Obituary of Kenneth Harold Bowden

KEN BOWDEN, INFLUENTIAL GOLF WRITER, FORMER GOLF DIGEST EDITOR AND NOTED JACK NICKLAUS COLLABORATOR, DIES AT 86. Ken Bowden, golf writer and longtime resident of Westport, Connecticut has died at the age of 86. Born in 1930 in Brooklyn to British parents, he grew up first in Australia and then England. An avid racing cyclist he started his journalistic career as editor of Cycling magazine covering the Tour De France and The Tour of Britain, and in 1958 published his first book 'Cycle Racing.' After taking up golf he became a plus handicap golfer, and in 1962 joined Golf World UK as it's founding editor, then returned to the United States, and from 1969-'72 served as the editorial director of Golf Digest, where he enlisted Jack Nicklaus to contribute what would become a long-running monthly instructional feature called "Jack Nicklaus' Lesson Tee." Soon after, he collaborated with renowned teacher John Jacobs on Practical Golf, the instruction book often cited by Butch Harmon, Jim McLean, Hank Haney and many other top teachers as foundational. The highlight of Bowden's career was collaborating on 12 books with Jack Nicklaus, including Golf My Way, which has sold more than 2.5 million copies since 1974, and, in 1997, the Golden Bear's second autobiography, Jack Nicklaus: My Story. Said Nicklaus upon learning of Bowden's passing, "Beyond writing all my instruction books, he was a terrific guy. Ken was a very good friend, a very good player, a very good writer, and a confidante." In his final book, a 2008 memoir titled Teeing Off, Bowden expressed pride for what he and Nicklaus achieved together, and added, "My gratitude to the game of golf, and to all those who encouraged and educated and befriended me along the way, is boundless." Some of Ken's personal golfing achievements include: Club Champion at Aspetuck Valley CC eight times over three decades - Club Champion three times, and Senior Club Champion six times at Loxahatchee GC in Jupiter, Florida, plus winning the Canadian Super Senior Amateur Championship in 2004. Ken is survived by his wife Jean of Westport CT, and his three children, Simon Bowden (NYC), Lindsay Jacobs (Shoreham, UK) and Matthew Bowden (Perth, Australia). To sign his online guest register, please visit www.LeskoPolkeFuneralHome.com Photo: Jim Mandeville, Director of Photography, The Nicklaus Companies.