Hi, I’m Neil Sagebiel.
I’m the founder and editor of ARMCHAIR GOLF BLOG, one of the top golf blogs on the Internet. At the age of 12, I put down my baseball glove and picked up golf clubs. I played for my high school and college golf teams in the Antelope Valley in California. A former copywriter for a Seattle advertising agency and major newspaper, I’m a writer in Floyd, Virginia, where I live with my wife and two daughters.
I started ARMCHAIR GOLF BLOG in 2005 as a blogging experiment. It eventually led to my meeting Jack Fleck and writing the full account of Fleck’s historic upset of the great Ben Hogan at the 1955 U.S. Open. (THE LONGEST SHOT: Jack Fleck, Ben Hogan, and Pro Golf’s Greatest Upset at the 1955 U.S. Open, from St. Martin’s Press-Thomas Dunne Books, May 2012.)
As I developed a relationship with Jack Fleck, I attended several Champions Tour events (from 2007 to the present, from Savannah, Georgia, to Baltimore, Maryland) where Fleck and other golf legends played. I caddied, entered locker rooms, ate in player dining rooms and otherwise kept company with the old-time tour pros as they talked about the early days on the PGA Tour.
Through my association with Jack Fleck, I’ve met and talked to many legends of the game, including: Errie Ball, Tommy Bolt, Dow Finsterwald, Doug Ford, Fred Hawkins, Walker Inman Jr., Mike Krak, Gene Littler, Shelley Mayfield, Arnold Palmer, Bob Rosburg, Larry Tomasino, Al Besselink, Miller Barber, Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Lee Elder, Jim Ferree, Bob Goalby, Tommy Jacobs, Don January, Howie Johnson, Billy Maxwell, Orville Moody, Johnny Pott, Jimmy Powell, Doug Sanders, Charlie Sifford and Bob Toski.
I’m a graduate of San Diego State University. Born in Indiana, I’ve lived in the Hoosier state, California, Washington state and Virginia.
