1 comments about The Official Rules of Bad Golf.

1. This is a great stocking stuffer or appreciation gift for your favorite golfer. It has all the rules we really play by but just aren't written down anywhere. Now it's official! The book is written very humorously and you can browse through it and really get a lot of belly laughs.

No comments about The Bruen Loop: The Jimmy Bruen Story.

5 comments about Sam: The One And Only Sam Snead.

1. I believe that, on balance, Sam Snead is the greatest golfer of them all. "He played longer, better, than anyone in the history of the game," to paraphrase Bob Toski. For the most part, Al Barkow lays it all out quite well in "Sam." Those who are Snead fans won't uncover any surprises in the book. But it's definitely a book worth having. Because even if you know the story, your kids might not, and I think they will learn from it.



2. Wonderful photos of Sam, many I had never seen before. Barkow is a great writer and if you haven't already, read everything he has written about golf. You can't go wrong. This book offered insights into Sam's personal life - his marriage and the tragic circumstance of his developmentally disabled son Terrance - that were a revelation to me, and I have been reading golf biographies and histories for 30 years. A great book. You will learn more about Sam than you had known before, which is something you can't say about many books.



3. Sam Snead was a legend in every sense of that much-overused word and veteran golf writer Al Barkow has fashioned a biography that anyone will enjoy. However, if you're a serious student of The Slammer's career (that is, if you've already read 1962's "The Education of a Golfer" and 1996's "The Game I Love"), you'll find "Sam - The One and Only Sam Snead" absolutely invaluable for filling in gaps that have existed for years. In this book, you'll learn about the family relationships that motivated (and sometimes hindered) Sam Snead, including several quite poignant passages concerning his disabled son. You'll also learn about the only golf lesson Sam Snead ever had, the reasons he was viewed with some disdain by the golfing "establishment", and the heretofore unmentioned reasons that he never won the U. S. Open (including a possible conspiracy by longtime USGA director Joe Dey). You'll also learn for the first time EXACTLY how many U. S. Opens Sam Snead would have won if he could have shot 69 in the final round every time. An amusing bonus consists of a short chapter that "reconstructs" what he was thinking as he made that fateful 8 on the 72nd hole to lose the 1939 U. S. Open. If you're looking for an exceptionally informative course of "graduate studies" concerning the career of Sam Snead, this is the book you've been waiting for!



4. I ordered this book hoping it would be to Sam Snead what "Ben Hogan: An American Life" was to Ben Hogan and "Grand Slam" was to Bobby Jones. Unfortunately, it's clearly not in the same flight as those two exceptional biographies. While there are some spectacular photos that capture the brilliance of Snead's wondrous swing, the quality of the writing and scholarship does not quite make the cut.



5. Check the table of contents, because the only reason i don`t give this book all the 5 stars is that i think there should have been a "ben hogan and byron nelson" chapter.

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

1. 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!



2. 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.



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. 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.




5. 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"

5 comments about I Remember Ben Hogan: Personal Recollections and Revelations of Golf's Most Famous Legend From The People Who Knew Him Best.

1. The last two reviewers before me couldn't have read the same book I did. The whole point is that while Hogan is such a legendary figure inspiring tremendous curiosity, information about him has come out in bits and pieces over the years. There were dozens of tidbits in this book that were revelatory to me, and I'm someone who lived in Fort Worth many years while the reclusive Mr. Hogan was still alive. I found this book really good and informative, and full of new material. Based on its oral-history format, and the author's own admission in the introduction, this wasn't supposed to be an earthshaking biography full of dirt. Instead, it offers a lot of nifty snapshots about Hogan from people, a number of whom were his close freinds that, while not celebrities, had insights into Hogan's real life that "celebrities" who thought they knew him didn't. This book is definitely worth at least one read.



2. While I understand that any author that wants to write about The Hawk will have his work cut out for him, it seems that Towle took the path of least resistance. A couple of phone calls here, 5 minutes of editing there, and you're left with a book that tells you two things:

   1.) Hogan was a gruff but soft-on-the-inside guy.

   2.) Hogan got the yips later in life.

   Those who want to learn more than those two points would be better off avoiding this book.




3. there seems no in between. I have 800+ golf books and have read everything just about everything on Hogan. (What club did he REALLY hit at Merion in the famous photo?). Due to the negative reviews I didn't get to this one for a while. When I did, I truly enjoyed it. Is some info repeated? Sure. But this is mostly new, original and genuine investigation, not reguritation. If you are a golf and golf history BUFF I think you will enjoy. If not, pass and read the more current books. (a 2 iron.)



4. It's fascinating to me that a guy as reclusive as Hogan could command so much public adoration and curiosity. This is a book that offers a lot of neat stories about Hogan that I had never read. A bunch of people who knew Hogan, both well-known and not so well known, tell their stories about Hogan in their own words---in oral history form. I've read a couple of other books on the Hawk and those were nice reads in their own way as well. I read the other reviews on this page and don't understand why "clucas" called this a "duck hook." It isn't--it's not John Feinstein-caliber, but it's still worth the price. Sounds like some bitterness being expressed by clucas, probably someone who doesn't know anything what it takes to win at golf or can recognize good book writing.



5. I have read a lot about Ben Hogan but this was by far and away one of the best books I've read. I will read this again from time to time.

No comments about John Daly: The Biography.

1 comments about TIGER WOODS: The Making of a Champion (Sports Illustrated).

1. Sports Illustrated put together a collection of some of its articles chronicling the rise of Tiger Woods from the years 1992 through 1996. Writers such as James Garrity, Jaime Diaz, Tim Rosafore, Rick Reilly, William Reed, and Gary Sickle share their special insight on this young golf phenomena. Everyone has their say in this three act drama.

   Act I is aptly titled The Kid. Here we are given a snapshot of the young Tiger learning his trade while moving up in the ranks of golf history. Act II concerns itself with the young man on the rise as an Amateur. The reporting tracks his comebacks, successes and the never ending question of when he will turn pro. Act III, The Pro, introduces us to a new Tiger. Tiger has moved beyond his peers on the amateur circuit and now has debuted as a professional. How he does and what he will do in the future is yet to come as we read the articles concerning his progress.

   This is a good picture book. If you want to start a conversation about Tiger Woods and his rise to golf fame, this is a fair start. The articles aren't all that exciting unless you love to hear the same old jargon and statistics about Tiger, time and time again. The book's photography is good and enjoyable. Sports Illustrated threw together a picture book of a rising star. The magazine could have done better but what you have is decent coffee table reading.

5 comments about Embedded Balls: Adventures On and Off the Tour with Golf's Premier Storyteller.

1. Once again Jacobsen and Sheehan have outdone themselves writing a book about their love of the game and the great stories that have ensued from the fairways worldwide...
   
   I laughed until I cried and am going to pass the book on to my friends in the dental society (and huge golf fans) in golf course mecca in Central Oregon..



2. There's nothing really bad about this slim book, but the writing is bland and cliches abound. I found the book neither enlightening nor funny. I'm a big golf fan and like Peter Jacobsen as a player. I always like to see him win or do well. I think that the problem with the book is that Peter is simply too nice a guy, at least in print (and that does not mean to imply he is not otherwise a nice guy), to be very interesting.



3. This is at least one book too many for Peter. Most of the stories are old and too many involve farts. If you find this funny, your sense of humor has not developed since the second grade. The book is full of errors. Peter tells how Riviera is one of his favorite courses and then tells about his hole-in-one on the 15th hole. Sorry, Peter but the 15th hole is a par four. You made your ace on the 14th hole. It is evident that Peter not only did not write the book, he didn't even read it.



4. I ENJOYED READING EMBEDDED BALLS BUT IT WAS MORE LIKE A PETER JACOBSEN AUTO BIOGRAPHY. THATS WHY IT GOT 3 STARS. I THOUGHT THERE WOULD BE MORE GOLF HUMOR INVOLVING A LOT MORE TOUR PLAYERS. I REALLY LIKED HIS FAMILY AND THEIR VALUES AND IF THIS BOOK WAS MARKETED AS THE PERSONAL LIFE OF PETER AND FAMILY IT WOULD BE 5 STARS.



5. Peter Jacobsen is an excellent story teller. Great book for any golfer. There are many funny happenings on the golf course and during tournament play that I enjoyed. This book was co-authored by Jack Sheehan as was his previous book "Buried Lies". It is a fast read and Peter Jacobsen has made golf interesting and funny.
   
   Letta Meinen

5 comments about Afternoons with Mr. Hogan: A Boy, A Golfing Legend and the Lessons of a Lifetime.

1. Not much here that hasn't already been written about Hogan, including the ?Secret? which is nothing more than a rehash of some old swing tips from years ago. I thought it was interesting that the author (a scratch golfer) never thought the ?Secret? was important enough to incorporate in his own swing, but now after 37 years he thinks it is ?book material?. In my opinion there isn't much to this book at all and it wasn?t very interesting. I watched Hogan hit shag balls and that was a lot more interesting than reading this book.



2. Do not believe the low ratings on this book. I am a Hogan "Nut" and this was a great little book to get a refreshing glimpse of "The Man". I cannot remember the last time I laghed out loud when reading a book, but I did in several places while reading "Afternoons with Mr. Hogan". This book is written by a person who saw Ben Hogan in a very different setting, ie. as a caddie and ball shagger. Mr. Vasquez treats his subject with respect but not with the blind hero worship that sometimes accompany stories or books about Hogan.
   Buy this book and enjoy a refreshing and unique look at the man, Ben Hogan!!!



3. The 1 star reviews were written by a pitiful little man who has a personal vendetta against the author. If you read the review you understand it is an attack and not a reflection of the book material. The stories in the book are personal experience stories telling of the human side of Hogan. These stories have never appeared in print before. The reviewer is simply jealous of the experience as everyone in Ft. Worth, Texas well knows....sad that jealousy plays here...To see real reviews...go to WWW.JODYVASQUEZ.COM



4. Any novice golfer interested in developing a good swing eventually finds his way to Ben Hogan's "Five Lessons." That book, however terrific, provides little information about Hogan's life as a golfer and raises curiosity about a man that some have called "the Garbo of golf." "Afternoons with Mr. Hogan" provides insight into a golf legend from the point of view of a young man who worked for him for several years.
   
   This is indeed a "small" book - it doesn't pretend to be anything else - but the stories are interesting, unusually personal, and quite revealing. The author clearly has great respect and even love for Mr. Hogan, and presents vignettes that provide windows into the personality of an extraordinarily talented, driven, highly secretive man. Even the "secret" of Mr. Hogan's swing is presented as an interesting story, rather than as a crucial tip that will unleash the latent PGA champ in all of us. (I suspect the "wrist cup" tip will be helpful primarily to those who have trouble controlling a hook, which was Mr. Hogan's main golfing issue for many years).
   
   In sum, Mr. Vasquez offers his book as no more and no less than a series of stories that might be of interest -- and most students of golf will find the stories interesting, educational, and touching in their sincerity. An enjoyable and rewarding read.



5. THE BEST book of insights to the life of Ben Hogan. Vasquez does a great job of giving us an inside look at the personality and life of Mr. Hogan. A must read for Hogan fans!

2 comments about Jimmy Demaret: The Swing's the Thing.

1. I received this book as a gift and actually ended up enjoying it, although I never had much interest in the life of the legendary player, Jimmy Demaret. This book takes you along on his journeys and it takes you inside the memories of him from his fellow golfing pals. Takes you play-by-play to every win, lose or draw of his career.



2. Demaret was one of the most vivacious, colorful, beloved characters in the history of golf. I expected the book to be as much. Instead, it rambles here and there, with too few quotes and stories and too much history of secondary characters in Demaret's life. All in all, it fell short of my expectations. It lacked wit, humor and a behind-the-scenes account of Demaret's life.
   
   If you want a step-by-step history of his life, this book is it. The author does his homework with the stats and facts. Unfortunately, the wit and life falls short.