Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture => Topic started by: Joel_Stewart on June 12, 2015, 11:52:55 AM
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I just heard about this book. Can anyone comment?
I haven't read it but it looks interesting.
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i bought it tuesday night, finished it yesterday. loved it. really interesting take on the tour. strongly recommend reading. if you like the pga tour and aren't naive enough to believe athletes are superheroes who are angels, it's a great book.
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I watched his interview on Golf Channel. It didn't make me want to be his friend. Safe to say no tour player will ever talk to him again, so I wonder what his next career move will be.
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Geoff Shackelford was not a fan.
http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/9/flash-new-book-reveals-augusta-national-forces-media-to-take.html (http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/9/flash-new-book-reveals-augusta-national-forces-media-to-take.html).
Some of it sounds interesting, but at least from the excerpts that Shackelford posted, it sounds like the book was written by someone who doesn't particularly like golf.
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Geoff Shackelford was not a fan.
Some of it sounds interesting, but at least from the excerpts that Shackelford posted, it sounds like the book was written by someone who doesn't particularly like golf.
Of course Geoff was not a fan, the author took to criticizing Geoff personally. I guess he is more used to being the shooter than the target. However, I'm not surprised that golf.com tried to make the most of the inflammatory comments, considering how they chose to help publicize my book.
Note: I have not seen this book yet, so have no comment on it generally. And I doubt I'll read it, either.
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Of course Geoff was not a fan, the author took to criticizing Geoff personally. I guess he is more used to being the shooter than the target. However, I'm not surprised that golf.com tried to make the most of the inflammatory comments, considering how they chose to help publicize my book.
Note: I have not seen this book yet, so have no comment on it generally. And I doubt I'll read it, either.
He criticism of Shackelford was pretty mild. It's more the stuff that shows up in the excerpts about the US Open and Augusta that make it seem like it's a book written for non golfers.
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Interesting that SI came out with a controversial confidential poll a few months ago and only a few people became testy. Now Shane Ryan (an outsider) is putting his neck out and naming names and he's become a villain.
If anyone feels that the pro tour, the players, the press that follow it and related entities like the equipment manufacturers are just a big generous love boat then they should look in the mirror.
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I bought the book and will begin reading it tomorrow, but what I gather from excerpts I've read and commentary I've seen is that the book is as much a check on the golf media as anything. It has needed an ombudsman for a long time, and Shane Ryan, at least temporarily, seems to have filled the void.
Also, if it does turn out that Tour pros completely shun him in the wake of this book, then they're just proving him right.
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Geoff Shackelford was not a fan.
Some of it sounds interesting, but at least from the excerpts that Shackelford posted, it sounds like the book was written by someone who doesn't particularly like golf.
Of course Geoff was not a fan, the author took to criticizing Geoff personally. I guess he is more used to being the shooter than the target. However, I'm not surprised that golf.com tried to make the most of the inflammatory comments, considering how they chose to help publicize my book.
Note: I have not seen this book yet, so have no comment on it generally. And I doubt I'll read it, either.
I don't personally read books but would love to help a brother out. I'll send a copy to the first five people who PM me a word that rhymes with Shac. Please include your delivery address
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Is there anything about architecture in the book?
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Congrats to all the winners of the Rhyme with Shac contest. My personal favorite being knick-knack, paddy whack. Happy reading!!!
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Geoff Shackelford was not a fan.
http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/9/flash-new-book-reveals-augusta-national-forces-media-to-take.html (http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/9/flash-new-book-reveals-augusta-national-forces-media-to-take.html).
Some of it sounds interesting, but at least from the excerpts that Shackelford posted, it sounds like the book was written by someone who doesn't particularly like golf.
Ryan used to (or maybe still does?) write for Grantland and there were a few times he would write about golf and even a few times I seem to recall he was on the Bill Simmons podcast to talk golf. I was stunned every time at how little understanding Ryan had of golf, period. People can speculate about players and motivations and that's one thing, but he didn't seem to understand the basics of what tournaments are about, how strategy changes based on courses and conditions, etc. Based on that, I've really never been interested in his book project.
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Geoff Shackelford was not a fan.
http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/9/flash-new-book-reveals-augusta-national-forces-media-to-take.html (http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/9/flash-new-book-reveals-augusta-national-forces-media-to-take.html).
Some of it sounds interesting, but at least from the excerpts that Shackelford posted, it sounds like the book was written by someone who doesn't particularly like golf.
Ryan used to (or maybe still does?) write for Grantland and there were a few times he would write about golf and even a few times I seem to recall he was on the Bill Simmons podcast to talk golf. I was stunned every time at how little understanding Ryan had of golf, period. People can speculate about players and motivations and that's one thing, but he didn't seem to understand the basics of what tournaments are about, how strategy changes based on courses and conditions, etc. Based on that, I've really never been interested in his book project.
Does he play golf?
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Geoff Shackelford was not a fan.
http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/9/flash-new-book-reveals-augusta-national-forces-media-to-take.html (http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/9/flash-new-book-reveals-augusta-national-forces-media-to-take.html).
Some of it sounds interesting, but at least from the excerpts that Shackelford posted, it sounds like the book was written by someone who doesn't particularly like golf.
Ryan used to (or maybe still does?) write for Grantland and there were a few times he would write about golf and even a few times I seem to recall he was on the Bill Simmons podcast to talk golf. I was stunned every time at how little understanding Ryan had of golf, period. People can speculate about players and motivations and that's one thing, but he didn't seem to understand the basics of what tournaments are about, how strategy changes based on courses and conditions, etc. Based on that, I've really never been interested in his book project.
Does he play golf?
He did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on reddit, and someone asked what his background with the game and writing about it was. His response:
[/color]As a kid, golf was the thing my stepfather put on TV that would steal time away from NFL, or NBA basketball, or all the other sports I actually enjoyed watching. I knew early on that it wasn't a sport I would play, either, since every time he took me to the range, I'd get angry that I wasn't immediately great. Once I brought my baseball glove so I could catch his 9-irons (the range was empty), and one slipped through the criss-cross webbing and cracked my head open. I remember being in the car on the way to the hospital, and my stepfather just dreading the call he had to make to my mom. I think 12 stitches was the result.
[/color]Slowly, I started to really like watching the majors, especially the Masters. By the time I was in high school and college I wouldn't miss them, and I absolutely loved the Ryder Cup. I begged Grantland to send me to the 2012 Ryder Cup, and they really liked the story I wrote from there (Google "Poulter's Cup," the formatting is kind of weird after the site re-design but it mostly is fine, I think), and I got to continue writing in 2013 for the big tournaments. From that writing, my agent Byrd Leavell contacted me about writing a book, we put a proposal together, Random House bought it, and then in 2014 I was full-time...I think I ended up attending 33 tournaments that year. So it was a bit lucky—my writing career had started with college basketball and baseball, and golf was a bit of a fluke.
[/color]As for playing, I took it up three years ago, and I'm completely addicted. I broke 100 for the first time this spring, and I'm really close to breaking 90. I had a great chance about two weeks ago, and just choked my guts out on the last two holes to shoot 92...I think I had two 8s, or something. Absolute disgrace. I'm playing in my first tournament, a flighted match play event, next week. My profile as a golfer is that I can drive pretty far, and my 60-degree wedge gets me out of a lot of jams, but I am just pathetic on the greens. If I'm four feet away from the cup, I'm two-putting. It's just a fact. I need to take a putting lesson.
[/color]
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I watched his interview on Golf Channel. It didn't make me want to be his friend. Safe to say no tour player will ever talk to him again, so I wonder what his next career move will be.
But of course none of this should be the concern of an author while he is writing a book. If it is then you know you have a bad book in your hands.
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Geoff Shackelford was not a fan.
http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/9/flash-new-book-reveals-augusta-national-forces-media-to-take.html (http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/9/flash-new-book-reveals-augusta-national-forces-media-to-take.html).
Some of it sounds interesting, but at least from the excerpts that Shackelford posted, it sounds like the book was written by someone who doesn't particularly like golf.
Ryan used to (or maybe still does?) write for Grantland and there were a few times he would write about golf and even a few times I seem to recall he was on the Bill Simmons podcast to talk golf. I was stunned every time at how little understanding Ryan had of golf, period. People can speculate about players and motivations and that's one thing, but he didn't seem to understand the basics of what tournaments are about, how strategy changes based on courses and conditions, etc. Based on that, I've really never been interested in his book project.
He's also clearly out of the Simmons/Grantland (see: Andrew Sharp in all of his awful glory) school of frat-boy, smart-ass, snarky, name-dropping school of journalism in vogue over there (meaning: Grantland). A website I still visit regularly, but interestingly one in which all the best writers (Molly Lambert, Katie Baker, Louisa Thomas, the sad-they've-departed Emily Yoshida and Tess Lynch) are women (Zach Lowe and Barnwell being the exceptions).
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What David Kelly said.
I don't know if Shane is any good as a (sports) writer, and the smart ass approach can wear thin very fast; but I do know that David's right -- and that most of today's 'proven' golf/tour writers (with the exception of Jaime Diaz and Lorne Rubenstein) rarely amuse, inform, entertain, or enlighten me. Maybe it's because they want to make sure they can keep talking to tour players
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I did not enjoy this article by Shane Ryan. I am his target audience except I actually have an understanding of the sport of golf which he seems to lack (as do many of his fans). But fortunately for him his writing may be accessible to a larger audience just for that reason! He knows little and writes for those who know less.
http://deadspin.com/how-augusta-national-became-golfs-north-korea-1709794444 (http://deadspin.com/how-augusta-national-became-golfs-north-korea-1709794444)
Actually I guess this was an excerpt from the book... so I guess you know if I'm going to buy it or not.
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Actually I guess this was an excerpt from the book... so I guess you know if I'm going to buy it or not.
Don't bother. I got it for free and I'm not going to read it but I'm not really the target audience as its been years since I watched the Golf Channel from anywhere other than at a golf course.
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I'm about a third of the way through the book and like it. He didn't write it for golf nuts per se - I've found it a little heavy on recaps of final rounds, but when it gets into stories about specific players like Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed and Jason Day, it's very strong.
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Have just started. Dislike Bubba more than ever. But I have become a big Jason Day fan.
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My main problem with the book is that, like most culture these days, it caves to our ever-shrinking attention spans. At its best, culture elevates, instead of reflects, humanity. But more and more, we see films with five-second scenes and read books with "vignettes" (read: chapters that can be leaked as snippets accompanying a photo slideshow). We come away titillated, but learning very little. In short, I might like the book more if, instead of trying to tackle 15 different players in 20-page chapters, it tackled only one. Character development, in film and literature, is a lost art, and I'm dismayed when I see authors like Mr. Ryan furthering, as opposed to bucking, that trend. It reveals a certain laziness and makes me, at least, less likely to accept what I'm being told.
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i'm his targent audience in age (29) and i'm a grantland lover and total golf nut. equipment geek, follow the tour, and clearly courses interest me if im a member here.
look, it wasnt the worlds greatest book, but you do learn a lot about certain players and then a ton about the ryder cup. i dont think it matters that ryan cant really break 90, or that he's in his early 30s, if that. his goal was to give you a picture into the lives of young guys coming up on tour done through the lense of covering the tour for a season. i think he did that and did it well. i learned alot about jason day, adam scott, ernst, dubisson and others.
also as i read it, at no point did i think he doesnt understand the game of golf. if were questioning his understanding of golf b/c of his lack of golf skill, know that numerous (if not most) golf writers who cover courses or the tour couldn't break 80 if their lives depended on it.
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i'm his targent audience in age (29) and i'm a grantland lover and total golf nut. equipment geek, follow the tour, and clearly courses interest me if im a member here.
look, it wasnt the worlds greatest book, but you do learn a lot about certain players and then a ton about the ryder cup. i dont think it matters that ryan cant really break 90, or that he's in his early 30s, if that. his goal was to give you a picture into the lives of young guys coming up on tour done through the lense of covering the tour for a season. i think he did that and did it well. i learned alot about jason day, adam scott, ernst, dubisson and others.
also as i read it, at no point did i think he doesnt understand the game of golf. if were questioning his understanding of golf b/c of his lack of golf skill, know that numerous (if not most) golf writers who cover courses or the tour couldn't break 80 if their lives depended on it.
I haven't read the book. I had commented that he didn't seem to understand a lot about golf based on his actual golf tournament reporting (commentary? whatever). If the book is more about personalities, that seems more suited to his skill set as a writer.
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I'm about 1/3 of the way through it... I doubted whether it was a good idea to pay $11 to download a bunch of dirty laundry, but that seems to be exactly what I did. I have no doubt there was plenty of research that went into the book, but it reads like a giant compilation of everything that's ever been posted on Twitter.
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My main problem with the book is that, like most culture these days, it caves to our ever-shrinking attention spans. At its best, culture elevates, instead of reflects, humanity. But more and more, we see films with five-second scenes and read books with "vignettes" (read: chapters that can be leaked as snippets accompanying a photo slideshow). We come away titillated, but learning very little. In short, I might like the book more if, instead of trying to tackle 15 different players in 20-page chapters, it tackled only one. Character development, in film and literature, is a lost art, and I'm dismayed when I see authors like Mr. Ryan furthering, as opposed to bucking, that trend. It reveals a certain laziness and makes me, at least, less likely to accept what I'm being told.
That's an acute observation made by someone enjoying life through a camera lens.
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Have just started. Dislike Bubba more than ever...
The book excerpt on Bubba posted yesterday.
http://www.sbnation.com/golf/2015/6/16/8782233/bubba-watson-profile-shane-ryan-slaying-the-tiger (http://www.sbnation.com/golf/2015/6/16/8782233/bubba-watson-profile-shane-ryan-slaying-the-tiger)
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The prizes have finally been shipped. Sorry for the delay.
Were their any indications in the book that may have predicted the whining we saw this week at the US Open. The only issue I had with the Fox coverage was related to the book. Some lanky fat piece of SI crap was being interviewed and just after he threw this book under the bus he tossed DJ under as well. He shouldn't have it both ways.
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8) John,
The package from the Jaka B Benevolent Scholarship Fund arrived on my doorstep Friday, and I shall endeavor to write a book report, if you care about the perspective of a 63 year old Professional Student.. and will pass the book on to anyone interested in turn.
Thanks again
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I just read the Bubba excerpt. It was essentially a composite of what I've read about him before. It made me like him less...again.
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Never liked Bubba, probably never will. Hadn't heard all that stuff until last year, but he had always come over as unlikeable. Then there was the whole ADHD thing. In the UK, we don't believe in ADHD like you lot in the land of the free and the home of the Adderall'd. I think he is just a dick. And I rather doubt he is a devout Christian, perhaps only for brownie and image points. If he is into it (I am not), he should read that book at the centre of it. Some lessons within.
He had a famous prima donna episode at The French Open a few years back, getting all humpy with the crowd, his courtesy car driver, the food, France and just about everything else.
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Has their been any indication on what Bubba plans to do with the General Lee?
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Then there was the whole ADHD thing. In the UK, we don't believe in ADHD like you lot in the land of the free and the home of the Adderall'd. I think he is just a dick.
Thank you, Doctor. I agree.
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Then there was the whole ADHD thing. In the UK, we don't believe in ADHD like you lot in the land of the free and the home of the Adderall'd. I think he is just a dick.
Thank you, Doctor. I agree.
Whether or not the 'UK' believes in ADHD or not, it is a medical diagnosis in the UK. I would suggest you show some sympathy to those with this diagnosis and not devalue someone who suffers.
Whether or not Bubba is a dick is a different matter and is as closely related to ADHD as any medical diagnosis is.
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Then there was the whole ADHD thing. In the UK, we don't believe in ADHD like you lot in the land of the free and the home of the Adderall'd. I think he is just a dick.
Thank you, Doctor. I agree.
Whether or not the 'UK' believes in ADHD or not, it is a medical diagnosis in the UK. I would suggest you show some sympathy to those with this diagnosis and not devalue someone who suffers.
Whether or not Bubba is a dick is a different matter and is as closely related to ADHD as any medical diagnosis is.
I know that ADHD is a real condition. I should have said that the UK hasn't adopted it with the same zeal as the US and I hope they never do.
There has been a massive proliferation in the numbers who claim to have ADHD, either through self diagnosis, diagnosis by charlatans who have a personal interest in making such diagnoses or through looking up the internet, so the core of genuine cases are now surrounded by a large halo of those who don't but want to use it to explain something about them. They (and people like Bubba) devalue the treatment, assessment and public perception of those who really have it. Do you want people to think that ADHD is characterised by dick like behaviour? That is what Bubba does for the cause.
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Thanks for clarifying Martin, I'll send you a PM as this off-off topic.
On this topic I read the Bubba excerpt and found it an engaging read. I think it's interesting that there is tension around someone writing about all aspects of the way a sports person is portrayed rather than just as a hero. The hero story sells and all the socio-cultural machinery is set up for this so when someone comes along as says hey this hero is also not really liked it messes things up.
The same way you only read about the 'titans of industry' or CEO's and their heroic acts but never really about them being a dick. Someone who confused journalists in this was Zinedine Zidane. He went out performing as the best in the world whilst also committing a violent despicable act, in the same final hour of his career, on the biggest stage, and never hiding from this. It was interesting to see how the journalists framed that.