Trials
and Triumphs of Golf's Greatest Champions by Lyle Slovick (Rowan
& Littlefield, 2016, 318 pages, $36.00/19.79) seeks to examine
the lives and careers of six inspirational golfers and an equally
inspirational caddy who, through their lives and careers demonstrated
the importance of striving for excellence in the face of handicaps
facing them that would have discouraged or completely disabled those
of less drive, persistence, and faith. Relying almost entirely on
secondary sources, Slovick explores each of his subjects with efforts
to understand their problems, interpreting the degree which their
force of character made their success possible.
Slovick has chosen to profile seven
damaged people. Harry Vardon (1870 - 1938) grew up in poverty in
England, contracted tuberculosis as a young man, and was caught in a
loveless marriage. Despite these handicaps he won the British Open
seven times and the U.S. Open once as well as 53 other tournaments.
He invented the Vardon grip, still used in a modified form by most
golfers. He was a noted teacher as well as competitor. Bobby Jones
(1902 – 1971) was the only amateur to ever win all four of the then
major championships in one year, winning seven majors and 25
additional championships. Despite being born to relative comfort, he
lived his life in pain, due to a debilitating spinal disease. After
retiring from active competition, he established the Augusta National
golf club and the Master's Championship. Ben Hogan (1912 – 1997)
grew up in poverty and saw his father commit suicide. At the height
of his career, he was involved in an almost fatal automobile accident
that severely damaged his legs, causing him to play in pain for the
rest of his life. Nevertheless, he won nine majors and 55 other
tournaments. He became a noted analyst of the game, writing a book on
the golf swing that is still a standard.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956) won
eleven major tournaments and 31 other LPGA events. At the time she
played golf, she was handicapped because of her gender and the
economic background from which she had come. She was, undoubtedly,
one of the greatest athletes during her era, having competed in
basketball, track and field, and baseball before coming to golf. She
had a rough and tumble Texas-poor personality. She was successful in
challenging the conventional wisdom of the time regarding femininity
as well as changing some of the accepted wisdom about women in sport.
She battled cancer for years, but sill continued with golf until she
could no longer walk on a golf course, due to the cancer assailing
her body. Charlie Sifford, was one of the earliest African-Americans
to seek entry into the Professional Golfers Association, which, at
the time, had a Caucasians only clause in its constitution. Over
time, through persistence, his own excellence, and a couple of law
suits, he was able, way past his prime, to play in a few major
tournaments, winning four times, in addition to 17 wins in the old
Negro golf association. The book concludes with profiles of Ken
Venturi, who suffered from stuttering and a distant, cold, father,
and caddy Bruce Edwards, who carried Tom Watson's bag in a number of
golf tournaments before being diagnosed with ALS, for which he became
a national spokesman after he could no longer carry a bag.
Lyle Slovick
Lyle Slovick is a historian and golf
enthusiast, having played and studied the game for over 40 years. He
has an M.A. degree in American History and is a former Assistant
University Archivist at the George Washington University, where he
worked for 13 years amongst the rare books and manuscripts in the
Gelman Library Special Collections Department. Lyle enjoys telling
stories that shed new light and offer new perspective on often
well-trod subjects – what he describes as “augmented
interpretation.” This book is an expression of his passion for the
game of golf, which has taken him to various major championships
around the world, including the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland,
the home of golf. Lyle enjoys traveling, reading (especially
biographies), and resides in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he
currently works as a consultant for the United States Golf
Association.
Slovick is, by profession, an
archivist. He does his best to bring life to the athletes he
profiles, but is hindered by two things. First, he has been forced
to rely primarily on secondary sources for almost all his
information. In many of the cases, these secondary sources were the
ghost writers who “helped” the golfers write autobiographies.
Many of the descriptions come across as the cleaned up writing of a
professional ghost writer rather than taking on the real spirit that
the athlete might have managed. By interpreting second and third hand
sources with inadequate writing skills himself, Slovick sadly misses
the boat. Second, in writing this book, Slovick appears to have his
own agenda. He wishes to bring forth character based on the golfer's
faith in God. These faith statements were, at best, formulaic and
general, not indicating a fully developed faith or process of
searching. Slovick is a prodigious researcher and the book is
carefully annotated. Fully twenty three percent its content is
comprised of footnotes and references for further reading. Much too
much for a popular book about athletes.
Trials
and Triumphs of Golf's Greatest Champions by Lyle Slovick (Rowan
& Littlefield, 2016, 318 pages, $36.00/19.79) seeks to explore
the lives of six golfers and a caddy, each of whom overcame barriers
to become remarkable performers both on and off the golf course
through their character and their faith. Rather than allow the
stories to emerge organically, Slovick's writing is governed more by
his agenda than by the actual characters themselves, who often come
across as wooden caricatures. Sadly, I can't recommend the book for
golf fans or other general readers. I received the book from the
publisher through TLC Booktours
in a hardback version.
