Pops and Sunshine
by Dave Andrews

In Pops and Sunshine, Dave Andrews has penned an enjoyable evening’s read. Without intending any sort of insult, there’s a sort of NBC Movie of the Week quality to it: nice characters, a storyline packed into four days and a happy ending.

The story revolves around Futures Tour player Lisa Nelson, a poor girl who must win her Tour card in the final tournament of the season or go home to help her recently widowed mother and her brothers. Nelson arrives in New Hampshire early for the tournament and by chance plays a round with Dave Johnston, a longtime member at the club where the tournament is being held. Johnston, a retired wealthy businessman and the club’s best putter, agrees to caddy for Nelson in the upcoming tournament.

Johnston feels a connection with Nelson because she so resembles his own daughter, whom he lost along with his wife in a car accident a few years previous. He takes her under his wing and into his family almost immediately.

I at first thought that the book would end up as a May-September romance, but the love interest in the story is provided by Johnston’s nephew, Rob. And that’s a good thing, because a Dave-Lisa romance would have been creepy, given her resemblance to his daughter.

Villainy in the novel is provided by Shelly Steele, a player whom Nelson must beat to get her Tour card. While competitive and not a particularly nice person, Steel doesn’t do much more than play some mind games and good golf. Her caddy is worse.

The golf is realistic, and it’s apparent—unlike some other “golf” novels I’ve read recently—that Andrews both follows the game and plays it. I also think he’s also been involved in some tournament golf because the ebb and flow have an authentic feel.

With a clean and breezy writing style, Andrews has a good ear for conversation and has created some believable and likable characters. The novel gets a bit schmaltzy at times, but that’s in keeping with the “movie of the week” tone.

I keep coming back to the “movie of the week” not because it’s a bad thing, but because I sincerely believe that Pops and Sunshine would make a good one. No deeper truths about human nature are examined; that’s not what this is about. Pops and Sunshine simply is a nice story about nice people.

Pops and Sunshine apparently is a self-published, self-distributed novel, so you can only get it at http://www.popsandsunshine.com. Be warned, however, that the site has a java doodad that tends to lock up my browser—you may have some trouble getting through.

The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever
by Mark Frost

Mark Frost’s The Greatest Game Ever Played, an account of the legendary 1913 US Open, in which amateur Francis Ouimet beat the great Harry Vardon is one of the best golf books ever written. More than an account of a tournament, it uses the event to cast a light on the era’s problems of social class and distinction. In that, it’s not just a great golf book—it’s simply a great book that has been enjoyed by everyone I’ve shared it with, golfers and non-golfers alike.

The Match in some ways picks up on that story. Years after the Open, Ouimet’s former caddy Eddie Lowry heads west, where he becomes a multi-millionaire car dealer, and a golf patron. In particular, Lowry “sponsors” a collection of outstanding amateurs by giving them jobs at his dealerships. The amateurs, including Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward, work at selling cars in the morning and golf in the afternoon. In this, Lowry skirts a fine line between amateur and professional—a ruse which has tragic consequences later.

Lowry also has become friends with Bing Crosby, and it’s at a party for Crosby’s 1956 Clambake (now the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am) that he makes a bet with fellow millionaire George Coleman: that Venturi and Ward can beat anyone in the world. Coleman takes Lowry up on the bet (the size of which still is unknown) and rounds up his own pair of players: none other than Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan. A private match is scheduled before a practice round of the Crosby Clambake.

It’s a concept so fabulous—so phantasmagorical—that I had, and still have, a hard time believing it. It’s one of those tales that is so outrageous it could only be true. Think about it: a private match between the teams of Hogan and Nelson, and Venturi and Ward to settle a bet made by Francis Ouimet’s caddy.

Even more amazing is that I don’t ever recall reading about it before. The Golf Blogger is very well read on the history of golf, but this was off the radar screen.

I won’t tell you the outcome of The Match, for that would spoil the suspense in the hole-by-hole account. But in truth, it really doesn’t matter. Win or lose, the Match represented the last gasp of the amateur golfer as a contender on golf’s biggest stages. As the book’s subtitle suggests, the Match was a metaphorical “Day The Game of Golf Changed Forever.” Prior to the era of The Match, there still was some hope that a brilliant amateur would return the game to the realm of Bobby Jones and Francis Ouimet. It was rapidly becoming clear, however, that wouldn’t happen.

The bulk of the book covers the match itself, but Frost also offers brief backgrounds on the principals: Lowry, Hogan, Nelson, Venturi and Ward. The material on the first four offered nothing that I haven’t already read in other biographies of those players (although if you have not read their biographies, this book covers the basics well). I was more intrigued by the fate of Harvie Ward, who suffered through a series of difficulties connected to his involvement with Lowry. The background, however, does not equal that of The Greatest Game. And in that, The Match is a somewhat lesser book—and one that may not appeal as much to non-golfers.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly to golfers, and especially to those for whom the names Nelson and Hogan still carry some magic. Fans of The Greatest Game also may find it interesting as a sort of sequel. But I can’t see it reaching the greater reading audience.

I’m working my way through a new book by Mark Frost called MATCH, THE: THE DAY THE GAME OF GOLF CHANGED FOREVER and ran across an amazing story about Byron Nelson. In the account, Eddie Lowery (Francis Ouimet’s caddy, now a rich businessman), had arranged for Byron Nelson and Ken Venturi to play a series of exhibition matches up and down the west coast:

In each exhibition they played against the host club’s head professional and reigning amateur champion in a best-ball match. At every stop, Byron made a point of inquiring who held the local scoring record, which usually belonged to one or the other of their opponents that day. Byron told Ken that wherever he went, no matter how well he was playing, he should never break that record as a show of respect to his host; that was the way gracious visitors were supposed to behave.

There’s a reason Byron Nelson was considered a gentleman by everyone he met.

Tour Tempo Player Package with Tour Tempo Book

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: A useful upgrade from the original book.

I reviewed the Tour Tempo instruction book a couple of years ago and thought that it offered some interesting insights into the golf swing. Using high speed video, author John Novosel has determined that one of the major differences between a Tour Player and a Hacker is in their tempo. All Tour players, Novosel claims, have a swing with a 3:1 swing-set-through tempo. Some swing faster; others, slower, but the the ratio is always the same.

I’ve found this principle to be quite useful, and when my swing goes awry, one of the things I concentrate on is getting my tempo back on track.

At the core of Novosel’s original book was a cd that contained tracks of beeps in several variations on the golden ratio: 27/9 (slow) to 18/6 (fast) and so on. You were supposed to listen to the beeps and remember the tempo. It wasn’t a problem for me—I come from a musical family, but I can imagine that others would have difficulty. If you were clever and computer included, I suppose you could have ripped the tracks to a mp3 player and used that on the range.

The Tour Tempo people also seem to have thought it a shortcoming in their program, for they’ve since developed a “Tour Tempo Player,” a small electronic device the size of an IPod, which plays the beeps. You can wear it at the range or on the course, and set the beeps at the desired speed.  The player also will play a series of beeps designed to help you keep your short game on track.

I recently acquired the Tempo Player Player Package—which in addition to the book includes the player, an instructional DVD and a CD with musical tracks in the proper tempos. All are extremely useful additions to the program. I’ve worn the player at the range and find that it helps me get into a groove. Perhaps more useful is the musical cd. They’re not great tunes—consisting mostly of a snare drum and an electric piano—but I can remember the music much more easily than the beeps.

With the addition of the player and musical cd, I give the Tour Tempo a grade improvement from B+ to A.

Little Balls, Big Dreams
by James Wolfe

Grade: B-
Teacher’s Comments: A nice little book

James Wolfe’s Little Balls, Big Dreams is a cute little fantasy about a guy who – after hitting a hole-in-one – finds that he is magically transformed into a tour caliber player.

It’s every golfer’s dream, of course, to suddenly discover the magic swing. It’s also the case that nearly every serious golfer has gone through a streak that—for a short while—makes it seem possible. But few among us are foolish enough to believe that it will last. And none would quit their jobs to take a shot at joining the Tour on the basis of a few hot rounds.

And yet, that’s exactly what Matt True does in the novel. In spite of a lifetime of playing solid, but uninspired golf, he abandons his career and sets out to join the Tour.  While it all doesn’t go according to plan and there is a price to be paid, there’s no Faustian bargain. Matt True gets a shot at his dream while maintaining a grip on his soul.

A leap of faith is required to make the story work. The reader has to believe that True somehow knows the transformation is real, and not temporary or imagined. I had a hard time with it. My brushes with brilliance have been fleeting; the perfect swing never lasts for more than a couple of rounds.

Strangely, part of the problem was that the story was not fantastic enough.  Had there been an appearance by a golf god or a course fairy it somehow would have been more believable. Wolfe briefly touches on the teachings of a wacky golf guru, and later on mysterious effects of a True’s former high school golf coach, but leaves both those ends dangling.

Before I go quit my job and try out for the tour, I’m going to need a direct revelation from a higher power.

The novel is, for the most part, well written. There were a few paragraphs that seemed awkward and a couple of sections of forced dialog, but those were easy to overlook. Wolfe’s style is casual and easy to read.

I can give this book a cautious recommendation.

I just saw a huge stack of copies of John Feinstein’s excellent book Open : Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black at my local Dollar Tree. It’s a good book at full price; for a dollar, it’s a steal.

The Dollar Tree also had a pack that included tees, ball markers and a copper wire / nylon brush for club cleaning.

Sudden Death

by Michael Balkind

Grade: D
Teacher’s Comments: I can’t recommend it for either the golf or for the mystery.

I really wanted to like this book. It’s got an interesting premise and the author seems like a genuinely nice guy.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it at all; indeed, it was a chore to finish.

The plot of the book involves a series of death threats against Reid Clark, an elite golfer who has a reputation on Tour as a “bad boy.” On course tirades and ill-treatment of those around him are his stock in trade. His antics have earned him enemies, and one of them is set on murder. In spite of this, Reid continues to play on, as the pressure from both winning and from the threats increase.

So far, so good. But as I was reading the first sentence of the book, the warning sirens went off in my head:

“Plunk. The unique sound of Reid Clark’s golf ball hitting the bottom of the cup was,without question, the most satisfying sound he could hear. But in this case, he had to settle for the roar of the massive crowd as he sunk his 12-foot-putt, winning his sixth PGA tournament this season.”

That’s a lot of wins in an entire season. But Reid, we soon find out, has accomplished this feat before the Masters. Six victories before the first major of the year. That’s twice as many as Tiger has ever managed. As there are typically just a dozen or so events before the Masters—including silly ones like the Pebble Beach—six victories is ridiculous.

But, I thought, the author surely knows that. He’s just trying to establish his character as the Uber-Golfer.

It wasn’t much further on that I decided that Balkind really doesn’t know much about tournament golf. In one scene, the PGA Commissioner [sic] announces that they’ve decided to hold a pro-am at the Masters:

“Hi I’m Bill Taylor, Commissioner of the PGA and I’d like to welcome you all to Augusta. I wanted to take a moment to explain why we decided to take a break from tradition and play a pro-am before the Masters. The request has come up in past years and we’ve always declined. This year we figured, why not.”

Good heavens. The Masters is run by Augusta National, not by the PGA. Never in a million years would Augusta National allow the PGA to decide whether or not there’s a pro-am. And I’m pretty sure that Balkind doesn’t really mean the PGA anyway. He means the PGA Tour. The two are separate entities. I can’t see the Commissioner of the PGA TOUR introducing himself as the Commissioner of the PGA.

All credibility was lost with me at that point.