Golfers and golf-o-philes will gobble this down and no doubt ignore the repetitiveness that may dissuade other readers.
The author of A Course Called Ireland (2009) returns with an account of his recent travels around Scotland, where he played more than 100 courses in 57 days.
Along with his clubs and luggage, Coyne (English/St. Joseph’s Univ.) carries some personal baggage, as he was forced to leave his wife and two young daughters (though they did visit) again for an extended period to play golf. Although he dealt with some guilt early on, the feeling, at least in his account, faded, and he began to focus on his mission: playing as many courses as he could in the birthplace of golf. The author “imagined a search for the soul of the game as a long-bearded seeker, a courier of fine hickory shafts, wandering in the Highlands and playing to the sounds of bagpipes and the smells of clan-stoked bonfires. Far from any driving range, I envisaged lost answers nestled at the bottom of ancient golf holes.” The author entertains us with accounts of foul weather, fair friends (one of whom got hit in the face with a drive), and astonishing courses, some dating back centuries. Although he is an English teacher, Coyne goes light on literary allusions, though he does discuss fellow linksman and poet Billy Collins. The author played a wide variety of courses on his journey, from remote ones in Shetland and the Orkneys to perhaps the most opulent of all: Skibo, the castle and property where Andrew Carnegie once held forth. Coyne also sprinkles in bits about golf history (and the origin of the word “golf”), the design of courses, the meaning of “links.” We learn a lot about pubs, as well. The epiphanies that arrive are generally unsurprising—e.g., families are important; always try hard and pursue your dreams, etc.
Golfers and golf-o-philes will gobble this down and no doubt ignore the repetitiveness that may dissuade other readers.Pub Date: July 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4767-5428-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Spitz attempts to cash in on the 25th anniversary of the New York Knicks' first NBA championship in 1969 in a style that combines the worst elements of rock criticism, celebrity tell-all, and all-sports radio. To read this book cover to cover, one would think Spitz (Dylan: A Superstar, 1988, etc.) was the 13th man in the Knicks rotation. However, a quick glance at the sources tells a different story: This is nothing more than a cut-and-paste quickie in a classy cloth binding. It's not that he gets his facts wrong—after all, he's cribbed from the best in describing how general manager Eddie Donovan built the squad; how the team grew as a unit, especially after adding power forward Dave DeBusschere; how they finally surpassed the Boston Celtics (league champions in 11 of the previous 13 years); and the unfolding of their 196970 run at the NBA crown. But the way he tells this story, implying a familiarity with events and people that he seems not to have had, will get under the skin of anybody who's even seen a photograph of the Knicks' championship team. Spitz's character studies—of Rhodes Scholar, small forward, and future US senator Bill Bradley; stoical team captain and center Willis Reed; superfly guard Walt ``Clyde'' Frazier; role players like Dick Barnett; and rookie benchwarmer Johny Warren—are long on detail but conspicuously lacking in substance. A similar cursory approach makes the author's windy explanation of the realpolitik of the City Game (as urban playground hoops is known) fall somewhere between pathetic and unintentionally hilarious. Further compounding this lazy effort are the numerous anachronisms (such as referring to a 747 taking off in 1969, when 747s didn't go into commercial use until 1970). A curious footnote, considering the author (who has profiled Woodstock I as well as Bob Dylan) appears to be stuck in 1969.
Pub Date: March 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-15-193116-X
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995
For a sport that promotes itself as ``the game for a lifetime'' for everyone, golf has a pretty sorry record where women are concerned, and Chambers recounts some of the key battles. When the second US Open was held in 1896, the United States Golf Association's leadership bravely allowed John Shippen, who was half black, half Native American, to play. Regrettably, the sport has had a less brilliant track record over the rest of its American history; but in the wake of the Shoal Creek scandal surrounding that country club's exclusionary membership policy, things have begun to improve for minority men. Not so for women. Chambers, whose unusual credentials (contributing editor to Golf Digest and a columnist for the National Law Journal) make her uniquely qualified to tell this story, recounts the various ways in which private country clubs have traditionally given women golfers the shaft. Providing a wealth of anecdotal evidence, she shows how women are excluded from full membership by many clubs. Barbara Litrell, publisher of McCall's, found that the prestigious Wykagyl Country Club would allow her husband to be a member but not her, even though her company was paying the initiation fee. We also see how women whose marital status changes are unfairly discriminated against (unlike men, widowed or divorced women who remarry must often pay new initiation fees), and how determined individuals have fought back with mixed results. At a time in which the sport is experiencing a continuing boom, with 37% of all new players being female, the issue is one with a growing impact in the sports world. Unfortunately, although the book is well researched and reported, it is rather drily written and awkwardly structured, with an uneasy mix of history and activist how-to. Despite its shortcomings, a useful study of one of the less examined dark corners of American sport. (First serial to Golf Digest)
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-671-50151-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Pocket
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
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