The NOT instructional golf book thread - Updated Nov. 8th, 2013

[Ruddy]

"Maybe It Should Have Been A 3 Iron" by Lawrence l Donegan . "My year in the life as a caddy for the 438th best player."Very funny look at international caddying.

Opening quote : "If I ever needed advice from a caddie, he'd be making the shots, and I'd be carrying the bag." -- Bobby Jones

[tsmithers]

Just finished Caddy for Life about Bruce Edwards. Really good book. Fun read. Good portion of the book is on Edwards and his life but also a good bit about Watson which was fun to read.

[tsmithers]

I just finished "Paper Tiger". Good book but definitely not as good as the others I've read. I was a little disappointed in where he ended up. I didn't think he was going to make the tour but.......well, I won't ruin the book for others so I'll stop there. Those who read it know what I'm talking about.

[tsmithers]

Just finished "War by the Shore". Good book but not great. I was really hoping for more random stories about the players/teams/etc instead of just a description of the shots and rounds. There was some but I figured there would be more. Maybe I had higher expectations. Enjoyable read though.

[wingedfoot97]

Loopers - John Dunn

Royal and Ancient - Curt Sampson

Through the Green - Sal Maioranna (about DLIII playing Riviera)

To the Linksland - Michael Bamberger

Slim to None - Dan Jenkins

Franchise Babe - Dan Jenkins

Jenkins At The Majors - Dan Jenkins

Money Whipped Steer Job Three Jack Give Up Artist - Dan Jenkins

The Lost Masters - Curt Sampson

The Captain - Geoff Shackelford

Riviera - Geoff Shackelford

An Open Book - Darren Clark

Open Book - Paul Lawrie

Captain At Kiawah - Bernard Gallacher

[wingedfoot97]

Us vs Them - Robin McMillan

Life Swings - Nick Faldo

Where Bobby Played - Linton Hopkins

Bury Me in A Pot Bunker - Pete Dye

Zinger - Paul Azinger

Good Bounces and Bad Lies - Ben Wright

The Comeback - Ken Venturi

Swinging From my Heels - Cristina Kim / Alan Shipnuck

[EddieMenemsha]

Has anyone read "The Green Road Home" by Michael Bamberger? I guess Bamberger was a caddie on Tour and wrote a book about his experience. I got paired up with some golfers a few weeks back, and one of them recommended the book to me. If you've read it, let me know what you thought.

As to my two cents on this thread, not too much add: I second everyone's praise for "The Match." Loved it. I gotta get out on Cypress before I die.

[wingedfoot97]

The Green Road home is good reading. Especially when Faxon fires him!

[Soloman1]

Here's a novel based on some real-life events and people that's an interesting read. The world of high-stakes golf gambling is part of it. Just search Amazon (kindle) or other e-book sites.

Hackers, Hustlers and the Fatman

[deadsolid...shank]

I really enjoy Jenkins novels but the stuff he writes in the magazines seem like a huge waste of paper. Anyone else feel that way?


A couple other fiction books that are really god reads.

The Back Nine by Billy Mott and The Green by Troon McAllister. If you can find them you'll really enjoy them.

[wingedfoot97]

[quote name='deadsolid...shank' timestamp='1375149983' post='7565498']
I really enjoy Jenkins novels but the stuff he writes in the magazines seem like a huge waste of paper. Anyone else feel that way?


A couple other fiction books that are really god reads.

The Back Nine by Billy Mott and The Green by Troon McAllister. If you can find them you'll really enjoy them.
[/quote]

As an unabashed Jenkins fan I have to somewhat agree that his writings of late are not the quality that I grew up reading. His tweets on the other hand....priceless.

[tsmithers]

My reading frenzy continues. I just finished "The Greatest Player Who Never Lived". I don't particularly like books that take real people (Bobby Jones and many other golfers and their real stories and records) and make them a main part of their story but I thought it was a really good book and well done. Good story that made it hard to put down. Recommended.

[tsmithers]

Read "Who's Your Caddies" by Rick Reilly on vacation this week. Another good book! There were a couple of chapters I could've done without but very interesting stuff about each player he caddied for. Fun read.

[MikeG]

Stay away from Duel in the Sun. Finished it a couple days ago. Tedious. Meandering. Anticlimactic.

[tsmithers]

A few more I've finished.

"The Green" by Troon Mcallister - Really fun book about a hustler is selected to play in the Ryder Cup. All fictional characters but a very good book. highly recommend

"Are You Kidding Me" by Rocco Mediate/Feinstein - This was a fun and easy read. I really like Rocco and wish he never had back problems because I think he could have won more

"The Power of Positive Idiocy" by David Feherty - Funny collection of Feherty articles and responses to questions. Good stuff

[middie8]

I read "The Match" once a year. Its one of the best golf stories out there.

[trentW]

Who remembers this? When Steve Jones won the 1996 US Open, he mentioned that he was inspired by reading [i]Hogan[/i], by Curt Sampson. Only Jones gave credit to [i]Ralph Sampson![/i]

But speaking of Sampson, my favorite is [i]The Eternal Summer[/i]. I love how detailed Sampson gets in his descriptions, and especially enjoyed Hogan's comments on Firestone (which is where the PGA Championship was played that year). You can tell that Sampson must have really enjoyed talking to the guys who were part of the 1960 season on Tour.

[MizunoJunky]

I'm looking for some books to check out and read from my iphone, any short descriptions for books that aren't biographys? Some of the books mentioned sound really good

[MizunoJunky]

Any reviews on Open from John Feinstein?

I've read "Are you kidding me?" And "Tales from Q School" both great books.

I loved "Paper Tiger" as well.

[jackdupp]

[i]"On the Tour With Harry Sprague"-H.W.Wind[/i]
[i]"Gettin' to the Dancefloor"- Al Barkow[/i]
[i] "Golf Course Architecture"-Michael Hurdzan[/i]
[i]"My Usual Game" -David Owen[/i]
[i]"Doctor Golf"- William Price Fox[/i]
[i]"Green Road Home"-Michael Bamberger[/i]

[i]I could go on...and on...and on..[/i]

[jackdupp]

[quote name='EddieMenemsha' timestamp='1375041133' post='7556056']
Has anyone read "The Green Road Home" by Michael Bamberger? I guess Bamberger was a caddie on Tour and wrote a book about his experience. I got paired up with some golfers a few weeks back, and one of them recommended the book to me. If you've read it, let me know what you thought.

As to my two cents on this thread, not too much add: I second everyone's praise for "The Match." Loved it. I gotta get out on Cypress before I die.
[/quote] It's on my list. A real good book. Compelling story,very well told. The recommendation was right on!

[MizunoJunky]

[quote name='jackdupp' timestamp='1383637651' post='8103826']
[quote name='EddieMenemsha' timestamp='1375041133' post='7556056']
Has anyone read "The Green Road Home" by Michael Bamberger? I guess Bamberger was a caddie on Tour and wrote a book about his experience. I got paired up with some golfers a few weeks back, and one of them recommended the book to me. If you've read it, let me know what you thought.

As to my two cents on this thread, not too much add: I second everyone's praise for "The Match." Loved it. I gotta get out on Cypress before I die.
[/quote] It's on my list. A real good book. Compelling story,very well told. The recommendation was right on!
[/quote]

The green road home sounds like a book id love but sadly, not on ibooks

[tsmithers]

[quote name='jackdupp' timestamp='1383637128' post='8103822']
[i]"On the Tour With Harry Sprague"-H.W.Wind[/i]
[i]"Gettin' to the Dancefloor"- Al Barkow[/i]
[i]"Golf Course Architecture"-Michael Hurdzan[/i]
[i]"My Usual Game" -David Owen[/i]
[i]"Doctor Golf"- William Price Fox[/i]
[i]"Green Road Home"-Michael Bamberger[/i]

[i]I could go on...and on...and on..[/i]
[/quote]

Thanks for the additions! I've updated the original post. Line spacing gets worse and worse with each update and I can't seem to fix it.

[EddieMenemsha]

I finally got to "The Green Road Home" when I took a vacation with the wife earlier this month. Great read. I highly recommend it, especially to those of us that are big fans of the PGA Tour. It's a very insightful look at the big leagues.

[vaterman]

"Crack, Heroin, Golf: Who can tell the difference? Life's Lessons Learned While Playing Dumb Dame" by Monte Scheinblum.
Interesting book for those of us who follow Montes threads in the Instruction forum. Not a bad book at all.

"No Hiding in the Open" by John Hoskison - Finished reading it last night. Bit of a pageturner for me. John writes well and it captures. A very surprising ending.

[HoffTTM]

The Anatomy of a Golf Course - Tom Doak

[tsmithers]

Old thread but a good resource for golf books. anyone have any new ones I can add to the front page? I've read a bunch so far. Not through the whole list though.

[KNGR5150]

"a gentleman's game" by tom coyne. I do not remember if this was mentioned or not. I just finished reading this and saw the movie too.

[tsmithers]

Bump in case anyone has any new books to add. I love this thread, come back to it every so often and am making my way through the list.

[MaybeImLeftHanded]

This thread just cost me $30 on my Kindle. Will report back.