2022 in Golf Books

And some non-golf books for good measure

It’s late December, so it must be Best Of season. This isn’t a Best Of list by any means, but it’s in the same spirit. It’s a list of things I read this year and a brief thought on what I felt about or took from each one. Golf books make up approximately 25% of my reading list, so if you are here for the golf, it should be pretty short and sweet. I like seeing reviews from other golfers before diving into a book, so if you’ve had your eye on any of these books, another opinion hopefully might entice you to pick up (or put down) the book.

I read plenty of non-golf books that were worth mentioning, too. In an unsuccessful attempt at brevity, I trimmed my list down to just a handful of fiction and non-fiction books that I found interesting or wanted to highlight.

Golf’s Holy War: The Battle for the Soul of a Game in the Age of Science

Brett Cyrgalis - 4.5 to 5ish stars

A pleasant surprise. I'm not sure what made me finally read this book, but it wasn't exactly about what I thought it was about. I thought it would be entirely focused on the men's pro game and the new data-driven, bomb-and-gauge style of play and the modern chase for speed. It certainly touches on those topics, but deep down I think it's more about the idea that no matter how many frontiers are uncovered through the science of the game, there's still a mysticism about golf that can't be quantified. There are several deep dives into the nature of learning, as well, that I find important to consider if you are trying to improve at the game. It certainly gave me a lot of ideas and concepts to investigate. Thankfully, it comes with a ton of references.

The Second Life of Tiger Woods

Michael Bamberger - 3 stars at the most

Fairly early in the book there is a lengthy section on PED’s and I just really don’t care. The deeper it went, the more unnecessary it felt. I don’t know what I expected from the book or what I was hoping to read. I don’t know if I wanted happy Tiger comeback story stuff, or if I wanted unabashed criticism of the boneheaded and sometimes downright dangerous mistakes he’s made, but whatever I wanted, it wasn’t 50 or however many odd pages there were of PED talk, which left me with the most meh feeling after the book was finished.

The Inner Game of Golf

Tim Gallwey - Gave it 4 stars, but it’s really probably 5

I read this book late in the golf season, treating it as any other book and not as an object of study. Any notes that I took occurred mentally, and any tactics from the book that I tried I did so anecdotally and not in a systematic or tracked fashion. Here are two things I know: 1) The book carries on with a few tangents and can seem to lose focus at times. It feels like the meat of the book is right at the beginning. 2). As I began my trial and error late in the season, I completed 4 rounds using some of the techniques from the book. In my first round, I shot my best round in years. In my 2nd round, buoyed by high expectations from the first round, I crashed and shot slightly worse than my average. In my 3rd round, I missed a short putt on the 18th to break 80 for the first time in maybe 15-20 years. In my 4th round, I crashed again.

So my plan is to use it more like a textbook this winter and spring and come up with an actual plan to implement the strategies from the book. From a results standpoint, I expect this to give this a resounding 5 stars if I can stay patient on the course.

The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever

Mark Frost - Easy 5 stars

As good as everyone said it was. An entertaining telling of the story of the match between Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Ken Venturi, and Harvey Ward. The descriptions of Cypress Point are interesting and provide a glimpse of the strategy of the course. The real meat of the story, however, is the backstory of each player in the match. I didn't know as much about Hogan or Nelson as I thought, and this was basically an introduction to Harvie Ward for me. As a bonus you also learn much about Bing Crosby, Eddie Lowery, and Allister MacKenzie, to a name a few. Even the appendix reveals a little history behind the development of Monterey peninsula and the influential role of Marion Hollins. Just a fascinating story and really informative about the history of professional and amateur golf.

Dream Golf

Stephen Goodwin - Still 5 stars

After reading this again, 10 years after my first read, it's still a 5, but just barely. The first few chapters are my issue, especially chapter 2, "The Anti-Tycoon". I've seen plenty of interviews with Mike Keiser, and I've heard all of the praise about him. I get it. But this chapter paints him as someone with perfect business instincts, and no trace of ego whatsoever. And it goes on seemingly forever. I understand the purpose of setting up Mike's background and demeanor, but it feels way over the top.

Some of the writing irks me too. I'm not sure how to describe it... maybe antiquated? Definitely dorky. Such as on Mike Keiser: "he wasn't some hail-fellow-well-met". Or this description of Howard McKee: "a rationalist who never forgets the mysteries of the psyche. He is a high-minded thinker who loves to putter around on his property and to work with his hands, a philosopher who likes to sweat. He sometimes comes across as a hard-nosed realist, at other times a New Age dreamer and a bit of a woo-woo." Perhaps it's just me, but stuff like this makes me cringe.

With that said, once the site for Bandon is discovered, all of that is easily forgotten. All of the details and access in the book is unforgettable. Every aspect of the resort is covered, from finding the land, to clearing it, to construction and golf design concepts, to hole-by-hole walkthroughs. It's basically everything a golf nerd could ask for. All I need now is an update including details about the Sheep Ranch!

The The Nines

Anthony Pioppi - 3 stars

A lot like Pioppi's The Finest Nines. Perhaps more similar than I expected it to be. There is a little more discussion on the background of courses in this book than in The Finest Nines, especially considering there are several courses profiled that no longer exist. The chapters covering the history of Ocean Links and the hunt for remains of it today are entertaining, and probably the highlight of the book.

The book suffers a bit from being dated. In the early 2000s, a course like Northwood was probably a hidden gem, but in the golf architecture internet days, it's quite well known, along with places like The Dunes Club.

The biggest downfall of the book is something that plagues The Finest Nines, as well. There are few pictures in the book, and the ones that are included are small, grainy, and black and white (at least in the paperback version). Read alone, or in bed, there are a lot of bland play-by-plays of the course ("Hole 1 is a 384 yard dogleg left, with a bunker guarding the left side of the green", etc.). It's hard to get much out of the book without keeping Google Earth and an image search of the course open next to you while you read. Not that I am opposed in any way to doing that. It simply limits your reading options.

Normal Sport

Kyle Porter - 4 stars

An entertaining recap of the season, but the short bits and notes from week to week covered most of the same ground as the SGS (Shotgun Start) podcast year in review. I thought the stronger suit of Normal Sport was diving a little more in depth to the biggest stories of the year, and providing more context and perspective as to what those stories meant in the greater game of golf. Rory after the Ryder Cup, for example, was excellent. Phil at Kiawah. Spieth's wild year, and why we cheer for him. All of these were great.

If I were to suggest a blueprint for a future edition (Normal Sport 2 is on my To-Read list), I would say to focus more on those features, and less on the day-to-day minutiae. It's amusing, but probably better handled by SGS. Something like Shea Serrano's "Conference Room, Five Minutes" might be a better goalpost; a collection of focused essays, each on a particular event or person of the season, but viewed through a specific context or perspective (see: the essay relating the personality of each Office character through how they would play in a pickup basketball game).

Other Books of Note - Fiction:

American Dirt

Jeanine Cummins - 4 stars

Yes, a story about Mexican migrants written by a White American is problematic, so you need to do a little reality check to make sure you are taking it in as a work of fiction and not a true portrayal of the migrant experience. With that said, it’s an entertaining, albeit gruesome, page turner.

The Great Believers

Rebecca Makkai - 4 stars, maybe 5

Really a pretty great story and a powerful portrayal of living (and dying) through the early AIDS epidemic in the 80’s. I loved the portrayals of Chicago, but personally could have done without most of the Paris subplot in the book.

The Songbook of Benny Lament

Amy Harmon - 4 stars

A really fun and entertaining book, I would definitely recommend it. Perhaps I like historical fiction more than I thought I did? Seeing names like Berry Gordon and Motown, Ray Charles, Smoky Robinson, and scenes taking place at Hitsville USA and the Fox Theater was all very enjoyable. The songwriting scenes and everything about the group trying to make it as a big-time act really made the book for me. Even the loose interpretation of the Jack Johnson story intrigued me, although I thought it got buried a little bit under some of the other themes of the book.

What didn't I like about the book? The mob angle. The Author's Note stated that the mob was very much intertwined into the music scene and the civil rights struggle of the 60's. I have no frame of reference to know if that is true or not, but while it certainly interjected danger and urgency into the story, it feels cheap and forced. There are so many natural antagonists for this story - censors, local authorities, politicians, white supremacists - that going for a mob tie-in instead just felt lazy

Other Books of Note - Non-Fiction:

Hip-Hop (and Other Things)

Shea Serrano - 4 stars

I've listened to most episodes of the No Skips podcast with Jinx and Shea before I read this book. A lot of the chapters reminded me of a slimmed down version of a No Skips episode, which reminded me how good No Skips is. I feel like now I might even go back and listen to the episodes that I skipped due to not having any interest in the particular artist, just because it's that good. I don't know how much the book added to that experience, other than it probably covers a little more ground, but not as deeply.

Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made

David Halberstam - 3 or 4 stars

This was called one of the great sports writing "write-arounds" by The Ringer, referring to the fact that the author never had access to Jordan directly. The book seems to make up for this by making deep dives into every aspect of Michael's backstory. There's an extensive deep dive on North Carolina basketball. There's one on MJ's agent, David Falk. There's David Stern, the Pistons, Larry Bird and the Celtics, Magic Johnson and the Lakers, you name it. Some of them I found interesting, some of them I found tedious.

The format of the book, centered around the 1997-98 season, with trips back in the timeline to Jordan's youth, college career, and earlier seasons, was clearly the model for The Last Dance documentary. There is a lot of overlap between the book and the documentary, and I really didn't find too much in the book that wasn't in The Last Dance. Where there was overlap, the doc almost universally covered it better and was more interesting, a benefit certainly of having Michael on board and providing his perspective.

If you really want to go deep, then absolutely read the book. If you are choosing between the two? Stick with The Last Dance.

The King of Confidence: A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch

Miles Harvey - 4 stars

Entertaining and well-researched, although the material felt stretched at times to accommodate the story, even despite the long list of sources at the end of the book. Also slightly terrifying, in a way. Some of the best moments of the book are when the author captures the overall mood of "antebellum" America, as the author calls it, in the 1840's and 50's. I believe "reality was porous" was a term the author used to describe the amount of misinformation and distrust prevalent in the era immediately preceding the Civil War. Sounds alarmingly similar to modern times.

Out of Their League

Dave Meggysey - 4 stars

Finally read this after it being on my shelf for a few years. Pretty sure this was a Dave Zirin recommendation, with Meggyesy being sort of a precursor, in ways, to Colin Kaepernick. This book was way older than I anticipated (1970, and while I thought I knew of Meggyesy from the late 80's/early 90's, a little research revealed that I was actually thinking of Dave Meggett, and almost certainly due to Tecmo Super Bowl).

It's an entertaining book, mostly serving as strictly an autobiography for Meggyesy. Despite the age of the book, a lot of the mentality of modern football coaches, especially at the college level, is reflected here. Other than the salaries, really, not much seems different from then and now. Towards the end of Meggyesy's career, he is quite vocal in anti-war efforts, he refuses to participate in national anthem ceremonies, and he is vocal in the press about racism in the locker room, as well as about the disregard of players' health. Because of this, he feels he was ostracized by the coaches and stripped of his starting linebacker role.

Meggyesy likely would have been blackballed from the league had he tried to continue playing, much like Kaepernick, for supposedly being a nuisance to the other players in the locker room. Interestingly enough, he had been pursuing a degree in higher education throughout his career, and had planned on walking away from the game anyways. These last 1-2 years of his career were the most fascinating, and I wish they would have been more of a central focus. As soon as he decides to walk away, the book ends quite abruptly. I would have loved to know what he was up to during at least the 1-2 years following his retirement.