Reilly, Rick. So Help Me Golf: Why We Love the Game. New York : Hatchett 2022. Print.
When I was one, my family was staying at a mountain cabin in Evergreen, Colorado. Apparently, my dad had hit a rough patch with work and we had no place to live, so we stayed in my grandfather's vacation cabin until things turned around.
Description:
Do you love or at least enjoy watching or playing golf? The sweeping fairways, the brilliant shot-making, the unbelievable escapes and shanks, and the colorful players themselves? Well, then, I've got the book for you: Rick Reilly's So Help Me Golf: Why We Love the Game.
This is a collection of his very short pieces about his life playing and writing about golf. Each essay is only 2-4 pages, giving you an clear, often very funny insight into the workings of the game beyond the scores and standings found in general sports reporting. Reilly interviews the ordinary people as well as the stars behind each profile, giving a human touch to every story.
And oh, the things you will learn about the game and the figures who make it unique. Here are just a few examples from Reilly's interviews and research:
- Bob Gustafson played 536 rounds of golf in one year, usually about 63 holes a day, rain or shine, which he worked in before work, between job breaks for lunch, before dinner, and a quick nine after dinner;
- In a 1943 German Prisoner of War camp, Stalag Luft 3, American aviator pilots found a woman's 7-iron, pulled together scraps of string and rubber from their boots to make a small ball, and constructed a golf course. (This was the same Stalag where the Great Escape took place, with prisoners digging tunnels underground while others played golf above them.)
- Ricky Meissner, a journeyman player trying to qualify, learned he could make enough money to get to the next tournament by robbing a bank in the tournament town. In one year, he robbed 19 banks before being caught.
- Reilly, while preparing for his Mall of America book signing, noticed there were 200 chairs set up and ropes in place to control the lines of expected attendees. Food and beverage were available. But when he finally got started, only one scruffy man was sitting in the sea of chairs, urging Reilly to give his full presentation. When done, Reilly asked if he had any questions, and the man responded, "Can we eat them cookies?";
- On the Tour, the caddy of the winning player has to buy the other caddies a chicken dinner with beer, originating the phrase, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner."
- After falling from a horse following the second round, Mike Reasor, a 10-year Tour player was still required to play the final two rounds in order to qualify for automatic entry into the next tourney. With a separated shoulder, two torn ribs, and damaged knee ligaments, he went out on Saturday and Sunday with just a 5-iron and putter (those were the only clubs he could swing ...one-handed), and shot 123 and 114...but got his automatic entry into the next tourney;
- World Champion poker player Daniel Negreanu made a $500,000 bet with fellow pro poker player Phil Ivey that Negreanu, in one year, couldn't shoot an 80 on a chosen course. Negreanu took the bet, but ignored practicing for it for 11 months. Finally, in last-minute pratice, managed to shoot an 86. But with one week to go, he started a fantastic round that ended up with one putt on the final green to win that bet: a 5-foot putt worth $100,000 a foot;
- RJ Smith of Minnesota went out every day with his wife to collect balls while she played (he did not like the game). He'd bring his haul back to their barn, sort them (by brand, number, style, as well as themed ones like NFL teams, Super Bowl balls, car manufacturers, etc.), and eventually collected over 70,000 balls carefully organized into egg cartons and crates.
A well-written, humorous, easy-to-get-lost-in book that is perfect for these warmer days of spring and our own chance to get out on the course or at least watch the pros hit their magnificent shots. Enjoy.
Will Rogers said. "Golf is good for the soul. You get so mad at yourself you forget to hate your enemies."
[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]
Reilly, Rick. Who's Your Caddy?
Author Reilly humorously documents the year he spent as a caddy for famous golfers and celebrities, recalling their wisdom, cheating, and his own ineptitude, all the while rejoicing in the beauty of the game of golf.
Happy reading.
Fred
[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]
