John O'Sullivanlooks at the year's best golf books
Andrew Greig is a poet but his latest published offering is centred primarily on the iambic pentameter of his golf swing, an action that's flawed rhythmically but it renders him an endearing companion as he charts a journey that's as much about life and relationships as it is about golf courses.
The impetus for the book has its origins in a life threatening illness, a blockage in the brain that almost killed him and may yet still affect his life. The physical setback serves as a shrill siren to change his life; to reflect and recall, with particular affection the role his father played in the author's life and how it shaped Greig as a man. He realises that it's time to wake up and smell the heather.
The book is also about renewing a courtship with the game of golf under the guise of a quasi road trip around Scotland and Scottish courses that takes in the famous and several courses barely touched by the modern incarnation of the sport; where swoosh refers to a diving bird rather than an emblem of golfing conformity.
In trying to capture the essence of the book the author suggests that it is about: "my mother and father, adolescence and friendship, love and death, my country and a lot of dead people. And not being dead when I could so easily have been, know that I will soon be gone. And still we make love and play golf." Preferred Lies: A Journey to the Heart of Scottish Golf (Orion Books, 18.95)is an exquisitely written, beautifully observed essay on life and sport and how they shape each other, overlapping constantly. It's a very personal account but never maudlin, charted with a dry sense of humour and prose that fires the imagination.
It's not a prerequisite to love golf to enjoy this book but those who play the sport will empathise with the nuances of Greig's observations as he wends his way from tee box to green.
If you only buy one sports book this Christmas, make it this one. It's an absolute treat whose quality transcends the genre, golf book. It was deservedly made the shortlist for the William Hill Sports book of the Year.
Those who cherish visual golfing eye candy will love Where Golf is Great (Artisan Books, €60)a compendium of the greatest golf courses in Scotland and Ireland through the eyes of celebrated American chronicler James W Finegan.
This is the Playboy magazine of the golfing world, a coffee table tome that teases a selection of top courses into various alluring poses. The photographs of Larry Lambrecht and Tim Thompson are stunning and a perfect complement to Finegan's observations.
It is so much more than just an anthology of golf courses as Finegan also charts attractions, natural and man made, that surround a particular course and nudge the reader in the direction of decent places to eat, drink and sleep.
This is the perfect accompaniment for the golfing enthusiast in soothing those days when the weather precludes playing and instead a plan can be made for the weeks and months ahead.
Golfing autobiographies often airbrush out any interesting content in favour of the mundane and that appears to be the case with several of this year's offerings. There are a couple of exceptions, notably John Daly's autobiography, John Daly, My Life In and Out of the Rough.' (HarperCollins 28.50).
Golf's self styled "wild thing" pretty much does everything to excess, whether it's thumping a golf ball, running up $50 million gambling debts during a 12-year period, getting married (on his fourth wife) and drinking excessive amounts of diet coke now that he's off the booze as he fast forwards through the A to Z of vices.
The book chronicles his addictive personality and confirms that he is an endearing personality and, what's occasionally forgotten, a two-time major winner.
Seve - Golf's Flawed Genius (Crysalis Books, €22.99)was originally to be a collaboration between the Seve Ballesteros and Robert Green but the Spaniard withdrew his co-operation when it was revealed that it would a warts and all offering. Green has remained faithful to his original remit, drawing on a 20-year relationship with the player that occasionally highlights the darker side of his personality and offers a compelling insight into one of the sport's greats.
Amongst the myriad offerings on the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club Philip Reid's, The Cup - How the Ryder Cup 2006 Was Won (Maverick, 14.99)captures the minutiae of the occasion, the personalities inside and outside the ropes and the sense of occasion it engendered in Ireland and in Irish people. It is a comprehensive, well written compendium that captures the essence of a momentous Irish sporting occasion. The Irish Times golf correspondent, who chronicled events first hand at the K Club, has produced a fine book that will be appreciated by those that were there and those who wished they were.
The only player to have brought out a Ryder Cup book is Ireland's Darren Clarke whose offering, My Ryder Cup Story 2006, Heroes All (Hodder & Stoughton, €27)chronicles his thoughts in the build-up to the K Club and the week of the Ryder Cup itself.
Euro prices are estimated
