I have no awareness of why I have torn through five different golfing books in the past month.  There have been no injuries, no layoffs from work, no two-week vacations on tropical islands with nothing to do.  Simply put, in the time that presented itself, I became a voracious reader.  Without delay, here are five worthwhile golfing books that you can pick up in a local new , used or online book store.

THE RUB OF THE GREEN (1988)  You’ll have to find this one on abebooks.com or some other used book seller.  Long out of print (the second printing was 1989), it shouldn’t be.  The initial offering from William Hallberg, RUB tells the story of Ted Kendall, an Ohioan who absorbs his mother’s death and deflects his father’s inequities to earn a college golfing scholarship and PGA Tour card.  He also earns an 18-month stay in prison.  Hallberg tells parallel tales of Kendall’s prison and golfing lives.  Suffice it to say that a life-changing event takes place within prison confines and that the two stories ultimately merge in a complex way.  Hallberg has a wide vocabulary that enables him to not sound pedantic, ever.  Reading this book is an easy undertaking, even with a few unfortunate holes along the way.  The most glaring is, how did Ted Kendall become an agronomy expert?  Other than that, a great volume.

GOLFING WITH GOD (2007)  Roland Merullo spins an other-worldly tale about a mission assigned to a dead club professional by none other than the creator ownself.  Fairly contented in his cloud-side condo and challenging celestial country club, Hank Winston is shaken from his doldrums by an assignment:  help God recover her/his game.  Merullo seems unsure of certain fictional elements, such as how to handle platonic/sexual love between God and Winston.  After all, the Christion god invites all to love her/him.  The hints at sexuality between the two figures are awkward, adolescent, and either misguided or unneeded.  Unlike Hallberg above, who describes two specific scenes of sexual encounter with expertise and confidence, Merullo embarks on certain tangents for which he lacks the confidence necessary to conclude.  In spite of these flaws, the basic story is an unexpected and interesting one, and is also worth the investment of time and cash.

MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN (2006)  Bob Mitchell must be a professor at some New England college or university.  He imbues his protagonist, a professor of comparative literature, with all the characteristics of his own world, circles and life.  There can be no doubt that writing in the voice of a completely different self is unnerving and demanding beyond all comprehension.  Nevertheless, it is the mark of a great writer and great writing.  Would that we might have such a taken risk here.  MATCH is the story of a dying man given the opportunity to play a match against God for his life.  On the first tee, instead of facing the Almighty, Elliott Goodman (really?  couldn’t do any better than Goodman?) faces off against an unforeseen foe that is anyone but God.  The Almighty sends emmisaries, famous figures of history, to combat Goodman.  The novel employs a didactic technique to teach Elliott and the reader a series of life lessons.  It never descends into preachy, superior tones.  As one might guess, the selection of influential historical figures is limited to 18 (for the number of holes in the match) and could easily have excluded some and included others.  Somewhat controversial and certainly readable.

JENKINS AT THE MAJORS (2009)  Please take a moment to read the following series of quotes:

“It’s entirely possible that Dr. Cary Middlecoff gave up dentistry becuase people couldn’t hold their mouths open that long.”

“And now hes was the PGA Tour’s first player to draw an indefinite suspension for using too many Elizabethan words in front of innocent listeners.”

“Finally, on Sunday morning, the USGA felt compelled to make a citizen’s arrest of Bobby Clampett, a fine amateur, for conduct considered ‘demeaning’ to the Open.”

“Pate had said to Ben, ‘Gentle, you’re my pick tomorrow.  I believe you can rope-a-dope that old hook yours right into victory lane.’  It was noted by a listener that Jerry had put three different sports into one sentence, proving he’d gone to the University of Alabama.”

“It was a wondrous moment in golf.  Harry Vardon was inventing the grip again.  Arnold Palmer was hitching up his trowsers again.  Bobby Jones was impregnably quadrilateraling again.”

I have at least six more pages marked for similar ejaculations but, really, can anyone…does anyone write this way, anymore?  Does Dan Jenkins even write this way, anymore?  No, of course not.  Read this volume chronicalling and recapping 50 years of his covering golf’s majors and you will visit the bygone days of a bygone writer of immeasurable and unequalled comedic brilliance.

A DISORDERLY COMPENDIUM OF GOLF (2006)  In the days of B.I. (Before Internet), you had to travel to Toronto to read Lorne Rubenstein’s thoughts on golf.  Now, you can visit The Globe and Mail’s website and read his work any of seven days each week.  It might not be something new, but it will be his own.  For some unknown reason, Rubenstein and co-editor Jeff Neuman took it upon themselves to abandon their wives and write a misguided encyclopedia on the happenings of golf.  The thing is a beast and can be read in so many directions that it feels like a work of magical realism by some over-tall Argentine writer named Cortazar.  This is not a bad thing.  On one page, you’re reading about Harry “Beer Bottle” Bradshaw and WHAMMY, on you go to 1899 Rules of Etiquette, Golf’s Myths Exposed and (say her name three times fast) Jenny Chuasiriporn.  The COMPENDIUM is the perfect bar room tome for settling bets, creating dares, and challenging curmudgeons.  If you have only one golf reference work on your book shelf (you should purchase many, but far be it from me to tell you what to do), this one is my winner.

Might I have the humility to conquer the mighty muni? What would it mean to reign supreme over the great equalizer, the omnipresent goat track where backspin and sidespin, loft and lie, stiffness and flexibility, are rendered insignificant? In the end, there is no finer place to reduce the touring professional to one of us, no finer place to watch her or his shots bound endlessly off concrete greens, through pavement fairways, off threadbare tee blocks, into infamy. No gallery nor grandstand to rebound shots toward safety; no grass pillows from which to play soaring iron shots to receptive targets. This is the muni, the netless basketball court, the unmarked soccer pitch, the dirt baseball field. It is where all arrogance becomes humility, this I give to you. This I embrace.

If Wayne Stiles were a drugged-out, Hollywood star, a book on his exploits might put Bob Labbance’s kids through college.
If Wayne Stiles were a highly-inked professional athlete with anger management issues and a record of crime, a tome on his transgressions might put Bob Labbance’s offspring through college. Wayne Stiles is neither of those; he’s a long-gone architect who gave us Taconic Golf Club at Williams College, among many other, golden-age courses. Bob Labbance has given us some 15 books on golf and golf course architecture, among them The Old Man, on the golfing life of Walter Travis;
and Keepers of the Green, on golf course management,  Although Bob is currently working on The Vardon Invasion, an eponymously-titled work on Harry Vardon, he cannot count on seeing these books get his children through college. Bob suffered a debilitating injury a few years back, slipping off a hopelessly-slick footbridge while golf walking. He battled back with the courage of a Vermonter, only to discover last year that he faced a new battle: ALS. Knowing only that he did not know, Bob looked forward and dedicated himself to finishing The Life and Work of Wayne Stiles. Knowing that it is like all of Bob’s other books is to know that it has been researched with exhaustion, tirelessly assembled, and beautifully appointed with images. How do I know? Well, a small golf course in Hamburg, New York (just south of Buffalo,) called South Shore, provided Bob with an unexpected treasure trove of Stiles correspondence. He shared how much the letters and drawings helped him move forward on the project. When The Vardon Invasion reaches publication, expect more of the same. At this time of great happiness and great uncertainty, how can one book help? Simple, really. Kevin Mendik, Bob’s co-author on the Stiles book, has graciously volunteered to donate all proceeds from the sale of the book to a college fund for Bob’s children. You can purchase the book from the Wayne Stiles Society website, via Google Checkout. If you haven’t stumbled over the links already, here’s a BOLD ONE. Bob is sending me a review copy, in thanks for helping with the NoTownGolf website (his professional site), but I’ve already purchased an additional copy. I’d like you all to consider doing the same.

Not all reclamation projects turn into the halls of Valhalla. For every
Widow’s Walk in Scituate, MA, USA, there is a Ferry Point. Pelayo received a bulk email this week from golfconstructionnews.com that contained a minor link to a major eyesore in the Bronx, New York City, USA. The release from GCC.Com read thus:

“In late January ‘08, New York City officials released an RFP for the design and management of this muni facility, which has been on hold since mid-November ‘06. Once a designer has been selected and construction is underway, the city will release a separate RFP for an operator to run the facility, which could be completed by fall 2010 if all goes well. The cost so far of the stalled project has so far reached $84 million. In mid-November ‘06, New York City’s Dep’t of Parks and Recreation voided the development contract for the Jack Nicklaus-designed GC and associated facilities. It’s uncertain whether Nicklaus Design (561-626-3900) will make another bid. The contract was voided due to delays, poor management practices and cost overruns. One of the major problems on the site is the presence of methane gas! (Click here to read the article in full)