Embedded Balls: Adventures On and Off the Tour with Golf's Premier Storyteller [Hardcover]

Peter Jacobsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2005

From one of golf's funniest, most popular players comes another hilarious look inside the pro sport and the people who play it.

For nearly thirty years, Peter Jacobsen-player, entertainer, (off-) color commentator, television host, golf-course designer, and entrepreneur (but, no, he doesn't do windows)-has been a favorite of fans and fellow golfers, and when he published Buried Lies in 1993, it was an immediate success. But a lot has happened since then-to him, to his colleagues, and to the game itself-and so it's high time he launched a mulligan.

From Jack Nicklaus to Michelle Wie, Tiger Woods to Vijay Singh, Jacobsen takes you behind the scenes of the pro tour like no one else can, as he tells you what it's like to play the PGA and Champions tours simultaneously ("from flat-belly to fat-belly"); how John Daly nearly decapitated a spectator; what players really say to each other in the locker room; why getting on SportsCenter is not always a good thing; how Payne Stewart got back at Paul Azinger for beating him in a tournament (moral: always check your shoes before you put them on); why loaning your caddy to Tiger Woods can be a mistake; what made Arnold Palmer change his shorts; and how Jacobsen won the U.S. Open (well . . . kind of).

Throughout, it is a book filled with wit, warmth, insight, and just plain fun: a pure delight. So grab your sticks and strap on your nails-let's go another round.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Jacobsen has the deserved reputation of being professional golf's leading raconteur, and his second book (following 1993's Buried Lies) only reaffirms that distinction. Don't expect much in the way of structure here. The largely transitionless string of anecdotes has a -cocktail-hour feel to it (much like Jacobsen's Golf Channel television show), but that only adds to the sense of casual informality that fans admire in Jake's style on and off the course (and that stands in stark contrast to the stone-faced concentration of so many PGA competitors). Along with the expected low humor (emergency trips to the Porta-Potti), Jacobsen also provides detailed accounts of his inspirational victories in the Hartford Open at age 50 and in the U.S. Senior Open following hip surgery. There's not much in the way of controversy here, except for the inside scoop on how Jacobsen loaned his caddy, Mike "Fluff" Cowan, to Tiger Woods only to have Tiger surreptitiously steal him away. Required reading for all golf fans who long for a glimpse of the humanity behind their heroes' furrowed brows. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Peter Jacobsen, winner of seven Tour events, was named the PGA's Comeback Player of the Year in 2003, at the age of forty-nine-and the next year promptly won the U.S. Senior Open, on a bad hip, no less. He is partners in Jacobsen Hardy Golf Course Design, hosts two television shows on The Golf Channel, and his Peter Jacobsen Productions stages events around the country.

Jack Sheehan is the author or coauthor of nine previous books, including Buried Lies. Like Jacobsen, he played golf at the University of Oregon.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1ST edition (August 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399153160
• ISBN-13: 978-0399153167
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #288,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Real lightweight, October 19, 2005

By 

Carl E. Johnson Jr. "cejjpj" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Embedded Balls: Adventures On and Off the Tour with Golf's Premier Storyteller (Hardcover)

There's nothing really bad about this slim book, but the writing is bland and cliches abound. I found the book neither enlightening nor funny. I'm a big golf fan and like Peter Jacobsen as a player. I always like to see him win or do well. I think that the problem with the book is that Peter is simply too nice a guy, at least in print (and that does not mean to imply he is not otherwise a nice guy, too), to be very interesting.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jake does it again, August 22, 2005

By 

S. Caldwell (dayton, oh United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Embedded Balls: Adventures On and Off the Tour with Golf's Premier Storyteller (Hardcover)

Peter Jacobsen returns from a decade-plus absence with a book that is better than his first effort - and that's saying something. "Embedded Balls" includes a look at what is wrong with the Tour today and how to fix it. Along the way, you will laugh out loud and get an insiders look at many characters on the Tour.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No mas!, December 29, 2005

By 

L. A. Dougharty "golfecon" (La Quinta, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Embedded Balls: Adventures On and Off the Tour with Golf's Premier Storyteller (Hardcover)

This is at least one book too many for Peter. Most of the stories are old and too many involve farts. If you find this funny, your sense of humor has not developed since the second grade. The book is full of errors. Peter tells how Riviera is one of his favorite courses and then tells about his hole-in-one on the 15th hole. Sorry, Peter but the 15th hole is a par four. You made your ace on the 14th hole. It is evident that Peter not only did not write the book, he didn't even read it.