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On Golf: The Game, the Players, and a Personal History of Obsession
"A striking meditation that stylishly links his father, Arnold Palmer, Golf in the Kingdom, and the fragility of the swing."
--- Sports Illustrated Since being initiated as a child into the arcane mysteries of the game of golf, Timothy O'Grady has carried in his mind an obsession with the sport---embracing its history, literature, and even his own private battle with the club.
On Golf is a personal history of O'Grady's obsession with golf, from its domination of his teenage years, to the glorious occasion when he played a round with Arnold Palmer. Above all, it was the bond of golf that he shared with his father, who gave him his first club when he was only two years old. Forty years later as the old man lay on his deathbed; father and son were still talking about the game.
Timothy O'Grady still dreams that he may one day become a truly fine player but in the meantime he has given us a book that beautifully describes his love affair with the game and goes to the root of the obsession that captivates so many.
--- Sports Illustrated Since being initiated as a child into the arcane mysteries of the game of golf, Timothy O'Grady has carried in his mind an obsession with the sport---embracing its history, literature, and even his own private battle with the club.
On Golf is a personal history of O'Grady's obsession with golf, from its domination of his teenage years, to the glorious occasion when he played a round with Arnold Palmer. Above all, it was the bond of golf that he shared with his father, who gave him his first club when he was only two years old. Forty years later as the old man lay on his deathbed; father and son were still talking about the game.
Timothy O'Grady still dreams that he may one day become a truly fine player but in the meantime he has given us a book that beautifully describes his love affair with the game and goes to the root of the obsession that captivates so many.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published August 18, 2003
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November 20, 2010
This was a nice wee book, despite the impression that O'Grady's sometimes stuck in a literary bunker, flailing around, trying to dig out the right word. He admits this himself, that finding the right word or sentence when writing a book is as difficult and painful as peeling skin off your forearm - or hitting your first tee shot straight up the middle. Many of his observations on the game of golf had me smiling in recognition of the pleasure and frustration found in the game - no belly laughs, O'Grady doesn't do gutsy humour - and it's clear he's thought long and hard about a philosophy of golf. Why do we find it so alluring? Why do we return to be punished? Why do we self-destruct on the course? Why can't we leave the siren call of the fairways? Don't know, and neither does he. It just is.
Displaying 1 of 1 review