Gene Sarazen and Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf

When it debuted in 1962, Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf was a groundbreaking program in the still fairly new television industry. At the time, few golf tournaments were even televised—mostly majors—and then with only two or three black and white cameras to cover the action. With its first episode, Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf took the medium to a higher level. Not only did it cover 18 holes of golf with some of the best players in the world, it did so in color and on location around the globe.

For the millions of Americans who enjoyed the game, learning that golf was also played in such exotic places as Malaysia, Thailand, Greece and Australia was both staggering and exciting. Adding to their amazemant was the opportunity to see numerous famous courses that they had only heard or read about—St. Andrews in Scotland and Pine Valley in New Jersey among them—and the fact that the host of the show was legendary golfer Gene Sarazen. This thrilling combination had viewers glued to their TV sets for each program, and the result&mdas;in the years to come—was the spawning of a whole new industrt: golf tourism. And it all started with Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf.

As writer and associate producer of the Shell show, Al Barkow was “inside the ropes” from the beginning. Gene Sarazen and Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf is Barkow’s fascinating story of the who’s, what’s, where’s, how’s and why’s of this very historic, precedent-setting program. It’s one you’ll enjoy, one you’ll remember, and one you just won’t get enough of.

Like the original program, Gene Sarazen and Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf is entertainment at its best.

“The Show gave the game of golf a very attractive exposure—the travelogues alone were worth the price of admission—that went a long way toward promoting, and changing the image of the game into what is now a major sport in this country, and the world.”
—Golf Legend Byron Nelson