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, orga ...
,
lecturer
Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...
,
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 stu ...
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 wi ...
er.
College
Barkow was born in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. 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 university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
The unive ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, where he received a B.A. degree in 1960. He was a member of the NAIA national championship college
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 wi ...
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 ...
,
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 predetermined ...
,
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 tea ...
- 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
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
s, 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 '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
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 twic ...
'', ''
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 world' ...
'', ''
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 competiti ...
'', ''
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 Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...
'', ''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 ''
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 world' ...
'' (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
''Shell's Wonderful World of Golf'' was a televised series of golf matches which began in the 1960s. The program was sponsored by Shell Oil. It was a part of the tradition of "challenge matches" between pairs of professional golfers, which were th ...
'' (2004). ''Gettin' to the Dance Floor'' was the winner of the inaugural
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 ...
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 English_phonology">sni:d.html" ;"title="English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an ...
, 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 a ...
, 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 ...
, 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 afte ...
, 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 ...
), 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
''Shell's Wonderful World of Golf'' was a televised series of golf matches which began in the 1960s. The program was sponsored by Shell Oil. It was a part of the tradition of "challenge matches" between pairs of professional golfers, which were th ...
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
''Shell's Wonderful World of Golf'' was a televised series of golf matches which began in the 1960s. The program was sponsored by Shell Oil. It was a part of the tradition of "challenge matches" between pairs of professional golfers, which were th ...
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 PGA is an acronym or initialism that may stand for:
Aviation
* IATA code for Page Municipal Airport, Coconino County, Arizona
* ICAO designator for Portugália, regional airline based in Lisbon, Portugal
* Abbreviation for Prince George Airport ...
,
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 weekl ...
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 n ...
; 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
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 ...
's International Golf Book of the Year award in 1986 for ''Gettin’ to the Dance Floor, an Oral History of American Golf''.
External links
Al BarkowAl Barkow Chat OnlineBooks by Barkowon Golf Observer"The one and only Sam Snead"Golf DigestGolf WorldShivas IronsBordersBlack History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barkow, Al
Golf writers and broadcasters
American male golfers
Golfers from Chicago
Western Illinois Leathernecks
Roosevelt University alumni
1932 births
Living people