1 comments about Golf Links: Chay Burgess, Francis Quimet and the Bringing of Golf to America.

1. This is a book that draws you in and gives you an appreciation for the game. Golf's history is filled with drama, embarrassment (Much I'm sure the PGA would like to hide) and hope. I give Burgess much kudos for enlightening the public on the true history of golf.

No comments about How I Played the Game: An Autobiography.

No comments about Patty Sheehan on Golf.

2 comments about Moe Norman: The Canadian Golfing Legend with the Perfect Swing (Amazing Stories).

1. This is the tale of Moe Norman, one of golf's greatest, but probably least well known heroes. Born into poverty, he used the extra time he had to turn himself into the greatest ball striker ever known. Overcoming financial problems, numerous brushes with the RCGA and other ruling bodies, he carved a place out for himself in golf history, and is now one of its immortal figures.
   
   This book is geared mostly towards adolescent readers with a general interest in sports greats, preferably with a rudamentary understanding of golf. It will not satisfy the golf fan, though, as so much that was unique about Norman's game is not discussed. Many of the tales that surround him, such as the exhibition with Snead in which Norman launched a drive and rolled it over a bridge rather than lay up in front of a creek, are noted, but some of his greatest feats are left out. Many of those, such as being told by his caddy that a hole was a driver and a wedge to the green and Norman playing a wedge from the tee and a driver from the fairway, probably will be lost on non-golfers.
   
   For a simple read into Moe Norman's life, this book more than fits the bill, but it treads too carefully. His problems with tournament organizers and golf's ruling bodies sets the plot, but that plot is very much a "disadvantage person carving his own way" sort of story, and not the tale of bravado golfers have come to expect regarding the greats. Good reading for a summer book report, but lacking for serious golf readers.



2. The reknowned author,Stan Sauerwein has written a great biography of a brilliant golfer,Moe Norman.He rules!!

5 comments about She'S Leaving Home Letting Go As Daughter Goes To College.

1. If you are not a Christian, just be aware that the book is very oriented to a Christian foundation. I am not making a judgment about that, simply highlighting the fact. Each chapter starts with a prayer to Jesus Christ. In none of the reviews I read was this mentioned. As someone of another faith, I was very taken aback when I received the book. It did not feel appropriate to my values and faith perspective and wish that this information had been clearly indicated before I purchased the book.



2. Item arrived in condition as described.
   Delivered on time.
   No problems!



3. This is an amazing book which manages to capture and put into words the whole swirl of emotions that have been coursing through our house- and me! I have told all my friends with daughters that this is a must read! I was uplifted and comforted while reading and knew that we too would survive and celebrate our daughter's new life.



4. WOW!!! Even though I didn't discover this book until just weeks before my daughter left for college, it was wonderful to find that all our emotions normal. I felt as though I was reading my own story and wish I, too, had kept a journal. Fortunately, Connie Jones did precisely that for me! I think it's a must read, even if you are sending a son away because it's an emotional roller coaster no matter what your child's gender if you have a closre relationship. I have recommened this book to our high school guidance department and am going to share it with friends whose children are high school seniors this year! Thanks Connie Jones!!!! I will reread it before my son's senior year!



5. Connie Jones captures the feelings and emotions of all parents with kids going off to college. My wife and I found it amazingly similar to our own experience with our daughter that left for college 2 months ago. The book helped us to understand that most of what we are feeling is normal and shared by all parents. She also brings a great perspective of the bigger picture that all parents face in the journey from birth to college to death with our children. We really loved the book and recommend it to all parents with college age kids. Just a great book..............

5 comments about The Feeling of Greatness: The Moe Norman Story.

1. This book is easy to read and gives us a good look at Moe's life. He was a showman, shy, unpredictible but I think his extreme sensitivity hurt him the most. One of my business associates was playing golf here in Kitchener and Moe was playing six balls at once behind him. He said all six balls would land within a three foot diameter. This is December 2007, There are people here asking about Moe Norman. They plan on shooting a movie about him in the spring. Todd Graves will teach the main actor how to swing like Moe. The screen play will be written by the same person that wrote "Rainman"



2. As recently as 10 years ago, Moe's Norman's very existence was considered apocryphal. A few American golf pros, Paul Azinger and Lee Trevino come to mind, told stories about an eccentric Canadian with a strange swing so accurate he could stand on a driving range and hit the 250 yard sign repeatedly with his driver. Or they told of the time he hit three balls off the tee that were later found huddled together like mushrooms in the middle of the fairway. Then there's the time that, upon hearing someone in the gallery say he was a poor putter, he proceeded to hit a hole-in-one, boasting "I guess I won't be putting today." They said he was so good that if a hole called for a 3-wood and an 8- iron, he'd play it 8-iron/3-wood just to keep it interesting. The stories always held the not-so- subtle claim that if Norman had played the US tour, no one would have ever heard of Jack Nicklaus.

   But nobody had seen him recently. He was a ghost. Finally, in 1995, Golf Digest ran a cover story that brought Moe and his strange swing back to life. By that time he had become the poster boy for a new golf movement called Natural Golf, and the leaders of that company were splashing Moe's image around as much as they could. This biography soon followed.

   Fortunately, readers of "The Feeling of Greatness" will discover not an advertising piece, but a balanced look at a complicated man. Because of a childhood head injury, or perhaps just because genetics occasionally breeds the strange and unusual, Moe Norman represents obsessive-compulsion applied to golf. He is described as golf's "Rain Man", a savant-like creature of habit who found solace in striking golf balls -- hundreds a day for thousands of days -- but who was so shy, he wouldn't appear at awards ceremonies. He muttered a continuous stream-of-consciousness monologue and played so quickly that he often struck his shot before his partner had pulled his tee out of the ground. He never paused over putts, but rather hit them in full stride. He was not your typical golf pro.

   However, while he was very successful on the Canadian tours of the 50s and 60s, he was a flop on the US PGA tour and, in fact, was reprimanded by fellow pros for boorish behavior. The book is honest enough to make it clear that any notion of his tearing up the US tour if only given a fair chance is just false. While he is generally regarded as one of the finest ball strikers of all time, he never came to terms with the real scoring clubs in his bag - his wedge and putter. In the end, Moe Norman was most at home on the driving range, where he gives impressive demonstrations to this day.




3. Having lived in the North Florida town where Moe and Craig Shankland give golf clinics every Wednesday of the winter, I have watched Moe in action many times, continually to my amazement. One day, during my 1000 balls a day stint, Moe gave me a lesson I will never forget. He's wonderful. I only wish the jerks on the tour could have accepted his idiosyncracies and made him feel comfortable out there. But who wants to make someone who can beat the pants off you feel comfortable?



4. This is a great story of a relatively unknown personality who could not be a part of the "system". His whole life is unconventional; however, his golf is exceptional. An upolished man, Moe Norman never achieved PGA greatness in the US, but is a legend in the amateur ranks in Canada, owning 33 course records and several rounds shot in the 50's. I was fascinated by the many examples of his ball striking capabilities, like hitting over 1500 drives in one afternoon. Each one traveled over 220 yards and each was in a 30 yard wide fairway. The average golfer loves this story. A guy like you and me CAN hit the ball well! That is what we all want.



5. Moe Norman's incredible, tumultous life is thoroughly chronicled in this book, complete with photographs. If you use the natural golf system and are as passionate about it as I am (and most natural golfers are) you will thorougly enjoy this book. Conventianal golfers will also enjoy learning about Moe, the greatest ball striker ever. His life was full of ups and downs, and certainly was never dull!

5 comments about Jack Nicklaus.

1. This book provides Nicklaus's views on his championship golf and on relevant aspects of his thinking and life. Since Nicklaus is the greatest champion ever by a distance (for the time being), and it is his thinking that's credited by his peers and himself for much of his success, his exposition is interesting in itself and as something for golfers to learn from. So far so good. Unfortunately Nicklaus's book is let down by the ghostwriter, Ken Bowden, who is, frankly, a poor writer. There's little variation of tone or pace or, even, vocabulary. Accounts of Nicklaus's many incredibly exciting championship battles (e.g. vs. Hogan and Palmer at the US Open; vs. Miller and Weiskopf at the Masters; vs. Watson in the British Open; vs Ballesteros at the Masters) fail to capture the excitement of those great contests. A comparison of this book with Nicklaus's early autobiography with Herbert Warren Wind illustrate what a wonderful writer Wind was and what a positive difference a really good writer can make.



2. Certainly one of the leading sports figures of our times and beyond a doubt one of the best golfers of all times, this autobiography of Jack Nicklaus is both interesting and informative. Nicklaus, like Palmer, Jones, Player, et al, are a passing breed. Not only are they great atheletes, but they are gentlemen in every sense of the word. Mr. Nicklaus' approach to the game and to life reflects this at every turn. This is a work that can be enjoyed by both golfers and non-golfers equally. I have probably ran into better writers that Ken Bowden, but hey, he did an adequate job and certainly got Jack's story across. Enjoyed this one a lot and very much recommend it.



3. In fact, I have only very minor complaints about the book. One is that his "contributor", Bowden, uses some phrases ad nauseam. I don't know how many times we read that Jack finished the third round 3 shots "adrift" of the leader. Not trailing by three, or behind by three, but "adrift" by three. Using that term for variety is okay, but it's used to death. I think he's a golfer, not a sailor.

   Again, though, that's a minor distraction that doesn't take away from the enjoyment of reading about the greatest.




4. Jack Nicklaus' career is one of the greatest in all sports. Especially famous are his 18 major victories (20 if you count the US Amateur), and this book is a story about those victories, and his life in between. His book is divided into 20 chapters - one for each of those major victories, and in them he discusses the events which transpired before that particular tournament, and the tournament itself. What a natural yet perfect structure for a book like this!

   The best aspect of the book, I felt, was the immediacy with which Nicklaus writes. When you read this book you almost feel as if Nicklaus is talking to you, just yourself, at points.

   Each chapter talks about a particular tournament and what happened before it. Particularly amazing is the clarity with which Nicklaus can recall those tournaments he describes. He describes individual key holes, what was going through his mind, and the general up and downs which accompany a round of golf. After reading this book, we know Nicklaus is a champion: he can win not only when he's up, but also when he's (to some extent) down. Also, as an interesting side note, Nicklaus also gives a few golfing tips - perhaps no one can become as great as him, but it never hurts to try!

   And the last aspect of the book I found enjoyable were the photographs. True, they were black and white, but show how he changed over time, and chronicle some of the most memorable moments of his major career wins.

   You come away more convinced than ever of Nicklaus' greatness. A great book to read anywhere, anytime.




5. Insights into this champion and our time in golf will be read by the future generations through the Bear's eyes. Humble yet intense, this guy never quits. Especially enjoyed his sharing of what was going on inside with his famous finish at Turnberry in 1977. He's a guy you respect for his game and his person.

No comments about Golf: The Legends of the Game.

5 comments about My Usual Game.

1. I laughed (Myrtle chapter).. I cried (Top Ten chapter).. A roller coaster of action and suspense (Disney Pro-Am Chapter).. a Thriller (Ireland Chapter- or more specifically, Irish cuisine)...Humorously captures the emotions of anyone who suddenly (and dramatically) becomes smitten with this game. Only true golf lovers need apply.



2. If you think of golf while at the office, in the car, on the can; if you perform practice swings whenever you are sure you will not hit a wall, furniture or another person; if you dream of playing every course that has been mentioned just barely favorably in print, you will love this book. I saw myself and every golfer I have ever met in this book. And I couldn't help but laugh at most of those golfers that Owen met including himself sometimes. I also felt much envy for the courses he was able to play especially in the UK. He moves from subject to subject as smoothly as a putt on the number 1 green on the first day of the Masters. This book brings an understanding to the game for hackers that you don't get from watching pros. Loved it.



3. This book is laugh out loud funny for any hacker who enjoys the frustration of this game. David Owen is obviously in love with the game and gives us many a humorous note as well as useful tips. He takes the edge off those momentary urges to throw our clubs into the nearest lake. L.J. Skeie



4. Wonderful book...easily the best book I read all last year. I've read it twice thru now and its still great. I laughed out loud many times--mainly because I saw myself or others I know in Owen's stories. A must-have for anyone who enjoys golf.



5. This was one of the most enjoyable books I've read all year! Very funny and full of interesting information. The guy is a hoot! I especially loved the chapter about his trip to Myrtle Beach

3 comments about I Remember Payne Stewart: Personal Memories of Golf Most Dapper Golfer by the People Who Knew Him Best.

1. Payne Stewart was a gifted professional golfer, a loving father, devoted husband, loyal friend, and a man of faith. On October 25, 1999, a plane on its way to Texas and carrying five people, crashed in a pasture in a remote area of South Dakota. The pilot and all of the passengers, including Payne Stewart, died. When he died, Stewart was enjoying his greatest year as a professional golfer as current defender of the U.S. Open, a member of the Ryder Cup Championship team, and the winner of the AT&T Celebrity Pro-Am in Pebble Beach. His silky golf swing and his knickers with a tam-o-shanter perched upon his head were all familiar trademarks of his colorful golfing persona. I Remember Payne Stewart is a tribute to his legacy as a golfer and as a human being through the comments, memories and anecdotes offered by relatives, college buddies, fellow golfers, sports reporters, and more. I Remember Payne Stewart is a striking and memorable collection of personal memories by those who knew him best and a "must read" for all Stewart fans who followed his golf course accomplishments with great enthusiasm for the man and the game.



2. Very superficial. Not nearly the depth of the authorized biography.



3. Fantastic treatment of this golf icon. And so timely. Couldn't recommend it more highly.