Customer Reviews

Fairways and Greens

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Funny stories from this talented writer and lover of the game. Having followed golf from such a priviledged and close position, what makes Jenkins writing so enjoyable to me is his historical perspective. This guy can really put the contemporary players into historical perspective for us.

It is important to remember what this book is...it is not a history of golf, though it does have some historical aspects about it. It is a collection of the best writing of one of golf's all-time best writers.
It's funny, humorous and, at times, touching...it is not designed to be golf history...

The book is best read and enjoyed when read as if one is sitting around a table with Dan and his friends, having a beer(s) and swapping stories. That's what it is really---ole Dan Jenkins, the best writer of his day,telling stories about how it once was, what made golf special then and lends to the specialness of golf today.

Take it for what it is, enjoy and remember how it was before metal woods, hot balls and the corporate takeover of golf. This is a book for old guys, those of us who remember and appreciate Hogan, Nelson, Palmer, Nicklaus, the old crowd.

Young fans of golf today, say 50 and younger, need to come to an appreciation of those men as icons of golf, then read this book to see and understand them as flesh and blood people, something more full and colorful than simple iconic figures.

This book has a place in golf history. It is about a time that has passed, a very human and humorous look at golf as it once was, a time that was pretty good to those of us who lived through it and appreciated it then---and now.

Fairways and Greens provides a "laugh-out-loud funny", account of Jenkins experiences in the golf world over the past fifty some-odd years. An irreverent but often factually accurate account of the game of golf in general and many of the PGA's all-time heros, in particular.

The book was originally published in 1994 and is a collection of 33 essays written by Dan Jenkins. "I've heard more golf stories than a Bolshoi dancer has heard Swan Lake," he writes.

The two sections for the essays are as timely today as back in the day; The Way It Is Today - Dining Out on Corporate Logos and Order the Nostalgia and Tell Them Heavy on the Hogan. Jenkins goes in-depth on the world of the small ball by naming the best trophy room, best short and long par three holes and - for an eagle on the 19th hole - the best bar, which is downstairs in the Pebble Beach Lodge, Club XIX.

But Jenkins drains a downhill 45-footer when he writes, ".....the Rules of Golf are dumber than carrots." Though the collection is around 15 years old, the yarns remain satisfyingly fresh.

There are not many golf books I do not like. Unfortunately this book was painful to read. Nothing new from a golf perspective and grins were few and far between. Author comes off completely self absorbed and arrogant...in my opinion.

buy it!