The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Frost
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 332
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1
ISBN: 1401302785
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.352660979476
EAN: 9781401302788
ASIN: 1401302785
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
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| Customer Reviews: Read 59 more reviews...
 The best book on golf competition I have ever read. July 22, 2008
In The Greatest Game Ever Played, Mark Frost provides a brilliant account of 20-year-old Francis Ouimet's 18-hole playoff victory over Britons Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in the 1913 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, where Ouimet once caddied. That said, I think his account of an 18-hole match at Cypress Point Golf Club on the Monterey Peninsula (just before the annual "Crosby Clambake" in 1956) between professionals Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson against amateurs Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi describes a match at least as significant. His is certainly the best book on golf competition that I have ever read.
With the curiosity of a cultural anthropologist and the skills of a master storyteller, Frost establishes and then explores a context within which four of the greatest golfers in the 1950s agreed to a "friendly match." They knew each other, respected each other, and enjoyed each other's company. However, in his own unique way, each was a ferocious competitor, especially when engaged in match play competition. Frost provides a hole-by-hole account (the primary story line) but he also brings to life each of the four competitors, explaining their respective backgrounds, personalities, and motivations while stressing their passion for the game of golf. The supporting cast includes Eddie Lowery who, when years old, caddied for Ouimet during his Open victory and is now a wealthy car dealer and among the leaders of the USGA. Also George Coleman, also a multi-millionaire as well as a member of Cypress Point who accepts Lowery's challenge to select any two professionals to compete against Ward and Venturi.
Credit Frost with accomplishing two separate but related objectives: to provide a riveting account of the match itself over an especially challenging as well as beautiful course designed by Alister MacKenzie, and, to place the match within a much larger frame-of-reference that includes the emergence of professional golf following the retirement of Bob Jones, real estate development of the Monterey Peninsula area, and the evolving controversy about the meaning of the term "amateur," given the fact that both Venturi and Ward were two of Lowery's salaried employees who devoted almost all of their time and energy to competitive golf.
Even those who have little (if any) interest in golf will thoroughly enjoy reading this book. It has everything: a full cast of colorful characters, several compelling story lines, multi-dimensional social commentary, and following the conclusion of the match, an "Afterward" that provides what Paul Harvey calls "the rest of the story" concerning the four competitors and their two supporters. Then in an Appendix, Frost provides historical information about the Peninsula before focusing his attention on Marion Hollins and her involvement in both competitive golf and efforts to realize her "oversized dreams" for the area.
This is one of very few works of non-fiction that I have read in recent years that created in me a growing sense of sadness as I approached the last few pages. I really enjoyed it that much? Yes. In fact, I began to re-read it the next day and although I knew the outcome of the match, enjoyed the second reading at least as much as the first. Thank you, Mark Frost.
Gripping Even Though You Know The Outcome July 11, 2008
Mark Frost leaves you breathless as he paints an unmatched literary canvas with words--you can hear it, see it, smell it, feel the tension. Throughout he intersperses snippets and bios of the players so you can't wait to get back to the action. Each time I put it down I looked forward to picking it up and reading it again. I have read also The Greatest Game Ever Played and The Grand Slam. Both excellent, but "The Match" to me was one of the richest literary creations on golf I have ever read.
Flawlessly written golf history book July 6, 2008
Frost is an incredibly gifted writer ... perhaps the most gifted of any sports book author. This comes from an obvious formal and dedicated writing background, and an exceptional understanding of the game of golf. Add to that social awareness and historical depth, and you easily have the best author of golf books.
In this instant classic, Frost details how an impromptu match between legendary pros Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan, versus top amateurs (at the time) Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward, would present a fork in the road for the future of golf: would it remain the gentlemanly game of well heeled men playing only for honor, or would the best players come from the pro ranks where commercialism and money were also part of the incentive? Eras and egos collide, but in the end the participants celebrate the match with laughs over drinks in the Cypress clubhouse.
Frost captures all the important shots with expert delivery of the risk/reward calculations involved, to the delight of readers that are also better players. All 4 played inspired golf shooting in "the 60's." Magical golf like this from everyone in the group is almost always the product of intense match play and, fittingly, the difference in the match was a truly perfect shot.
The lives of the 4 participants plus the 2 men that sponsored the match are seamlessly weaved into the golfing tale, to the point where it's impossible to determine where the golf story ends and personal stories begin. You'll be on the proverbial "edge of your seat" wanting to know how both the golf and personal histories conclude.
When Arnold Palmer burst onto the professional scene thereafer, it was clear where the future of golf was headed. And he's rightly credited with bringing golf to the masses. But importantly the stage had been set for the arrival of an Arnie-like character as a result of "The Match" played several years earlier.
* Beyond "The Match" the history of the making of Cypress Golf at the book's end is worthy of special note. The visionary behind Cypress was an accomplished woman golfer from Long Island striking out on her own, and the original architect was Seth Raynor, associated with legendary Long Island courses The National and Shinnecock. When he died prior to laying out a plan, he was replaced by Alistair MacKenzie. The Englishman MacKenzie had been a battlefield surgeon in WWI, and he drew upon the "camoflouge" aspect of that battlegound experience and others in his golf course design philosophy. Although this resulted in highly difficult courses, his artistry meant players were too caught up in the visuals to even notice. Through Cypress, Bobby Jones met MacKenzie and subsequently commissioned him to design Augusta National. And the rest, as they, "is history."
A Can't Miss, Great American Book July 4, 2008
Though I am wary of contributing to the incessant, effusive praise for just about everything in contemporary life, I must admit that The Match is the finest sports book I have read in many years. Mark Frost's prose is enjoyable and balanced - not too simple; not overreaching. The structure of the book leaves the reader in a state of wonderful anticipation throughout. Finally, the true sports fan gains newfound appreciation and respect for the evolution of the game of golf and the men who contributed so greatly to bringing it into the mainstream. These were not great golfers; they were great Americans. Frost has written a masterpiece. Do not hesitate to pick it up.
Golf story telling at its best June 26, 2008
Frost's trilogy is must reading for every golf nut. The Match is much shorter than his finest work, The Greatest Game Ever Played, and his essential biography of Bobby Jones, The Grand Slam, but it is nonetheless a gripping, page turning tale of 18 holes played by four of golf's outstanding personalities on one of the nation's most beguiling courses, Cypress Point CC. Historical facts concering the men and the state of the game of golf in that era are accurately and entertainingly woven into the story of a single match. Each stroke in the match is described, while concise biographies of each character are woven throughout. Frost is a master at transporting you to 1954 and the Monterrey Peninsula, you can see the ocean, feel the breeze, and smell the fresh cut grass. I especially appreciated the thoroughly researched afterward which included a short history of the Monterrey Peninsula and Cypress Point CC in particular, as well as the bios of the players following the Match. Read this book if you love the game.
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