On Golf: The Game, the Players, and a Personal History of Obsession
Like many baby boomers, O'Grady learned to play golf as a child but later abandoned the game when the siren call of the counterculture proved incompatible with the Vardon grip. After growing up in the Midwest and becoming an avid golfer in his teens, O'Grady followed his sirens to Europe, where he struggled to establish himself as a novelist. Golf came back into his life when he agreed to write an article on the sport forEsquire;soon his writing assignments were affording him the opportunity to play the world's finest courses and even to enjoy a round with Arnold Palmer. O'Grady's memoir combines a bit of golf history with the story of his own golfing life (these days, he counters anti-golf prejudice by reciting a litany of literary and artistic types who play the game, from John Updike to Willie Nelson). At its heart, though, this memoir, like so many other celebrations of sport, is a father-son story, and as such, it reveals yet again the way games can bring together generations. An affecting, often eloquent tribute to a maddening yet magical sport.Bill OttCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved