Dan Jenkins is the greatest golf writer of all time

If it were up to me the writings of Dan Jenkins would be required reading in every school in America.

Dan Jenkins transformed the way we think and talk about golf and about life. His reporting and his fiction chronicle and interpret the modern game and the pros who define it. I’m not kidding. If the children of America read Dan Jenkins this country would in fact return to its place at the top of the latest AP poll and the children would actually know a little something about life its own self.

Jenkins’ Life it’s Ownself opened the door to writings that transformed me into who I am in personality and philosophy as much as anything other than my father. Speaking of my father, it was from his night stand that I stole Life it’s Ownself at about age 15. I think all adults involved wished I had waited a few more years for the education I then pursued. Dan Jenkins does not write children’s books.

When the reader adopts some of the traits of the characters in a novel and actually uses a fictional character as a point of reference and inspiration for guidance in their own daily operations, the writer did a phenomenal job of creating something influential. That’s how it’s worked for me reading Dan Jenkins.

Dan Jenkins created the characters whose voices I swear I hear in my head somedays and whose spirit actually gives pause to consider how they might handle a certain predicament. Billy Clyde Puckett, Shake Tiller, TJ Lambert, Kenny Lee Puckett, Bobby Joe Grooves, and specifically Tommy Earl Bruner and Jim Tom Pinch have all had way more influence on my life than perhaps they should have. That’s OK. Those gentlemen have been among my best friends since I was a teenager and have been there with me in all times good, bad, happy and sad.

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Jenkins novels are funny, obscene in spots, and prove themselves out to be fairly accurate fiction about all things that I consider important, most notably college football, good music, smart beautiful sexy women, and golf. Lots of golf.

Dan Jenkins writes great books that cover a variety of topics as long as topics are centered around football, golf, journalism and. Texas. I strongly recommend Jenkins’ books.

Professional golf requires more than just great golfers

Writing novels is a great second skill for Jenkins. Fact is, his strongest influence and skill set has made him widely considered the greatest golf writer ever. I’m compelled to agree.

Dan Jenkins is in the World Golf Hall of Fame for his work as just a golf writer

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Take Fairways and Greens, a collection of Jenkins writings about the sport. Fairways and Greens is journalism that linked the game’s past with its present for me. That’s where I learned about Ben Hogan , Tommy Bolt, Goat Hills, and perhaps most importantly Morris Williams.

Jenkins wrote the finest fictional piece about the game I’ve ever read in Dead Solid Perfect, but Fairways and Greens is perhaps the most important piece of golf literature ever printed.

Jenkins grew up and still lives in Ft. Worth TX. He graduated from TCU and worked for his hometown newspaper, The Ft. Worth Star Telegram. He went on to write for Sports Illustrated and still writes a monthly column for Golf Digest.

He is considered an institution in Ft. Worth where he is synonymous with TCU, Colonial CC, Ben Hogan, and so on. He has this foundation for his golf writings because he himself plays the game of golf and once upon a time played it well.

“I could play scratch from the tips back when I gambled with my own money when I didn’t have any” – Dan Jenkins-

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If you ever really hung around a golf course much you are familiar with the type guy Jenkins self-identifies with in this quote; and this is what has made Jenkins so great in his contribution to the sport through his writings.

Jenkins captures the spirit and soul of someone who has or is gambling with their own money though they don’t have any. That spirit is present in so many aspects of life from people who are ultimately successful. Jenkins recognizes that in golfers and has been able to transfer it into words which will last forever.

Jenkins is the world’s foremost expert on the game’s Major Championships . He has covered every Masters since 1951 for goodness sakes. The press box at Amon Carter Stadium as well as Colonial CC are named in his honor. He was friends with Hogan, Palmer, and Tommy Bolt. He has lasted long enough to create a feud with Tiger after Tiger took offense with a satirical piece Jenkins wrote in 2014 for Golf Digest.

Next: Top 50 golfers of the Tiger Woods era

Dan Jenkins has never won a Major Championship. His writings however have made such impact they got him to the World Golf Hall of Fame.

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Dan Jenkins, greatness its ownself

By Carter Mackenzie | Jul 13, 2017