arnie, seve and a fleck of golf history
Reviewed by Lisa Timpf
30 june 2014 archive
When I was a junior golfer many years ago, golf tips published by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus were one of my favorite resources, so it was no surprise to see each of these golfing greats get generous mention in Bill Fields' 2014 book Arnie, Seve and a Fleck of Golf History. But Fields, a golf writer for over 30 years, doesn't just focus on the well-known names. His book includes several less high-profile figures whose stories are equally interesting and compelling.
Fields' book is divided into three sections of ten chapters each. The first section, titled "Tall Shadows: The Greats" deals with eight male and two female golfers—including Harry Vardon, Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Mickey Wright, and Seve Ballesteros—who have carved out a place in golf history. "Inside the Ropes: Courses and Competitions" provides some insight into key events and the golf courses that influenced them. Topics include Byron Nelson's win streak in 1945, and Billy Casper's dramatic win in the 1966 US Open, when he overcame a seven-stroke deficit with nine holes remaining. Perhaps most interesting is the section "More Than a Score: The Characters", which deals with both well known and lesser known golf figures. Jack Fleck, who upset Ben Hogan in the 1955 U.S. Open tournament, and Bert Yancey, who made miniature models of the Augusta golf greens out of Play-Doh to help him prepare for the Master's tournament, are two of the ten characters featured in this section. The book's epilogue focusses on Tiger Woods and the current era of golf.
Many writers prepare their books through intensive research over a defined course of time. Fields' book is a compilation of articles he wrote for Golf World magazine between 1994 to 2011. For each chapter, he provides a post script, to fill in any new information relevant to the contents that have occurred in the interim. I was curious how this format would flow but I didn't find it to be an issue. Each chapter could be taken on its own merits, but there were also links as individuals or events from a previous chapter were mentioned or built upon, and the post-scripts helped round out the stories by providing the context of time. The beneficial aspect of the broad time frame is that it allows for at-the-spot insight based on Fields' face to face meetings with golfers, family members, opponents, or other key figures. Had the book been written exclusively based on research done in the past couple of years, a number of the people quoted would no longer be available as they have since passed away; for those still living, time might have dulled the memory of some of the events.
One would expect someone who has covered golf for so long to have extensive knowledge about the sport and the characters, and Fields doesn't disappoint. What he also delivers is the ability to make the stories come to life by taking us there. One example is his 2001 article "Homero Blancas's 55", which takes us to the now-abandoned golf course that was the scene of Homero Blancas' 18-hole record of 55 strokes shot in the Premier Invitational amateur tournament in 1962.
Golf knowledge aside, Fields also has an engaging writing style. For example, he describes shooting out of the rough in the 1955 US Open as being "like striking a shot out of a deep bed of day-old linguini" (p. 229), and contrasts to go-for-broke style of Arnold Palmer and the more cautious approach favoured by Billy Casper by saying "Palmer turned the key and went. Casper called AAA first." (p. 152)
If you are looking for a comprehensive encyclopedia of the game, this isn't the book where you will find it—because that's not what it's about. However, if you want to get a sense of the game and the characters who have shaped it, in an entertaining and informative read, this collection of stories is worth seeking out.
Fields, Bill. Arnie, Seve, and a Fleck of Golf History: Heroes,
Underdogs, Courses and Championships. Lincoln & London: University of
Nebraska Press, 2014. 323 pp. $19.95 paperback. ISBN 978-0-8032-4880-9.
Copyright © 2014 by Lisa Timpf