biography of

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (pronounced sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for the better part of four ...

, entitled ''Sam, The One and Only Sam Snead,'' was first published in 2005, and in paperback in 2010. His current books include: "Golf's Firsts, Most, Leasts...and a Few Nevers" (2011), and "The Upset: Jack Fleck's Incredible Defeat of Ben Hogan for the U.S. Open." (2011)

Golf instructional books

Barkow has also written a number of golf instructional books in collaboration with golf professionals. They include: ''The Good Sense of Golf'' (with

Billy Casper William Earl Casper Jr. (June 24, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer. He was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. In his youth, Casper started as a caddie ...

, 1980); ''The Venturi Analysis'' (with

Ken Venturi Kenneth Paul Venturi (May 15, 1931May 17, 2013) was an American professional golfer and golf broadcaster. In a career shortened by injuries, he won 14 events on the PGA Tour including a major, the U.S. Open in 1964. Shortly before his death in 2 ...

, 1982); ''The Venturi System'' (with Ken Venturi, 1983); ''The Master of Putting'' (with George Low, 1983- Reprinted, 1997); ''Play Lower Handicap Golf'' (with

Phil Rodgers Phil Rodgers (April 3, 1938 – June 26, 2018) was an American professional golfer. Life Rodgers was born in San Diego, California. He won the 1958 NCAA Division I Championship while playing at the University of Houston. Immediately after ...

, 1986); ''Getting Set for Golf'' (with Carl Lohren, 1995); ''Dave Stockton’s Putting Secrets: The Final Word on Putting'' (with

Dave Stockton David Knapp Stockton (born November 2, 1941) is an American retired professional golfer who has won tournaments on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. Stockton was born in San Bernardino, California. He attended the University of Southern C ...

), 2009.

Television and radio

Barkow got his start in golf journalism in 1963, when he landed the job of golf writer on the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning television program, Shell's Wonderful World of Golf television show. His first assignment was working on the famous "Hogan vs Snead" match at the Houston Country Club. Barkow became the chief writer and associate producer for the Shell's Wonderful World of Golf series from 1963-69. Barkow eventually became a co-producer of the show. Barkow worked as an on-camera commentator for "Inside the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

", and "The Senior PGA Tour" Shows (1986–1999). Barkow also worked as a "play-by-play" radio broadcaster and anchor of PGA, Senior PGA and

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of wee ...

events for "Sportsband", and "One-on-One Sports" (1986–92); And, he contributed commentary on ''Sports Illustrateds Golf Plus radio broadcasts (1998).

Awards

Barkow, a member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA) since 1969, has won writing awards given by the GWAA, second and third Place, GWAA magazine division (1983–95); he was also awarded the 2003 Journalism Honoree at the

Memorial Tournament The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament founded in 1976 by Jack Nicklaus. It is played on a Nicklaus-designed course at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus. The golf course passes through a large ...

; 2004 ING Non-Fiction book for ''Sarazen/Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf''; 2005 PGA of America Lifetime Achievement-Journalism; 2007 Linc Werden/Metropolitan Golf Writers Assohociation (NY) Golf Journalism Award; and the

's International Golf Book of the Year award in 1986 for ''Gettin’ to the Dance Floor, an Oral History of American Golf''.

College

Journalism

Publications

Editor

Author

Golf instructional books

Television and radio

Awards

External links