Customer Reviews

How I Played the Game

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I respect the heck out of Nelson's golf and his example as a gentleman until his final days, but his story is quite boring.

In the history of professional golf, few people were more beloved than Byron Nelson.....maybe nobody. Arnold Palmer, Bobby Jones and Harry Vardon might be close but nobody was quite the consistent clean-living, soft-spoken gentleman for so long a period as Mr. Nelson.

Is this a dramatic, suspenseful story like the one about Francis Ouimet's win at 1913 U.S. Open, or the wild tales of "Seabiscuit?" No, but it's kind of like curling up on the couch on a winter night with the fireplace going. Byron is such a down-home-type guy that reading about him gently telling about his life and loves makes for a very pleasant read.

When people wonder about "role models" in professional sports, they should check into Byron Nelson's and this book gives us a chance to do just that!

Nelson truly is a golfing gem, one that gets somewhat lost in all the current player hype. But this is likely due to media hype, not the players; they are humble around the like of Lord Byron, and most if not all big names play the King's, the Bear's and the Nelson's tournaments.

Here is record of his life and it truly sounds like the man we have learned to like and hear on TV. Downhome, country boy, who really wanted to earn enough money to buy a ranch, which he did. In doing so, he had some amazing golf, the statistics and some of the records are still there. Might be so for quite some time.

Fascinating how he is part of game most don't know, i.e. invent of good golf shoes and Footjoy connection and also the golf umbrella. Around the Hogan's since caddying youth, this guy is legend worth becoming familiar with. His humility, grace and fervor for the game are truly a treat to read about. The tournament that bears his name is what he refers to as biggest golfing thing that ever happened to him, for the joy of helping the kids. Truly an athleter to be emulated.

This is simply a straightforward account of Nelson's life by The Man himself. It's primary focus is his poor-as-dirt childhood and rise to stardom on the PGA Tour, culminating in The Streak of eleven straight wins in 1945 (he retired the next year). His television work is also covered, as is the death of his wife of 50 years and subsequent remarriage, but the primary focus is on his rise to stardom and retirement to ranching. It turns out that he doesn't have hemophilia as I'd always heard, nor did he retire because his "nervous stomach" couldn't take the stress of competition. The big virtue of the book is that it's written in a homey style that makes you feel as though Nelson is right there speaking to you in his Texas twang. It was written with assistance from his second wife, and it reads as though she must have been transcribing tapes. There is very little discussion of swing theory and no tips to help your game, but it's fascinating if you have an interest in what it took to make a living in professional golf in the 1930s and 1940s. It should be required reading for today's pampered pros who make more for one fifth-place finish than Nelson made in his entire career as one of the all-time greats. He comes across as an extremely decent, religious man that you would've liked to have known.