Driving Myself Crazy: Misadventures of a Novice Golfer [Hardcover]

Jessica Maxwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2000

"Golf!" exclaimed Jessica Maxwell's friend Rande. "I thought golf was for Republicans...and dorks!"

Adventure writer Jessica Maxwell is neither, but she is a woman--and even today golf is primarily a sport for men. In fact, according to an unverifiable legend, the very name of the game comes from the words "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden."  But Jessica loves a challenge, and when she decided to invade this male-dominated territory, she plunged in headfirst, the same way she learned how to ski and fly fish--two very demanding sports she took up in her early thirties after a life as a confirmed "non-jockette." Surely golf couldn't be that much more difficult...could it?

Breezy and offbeat, Driving Myself Crazy is Jessica's first-person account of her golfing education--the teachers, the theories, the mistakes and misadventures, and the confidence she feels once her game begins to improve.

In this irreverent memoir, we get a front-row seat as Jessica struggles to learn golf's etiquette, customs, and rules of engagement--from her first comical attempts to simply hit the damn ball, to the ultimate sign of arrival as a bona fide woman golfer... a complete set of Nancy Lopez clubs!  

Among those who help Jessica master the game are Peter Croker, a revolutionary teaching pro from Australia, and Cindy Swift Jones, his partner and putting guru, as well as Peggy Kirk Bell, a seventy-seven-year-old legend and one of the most famous figures in the history of women's golf, and the queen of golf herself, Nancy Lopez. We also meet a gallery of other vivid characters from the fairways and greens, including the handsome "golf stalker" Graham, a man of mystery, wisdom and uncanny timing.

Along the way, Jessica also visits some of the most beautiful golf courses in the country: the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Alabama, considered by many to be the world's finest public golf facility; the scenic Whitefish Lake Club in rugged Montana; and the stylish Pine Needles course in Pinehurst, North Carolina.  

Celebrating the sport one pro claims is 80 percent physical for beginners and 85 percent mental once you know what you're doing, Driving Myself Crazy, is an engaging and often hilarious account of one woman whose obsession carried her across the globe and led her to discover that despite all the frustration, golf--played right--is a beautiful game.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Driving Myself Crazy, Jessica Maxwell documents how she learned to play golf and why. Her narration of learning the game, from her first piece of instruction ("The point is not to think... just hit the ball") to her first visit to the driving range, is hilarious. Both novices and experienced golfers with any memory of starting out will relate to her tales of that hapless feeling of "the early days of rookiedom. The utter ignorance of all protocol, etiquette, and nomenclature, not to mention fundamental mechanics." Maxwell mixes the business of golf with pure pleasure; a description of her trip to Scotland to tour eight ladies' golf clubs provides the setting for a discussion of the history--and herstory--of golf. Nearly all of the clubs she visited were founded in the Victorian age, when it seemed easier to play (in whalebone corsets and full skirts, of course) in their own clubs than battle the men for entrance into theirs. These tales are interspersed between loving, almost gushing descriptions of the golf courses she visits in Oregon, Montana, Alabama, and North Carolina: "What especially drew my eye [to Sandpines in Oregon] was its palomino palette of ivory and wheat, the creaminess of vast rhomboids of sand, the feathery gold of its beach grasses. All of it kept fresh by its vivid fairways and greens, and the blueberry summer sky." Maxwell clearly loves to be surrounded by nature, even the carefully choreographed nature of a golf course. Reading about golf--even in a book as charming as this--is only second best to actually playing. Golfers may find themselves dropping the book and grabbing their clubs. --Suzanne Sexton

From Publishers Weekly

Until her mid-30s, Maxwell considered herself a nonathlete. Then she mastered fly-fishing and skiing, gaining enough proficiency to write about these sports. So how difficult could golf be? wonders Maxwell in this chronicle of her first year playing. Initially, she can barely hit the ball and doesn't understand when her coach tells her to "read the ball." (While Maxwell was looking for some philosophical message, the coach simply wanted her to stare at the name on the ball until she made contact with it.) Fortunately, Maxwell has help from some of the most accomplished golfers as she learns the game. She spends time in Hilton Head with one of the first great women golfers, Peggy Kirk Bell, as well as with champion Nancy Lopez. Her coaches include the Australian Peter Croker and Al Mundle, one of the best American golf coaches. Maxwell finds humor and frustration in the game; she admires the beauty of the spectacular championship courses, but she's baffled at the phrase "carry water," which she mistakenly imagines means that she'll have to cart bottles of water along with her clubs. And it takes a while before Maxwell is able to recognize and ask for the appropriate clubs. Fledgling golfers and even some more advanced players will identify with Maxwell's experiences and laugh along with her. For those enamored of the sport, this lighthearted read makes a nice addition to the coming golf season. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (June 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553107933
• ISBN-13: 978-0553107937
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,862,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jessica Maxwell is a nationally acclaimed adventure-travel writer and the author of books on flyfishing, golf and women's travel. In October 2009, Simon and Schuster/Atria/Beyond Words published her first spiritual adventure book, Roll Around Heaven. Jessica's work has been included in more than two dozen travel anthologies, including Bill Bryson's Best American Travel Writing 2000. She was the youngest regular contributor to Esquire's Travel column (1985 to 1997), and created Audubon's in-the-field conservation column, On Forbes.com you can flyfish for piranha in the Amazon with her, join her on a Norwegian moose hunt, cruise Bangkok's River of Kings in a converted rice boat or go fishing with tigers with her in the Himalayas. But, she says, the mystical experiences in Roll Around Heaven make her earthbound adventures look like walks in the park. "And if a complete spiritual klutz can end up rolling around heaven right here on earth, anybody can!" In Roll Around Heaven she shows you how.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Royal and Ancient Wit, June 21, 2000

By 

Richard Tracey (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Driving Myself Crazy: Misadventures of a Novice Golfer (Hardcover)

Jessica Maxwell is back with "Driving Myself Crazy," in which our favorite femme d'adventure storms the male bastion of golf, learning that -- although she grew up as the complete 'non-jockette' -- she is a natural with a three iron.

Whether you're an old duffer, a first-time golfer or a couch potato, you will enjoy Maxwell's misadventures as she strives to know what to do, what to call things, before anybody realizes she doesn't know what's she doing. Carefully plotted chapters recount her lighthearted story of figuring it all out. Along the way, many a chapter doubles as an exploration of some aspect of the game -- its history, protocol, clothing, environmentalism (yes!) and so on -- all adding up to golf's romantic allure. Not to mention the romantic allure of Graham -- is he boyfriend material? or is he a 'golf stalker'? -- who pops up from chapter to chapter to share his insights on golf, life, and fly-fishing, which is the other sport he shares with Maxwell (see her previous book, "I Don't Know Why I Swallowed the Fly").

Fortunate are we when Maxwell lets us carry her clubs as she seeks the tutelage of the world's greatest golf pros, like Australian pro-cum-philosopher Peter Croker and Croker's American partner, Cindy Swift Jones, an authority on the short game of putting; and as she plays the world's greatest golf courses, like Alabama's Robert Trent Jones Trail and Scotland's ladies' country clubs, founded in Victorian times, when G.O.L.F. really did mean "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden." And Maxwell hits a hole-in-one when she joins Nancy Lopez in a hotel kitchenette, cooking potluck casseroles while discussing America's sports culture with insights learned on the LPGA tour as well as from Lopez's husband, baseball star-turned-ESPN analyst Ray Knight.

First page to last, Maxwell's droll style is matched to her theme, now poetic, then cheeky, always as captivating as the royal and ancient game she so capably describes.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read - for 18 Holes, July 28, 2000

By 

Cindy Jones (Savannah, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Driving Myself Crazy: Misadventures of a Novice Golfer (Hardcover)

For a throughly fresh perspecitve on golf - (a game that has already driven many a player to the brink of losing sanity), Driving Myself Crazy is a must read. Jessica Maxwell masterfully takes the reader along on a most enjoyable trip from South Carolina to Scotland and numerous points in between, in her mission to learn to play the game.

As she seeks to find consistency in a game filled with inconsistencies, Maxwell encounters a number of golf professionals, including the legendary Nancy Lopez, who share an interminable array of swing techniques and sage advice with the determined novice. The recounting of her travels and travails along the way are both hilarious and brilliantly unique. Most readers who have played the game will easily identify with Maxwell's humorous golfing faux pas and experiences - humbly reminded of their own frustrations and triumphs while learning the game.

Readers will find a new appreciation for the game and it's rich history from Maxwell's visit to St. Andrews. Her beautifully detailed description of golf course scenery and wildlife that all too often go unnoticed by players of more experience open our eyes to the fact that any round of golf - regardless of score, can be more enjoyable if we stop to smell the grass clippings along the way.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book I have read in a long time!, August 23, 2000

By 

Ms Chris Field (Washington Crossing, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Driving Myself Crazy: Misadventures of a Novice Golfer (Hardcover)

This is my first experience reading Jessica Maxwell and I bought the book because I am beginning to learn the agony of golf. Not only does Ms Maxwell impart sound golf information, her imagery is superbly colorful, evoking a myriad of hysterically hilarious visions that both non-golfers and golfers alike will thoroughly enjoy. The interweaving of the "Mystery Man" keeps readers turning pages long after their night lights should be out. Even if you are not the least bit interested in golf, you should read this book. You will not be sorry you did.