INSCRIBED BY WALTER HAGEN

HAGEN, Walter. The Walter Hagen Story, by The Haig, Himself. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956. Octavo, original half blue cloth, original dust jacket. $2200.

First edition of the golfing legend's autobiography, inscribed and signed by him, "Golfingly, Walter Hagen," featuring 24 pages of photographs.

"During an age when golf professionals worked strictly at a course for financial survival, Hagen made the precedent-breaking decision to play exhibitions and tournaments full time. Thus Hagen paved the way for young men to make their living not as golf professionals but as professional golfers" (ANB). The first golfer to win over $1 million in prize money, Hagen won five PGA titles (four in a row) and four British Opens. At a banquet in Hagen's honor, Arnold Palmer observed that "tonight [this celebration] would have been downstairs in the pro shop and not in the grand ballroom, if it hadn't been for Walter Hagen." Donovan & Murdoch 19900. Gift inscription in red ink on the front free endpaper, above Hagen's signature.

Book fine, dust jacket with some mild edge-wear, chip to rear panel, bright and exceptionally good.