Golf Memoirs

An Avid Reader Press book. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every listener.

In The Feeling of Greatness: Second Edition, golf coach Tim O'Connor updates his previous biography of the late, great Canadian golfer Moe Norman, who was famous for introducing the single-plane golf swing. This edition includes new anecdotes about Moe both on and off the course by golfers, journalists, friends, and family and offers a more in-depth portrait of the man and golfer, especially in the last years of his life.

One night in a Chicago restaurant, Michael Bamberger draws up a list of golf heroes. Nine are living legends, like Arnold and Jack. Nine are secret legends, like Dolphus "Golf Ball" Hull: a windblown tour caddie from Jackson, Mississippi. What they all share is a game that courses through their collective veins like a drug. Accompanied by a sidekick and friend, a former tour player who is a secret legend himself, Bamberger seeks to locate and get to know these luminaries.

When he set out to play each of Golf Digest’s 100 greatest American golf courses in one year, Jimmie James knew he was attempting the impossible. But then again, he’d spent his entire life defying the odds. Playing from the Rough is a remarkable memoir of race, class, family, and the power of perseverance, as James braids his love of golf with reflections on the path that took him from childhood poverty to the most exclusive and opulent golf courses in America.

SETTLING DOWN is the fourth and final instalment of THE RELUCTANT EXPAT, Alan Laycock’s light-hearted account of his life in Spain. ***The first part of Alan's sequel, THE CONTENTED EXPAT, is now available.***

The amazing and blessed life of popular ESPN reporter and correspondent for College GameDay Marty Smith, whose mission in this thoughtful and funny memoir is to return fans to the true soul of sports in this country. Never Settle is the funny but oh, it's true story of how Marty got here, and a revealing look at his journey. Never Settle includes all the best stories and behind-the-scenes moments from Marty's wild life, covering topics including: college football, racing, fathers and sons, and how sports can bring us together.

Arnold Palmer changed golf - and sports - forever. The winner of more than 90 tournaments, including four Masters, the numbers on his resume don't do justice to the greatness of his achievements. Because Palmer wasn't just a golfer in the golden age of the sport, knocking heads with other greats like Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player - he also was one of the first sportsmen to understand the marketing possibilities of his, and all, sports.

In 1997 Tiger Woods was already among the most-watched and closely examined athletes in history. But it wasn't until the Masters Tournament that his career would definitively change forever. Woods, then only 21, won the Masters by a historic 12 shots, which remains the widest margin of victory in the tournament's history, making it an iconic moment for him and sports.

Best Seat in the House, written with New York Times best-selling author Don Yaeger, gives us 18 valuable lessons that Jack Nicklaus II learned from his father, PGA champion Jack Nicklaus. Although the “Golden Bear”, as he is known by fans, is widely regarded as the best golfer of all time, with a record number of PGA major championships, his life and values show that true legacy lives on through your children, grandchildren, and others we are blessed to call family and friends.

His story is unprecedented in the world of golf. Born to a family of migrant laborers, Calvin Peete dropped out of school in the eighth grade, went to work picking crops, first swung a golf club at the age of twenty-three-and rose to the top of the PGA. In Calvin Peete: Golf's Forgotten Star, Gordon Hobson tells for the first time Peete's incredible story. Calvin Peete's story is inspiring, but it also reveals the struggles many Black golfers endured even after the Caucasian—only clause was removed from the PGA's bylaws.

For more than a decade, golf was dominated by one galvanizing figure: Eldrick "Tiger" Woods. But as his star has fallen, a new, ambitious generation has stepped up to claim the crown. Once the domain of veterans, golf saw a youth revolution in 2014. In Slaying the Tiger, Shane Ryan introduces us to the volatile, colorful crop of heirs apparent who are storming the barricades of this traditionally old-fashioned sport.

What happens when a weekend athlete - of average skill at best - joins the professional golf circuit? George Plimpton, one of the finest participatory sports journalists, spent a month of self-imposed torture on the tour to find out. Along the way, he meets amateurs, pros, caddies, officials, fans, and hangers-on. In The Bogey Man, we find golf legends, adventurers, stroke-saving theories, superstitions, and other golfing lore and, best of all, Plimpton's thoughts and experiences.

The colorful, sentimental, funny, affectionate, cantankerous memoir by the most colorful, funniest, most cantankerous-- and probably the most revered-- sportswriter of the last fifty years. Dan Jenkins is accepted as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) golf writer of all time, wrote beloved bestselling novels and abused more corporate expense accounts than anyone who ever lived. It's a touching, laugh-out-loud tribute to the romanticism of old-time sportswriting-- and the glory days of sports.

What if the films Grumpy Old Men and Back to the Future collided in a Sunday school class? Senior citizens are one of the more difficult groups of God’s children to deal with on church campuses because they already know everything there is to know about everything, including how to run a church. In 2007, that was certainly true at Mountain Top Community Church in Mesa, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. So, when 56-year-old energy industry analyst Sam Slouch was invited to lead a class for those in the Hospice Preschool community, he wasn’t thrilled.

A book as iconic as its subject—capturing and celebrating 150 years of golfing history and stories. From caddies to greenkeepers, clubhouses to breath-taking courses, this book will reflect the wonderful journey of the sport’s most inclusive, and best loved, tournament.

The unstoppable drive that created golf's greatest legend wasn't born—it was built. Tiger Woods and son Charlie show why some families achieve what others only dream about. Tiger Woods didn’t just play golf—he redefined it, shattering records while carrying the weight of unprecedented expectations. Despite setbacks, scandals, and injuries, he endured and fought his way back.

Was there ever a year in golf like 1960? It was the year that the sport and its vivid personalities exploded on the consciousness of the nation, when the past, present, and future of the game collided. Television, still a new medium, provided a fresh window to this fascinating show and enabled this "rich man's sport" to win over millions of new fans.

In this funny, perceptive memoir, Golf Digest writer and ESPN commentator Darren Kilfara lives the dream of many American golf enthusiasts. While a student at Harvard, Kilfara convinces the school that he needs a year of study in Scotland. Once there, he purchases a student pass to the courses of St. Andrews for a mere $150. Taking full advantage, Kilfara plays the most legendary courses in the world and gains an entirely new perspective on life.

In 1942, the United States Golf Association (USGA) cancelled its four golf tournaments for the duration of World War II. But then it did something different in only that year - it sponsored the Hale-America National Open on the same weekend as the cancelled US Open. The great Ben Hogan won that tournament and went to his grave believing he had therefore won a record five US Open titles. In The Open Question, Peter May turns his attention to this controversial, colorful Hale-America National Open of 1942.

Verne Lundquist's remarkable broadcasting career has placed him at the center of major sporting events in America for more than 50 years, from Jack Nicklaus' final victory at the 1986 Masters to Tonya Harding's attack on Nancy Kerrigan at the 1994 Olympics to the Auburn-Alabama shocker of 2013. In his first memoir, he replays highlights from his career, taking sports fans behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic moments in modern sports history.