"Hogan told Harvey Penick that Titanic was the best shot maker that he had ever seen."

I have some author Q&A's lined up in the coming weeks but I don't need to bug Kevin Cook now that Farrell Evans has filed a super interview with the former Golf Magazine editor whose new book on Titanic Thompson is coming out.

Q: Why didn't he play the pro tour?

A: Titanic would always answer that question by saying that he couldn't afford the cut in pay. By the time the money was significant on the tour he was too old to play. Also he wasn't a guy who was going to wake up early or play when somebody told him to play. He set up his own matches.

What's the story behind the bet that he could drive a ball 500 yards?
He made this bet in the middle of the summer in Chicago. But he didn't say when he would do it. Some of Capone's cronies chipped in thousands of dollars to cover him. December comes around and he goes out to the frozen Lake Michigan and drives the ball onto the ice. These were called proposition bets and this was his specialty. He would make a crazy sounding bet and sometimes guys would just bet him to see if he could pull it off.