On Golf: The Game, the Players, and a Personal History of Obsession - Softcover

O'Grady, Timothy

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9780312330064: On Golf: The Game, the Players, and a Personal History of Obsession

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312330065 ISBN 13: 9780312330064

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2006

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"A striking meditation that stylishly links his father, Arnold Palmer, Golf in the Kingdom, and the fragility of the swing."
---Sports Illustrated

Since being initiated as a child into the arcane mysteries of the game of golf, Timothy O'Grady has carried in his mind an obsession with the sport---embracing its history, literature, and even his own private battle with the club.
On Golf is a personal history of O'Grady's obsession with golf, from its domination of his teenage years, to the glorious occasion when he played a round with Arnold Palmer. Above all, it was the bond of golf that he shared with his father, who gave him his first club when he was only two years old. Forty years later as the old man lay on his deathbed; father and son were still talking about the game.
Timothy O'Grady still dreams that he may one day become a truly fine player but in the meantime he has given us a book that beautifully describes his love affair with the game and goes to the root of the obsession that captivates so many.

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From the Inside Flap

An affecting and wide-ranging memoir of one man?s obsession with the arcane mysteries of the game of golf.

Weather hazards, inadequate technique or practice, lack of physical coordination, erratic biorhythms, hangovers, an unruly mind and statistical improbability -- these are just a few of the obstacles to hitting a pure golf shot.

Che Guevara, Alice Cooper, Dennis Hopper and Tiger Woods have all struggled with the above to a greater or lesser degree. And, since being initiated as a child into the arcane mysteries of the game of golf, Timothy O?Grady too has carried in his mind an obsession with the sport that has, at times, been all-consuming. On Golf is structured around a personal history -- how his father played and taught his son, how it dominated his teenage years, his adulation of Arnold Palmer, (with whom he would eventually hit a few rounds), what it was like to eventually beat his father and how they both continued to talk maniacally about the game even as his father lay dying.

When not playing golf, the author was often reading about it, and he discusses in the book the rich literature of the game, which includes the work of Ford Maddox Ford, P.G. Wodehouse, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Updike and many others. On Golf is the work of a great writer and a good golfer that is destined to become a classic.

About the Author

Timothy O'Grady was born in the U.S. and has lived in Ireland, London, and Spain. He has written about golf for Golf World and Esquire, including accounts of rounds played with Sergio Garcia and Arnold Palmer.

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