Customer Reviews

The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Golfers have various motivations of why or how we started to play. Most of the elite players started at a very young age. The diverse group of golfers from television, the LPGA and PGA tour, politicians, other athletes, and actors are just a few people that Amy Alcott, an accomplished LPGA golfer, has had a chance to meet, play with and speak to about the game.

Each chapter starts out with Amy's relationship with the various celebrities that she interviewed over time, followed by some candid questions in a question and answer format. In closing, she gives her summary of her impression of the respective golfer both from on the greens and in their respective careers.

The book is entertaining and insightful about the motivations and struggles, as well as accomplishments, each 'golfer' has with their own game of golf.

It is a different format of golf narratives from other books in the market. The book is in a more question and answer format with vignettes on each person featured. I enjoyed getting the insight into many of the golfer's lives and what priorities they have in achieving success, embarrassing moments, struggles, and just plain enjoyment of the game. As a golfer, I see a lot of similarities with many of the celebrities featured in the book.

The writing style is straightforward and this is no dissertation about technique or methods of golf improvement. Unfortunately, there are no photographs or illustrations that are common in many golf related non-fiction books.

Celebrities featured include the following:

Professional golfers
Jane Blalock
Dottie Pepper
Annika Sorenstam
Karrie Webb
Ben Crenshaw
Ken Venturi
Lorena Ochoa

Politician
President Bill Clinton

Celebrities
Jack Nicholson
Kenny G (AKA Kenneth Gorelick)
Robert Wagner
Dennis Quaid

Athletes (non-golf)
Jerry West
Pam Shriver

Corporate excecutives and Network personalities
Leslie Moonves
Jim Nantz
Don Ohlmeyer
Donnar Orender
Kyra Phillips
Sandy Will
Jerry Wintraub
Tom Werner
Jack Whitaker

Screenwriter
Rex Pickett

Composer
John Williams

This is wonderful, little book for a golfer to read. I especially liked the insight Ben Crenshaw had on his mentor Harvey Penick, who was the author of the timeless classic "Harvey Penick's Little Red Book".

If you're a golfer who is into trivia or interested in the lives of celebrities or these other public figures, it's a worthwhile read.

Not much insight here into the golfers interviewed or into the game of golf. The brief interviews are quick to read and quick to be forgotten. Would be good to read on a long plane ride. Interviewed are a mix of entertainment celebrities (Kenny G.), to political figures (President Clinton) to stars of the LPGA (Jane Blalock) to sportscasters. Each does have a different take on golf, and their emotional investment in it. Perhaps a true
golf fanatic would enjoy this book more than I did.

Some people collect newspapers, some people collect antiques and some people collect friends. For a highly successful female golfer from LA, such as Amy Alcott, collecting the latter naturally includes a high proportion of celebrities and corporate leaders. And as is common among people who come at the world this way, discrimination in taste is not a high priority (e.g., Kenny G. and Jim Nantz). Asking a number of these individuals about how golf fits into their lives, and a few other brief questions, is the sum total of this book.

As a LPGA golf fan, a former college player and someone who went to the same high school as the author (about 10 years earlier), I was interested enough in what Alcott and her interviewees had to say that I asked a small town library order this book. Unfortunately, the whole thing could be contained in one short sentence: playing golf teaches (or reinforces) manners, rule following and humility, and exposes those who have failings in each (did I forget anything?). It's not clear why a ghost writer was needed for so little. (As a side note, Alcott graduated from what was, at least in the 1960s, among the best public high schools academically in the country.)

Aside from that, Alcott surrounds the mostly short interviews with platitudes and occasional inanities. For example, after Lorena Ochoa describes herself as a devout Catholic, Alcott summarizes by calling her the embodiment of the phrase, "The truth will set you free." It's tempting to yell, "Earth to Amy!," but I think that would miss the point. For her generation (and since) - or is it just the personality that collects celebrity friends - words can be used any which way (e.g., right-wingers whine about McCarthyism and some liberals try to discrimination-proof the language).

All that said, there are a couple of the relatively longer interviews - none are actually longer than a few pages - that I found worth looking at: Jerry West and Don Ohlmeyer. West was a college/NBA MVP and sports executive who has uncommon insight into what differentiates champions from the rest. Ohlmeyer was a television executive and his interview is notable for how it exposes the kind of personality that makes it big in the entertainment business, which nonetheless doesn't preclude a few insights along the way.

Alcott's book is at most worthy of short-trip reading, or a passing browse in the bookstore or library.

Amy Alcott joined the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in 1975 at the age of 19. During her career, she won five majors and a total of twenty-nine Tour victories. It is safe to say that she knows golf, competition, and what it takes to win on the highest levels. Even with the assistance of Don Wade, former senior editor at Golf Digest and the author or coauthor of twenty books, I am saddened to report that with The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life, Amy does not know how to craft an engaging and interesting book on golf and some of the people that play the game.

Contents: Foreword by Jim Nantz; Preface; Jane Blalock; Bill Clinton; Ben Crenshaw; Kenny G.; Dennis Hopper; Steve Kroft; Leslie Moonves; Jim Nantz; Jack Nicholson; Lorena Ochoa; Don Ohlmeyer; Donna Orender; Dottie Pepper; Kyra Phillips; Rex Pickett; Dennis Quaid; Pam Shriver; Annika Sorenstam; Ken Venturi; Robert Wagner; Karrie Webb; Sandy Weill; Jerry Weintraub; Tom Werner; Jerry West; Jack Whitaker; John Williams; Acknowledgements

Using the premise that every golfer has a story, Amy Alcott mines her Rolodex to bring you stories from her many friends; fellow golfers on the PGA and LPGA Tours, politicians, titans of industry, and celebrities. Amy introduces each with a personal note and closes with her thoughts on the individual as well as what she took away from the interview. Most of the chapters are but a few pages (roughly 10), little time to actually get to know the person or care about their inclusion. However, Amy makes it easy on the reader by closing each chapter with her personal insights into the subject and the key to their philosophy; in golf as well as in life.

It was a struggle to get through this short (224 pages) book. Never did I connect with any of the subjects or care about them. Some were hardly worth Amy's time or mine - for example Sandy Weill, former CEO of Citigroup, only gave her an hour of his time. It is evident that Amy has no time to really probe his best golf stories or life lessons. But we do get a feel for all of the pictures in his office, pictures of Sandy with heads of state, political and civic leaders, and other framed proclamations and letters. Amy put too much importance on the "ego wall" and not enough on the person behind the desk. It is an example of how I felt cheated as I read this book. And how little I cared about any of the subjects. If you are interested in a mini inventory of a wealthy person's home, or the commanding views from their corner offices, with a little conversation thrown in, this is the book for you. There is, however, a really good idea for a book in here; this one just wasn't presented properly.

Just in time for Father's Day comes Amy Alcott's "The Leaderboard: Conversations on Life and Golf." Alcott, a former LPGA pro sits down to talk to other professional golfers, announcers, as well as a healthy dose of celebrities from Jack Nicholson to uh, Kenny G.? She introduces each person, discussing how she knows them and what or why she values knowing said person. She also usually closes the interview with a poignant point or thought. As the title might suggest, this book is often similar to the past-its-expiration-date "Chicken Soup For the Soul" series. Each chapter is quite short and it would be easy to read a few in a short sitting, making it a great book for someone not big on reading.

I will spare going through each section, but collectively the various people interview trace the role golf has played in their life, usually starting the interview with how they started playing golf and why. Often for many like actor Dennis Quaid and composer John Williams, golf provided a kind of solace, if not salvation from life's hardships. As someone that enjoys reading, I wish some of the interviews were longer. Granted, some of the people interviewed may have not had much more to say that what is contained in The Leaderboard. Golfer Karrie Webb for example, only provides a few sentences to most of the questions Alcott asked her.

In short, The Leaderboard would make a great gift to a golfer in your life, including your Father. I know I would know a thing about the game, if my Father hadn't dragged me to a course early one Saturday

The description of this book made it seem like something I'd find very interesting but as I've been reading it, it seems less interesting than I had at first expected. Understand, I don't think that is a sign that the book isn't good as much as, perhaps, a sign that my expectations were a bit higher than they should have been.

Amy Alcott's interviews with a virtual who's who of celebrity golfers does offer new information from the people she's talked to, but for me the information seems like just so much more of what I hear in stories on sports talk radio or perhaps in blogs that I've read along the way.

Perhaps for those that are less connected this would be a great collection as it's not badly written at all. It just doesn't seem to be as much 'for me' as I had hoped.

First, the good: golf nuts will like this book, despite its editorial failings. If your father-in-law is a golfer, he'll enjoy the stories in this book--lots of celebrities, interesting tidbits about golfing and philosophy, and each individual "interview" is a nice, short read.

Unfortunately, the publishing house and editorial staff totally failed this author. There is no fluidity here. The writing is choppy and the individual interviews were simply cobbled together in alphabetical order.

I think it was a BIG mistake to begin a book about the joys of golfing by starting off with an explanation of a cheating scandal involving the first interviewee, Jane Blalock. This just was not the right tone to set for the beginning of a book like this and I think it unfairly cast Ms. Blalock in an unfavorable light.

I found the rhythm of the interviews to be very uneven--a distraction for a reader making his way through the book as a BOOK. The editors should have addressed this before publication. Much of this choppiness could have been easily resolved, simply by re-arranging the order of the interviews.

If, however, you read one interview at a time and then set the book aside, this will not be an issue for you.

Final verdict: if buying for a golfer, go for it, they'll love it. If buying for an avid reader's library, there are better choices.

Alcott, a world class golfer herself, presents 27 brief interviews of other golfers, some pro, most amateur.

The interviews are very, very brief, so there's simply not enough time to develop any real interest in the subjects; and many of the interviews are pretty formulaic:. 1) How did you get started in golf? 2) Who would be in your dream foursome? 3) What did golf teach you about life? It was not very exciting.

That said, the interviewees come from a broad range of backgrounds in sports, entertainment, politics, and business; and I suspect that most people will find at least something of interest somewhere. Of course, they will also probably find quite a bit that is boring.

The highlights for me included the interview with Jerry West, who explained why he retired from basketball; the interview with Sandy Weill, who emphasized the importance of managing risk (pretty ironic, given the massive federal bailout that Weill's Citigroup needed, precisely because of its catastrophic failures in the area of risk management); and the two Dennises, Hopper and Quaid, both of whom drew a connection between their taking up the new addiction of golf while trying to overcome earlier addictions to various drugs.

It's not really a bad book, it's just not a very good book.

This is a collection of 27 short interviews by Amy Alcott with three groups of people: celebrities such as Bill Clinton, Kenny G., and Robert Wagner; golfers such as Lorena Ochoa, Pam Shriver, and Annika Sorenstam; and those involved with televising golf tournaments such as Jim Nantz, Don Ohlmeyer, and Jack Whitaker.

One doesn't usually associate most of these names with profound insights into the nature of life and golf and, in fact, the profound insights in this book are few and far between. Whatever her golf skills, Alcott is an uninspired interviewer and most of these interviews are superficial and uninteresting - though they do have the very real advantage of being quite short.

I will keep this review quite short as well, just noting that this slim volume would make a fine present to any golfers of your acquaintance who don't read books. For anyone who is interested in reading about golf, I would instead recommend such books as Murphy's "Golf in the Kingdom" or Harvey Penick's "Little Red Book."

I am not quite sure why I expected this book to be hysterically funny. Maybe because, along with fishing, in golf there tend to be quite a few "the one that got away" stories that can be pretty amusing. Or maybe because the last golf book I read was "Embedded Balls" by Peter Jacobsen and Jack Sheehan - that had me rolling. Nonetheless, there were some great anecdotes in "The Leaderboard" from some big names, golf wise and no. One notable laugh out loud comment was from Kyra Phillips of CNN:

Amy Alcott is asking who Phillips would love to play golf with, and after Bobby Jones (which at least 50% of the people interviewed said), her next answer was, "Jesus Christ, I'd like to see if he'd take a mulligan. What would Jesus do? That's the question."

Alcott, an LPGA Hall of Fame member, has assembled a nice collection of golf stories from notables like Bill Clinton, (who nearly everyone else in the book seems to have played with), Dennis Hopper, Kenny G., Jack Nicholson, Robert Wagner...and then a few (!) people who were among the best of the best in the golf world.

There are many commonalities to the stories...most of those interviewed were introduced to the game early in life by a family member. I fall into that category as well...from my grandfather on down, it's been practically a family rule that you at least try to get into golf. (Which I never really thought about until reading this book. There's something about golf, the time to talk, the life lessons learned that just don't seem to be there in other sports.) After her interview with Steve Kroft, Alcott brings up a quote from the Talmud. "Whoever teaches his son teaches not alone his son but also his son's son and so on to the end of generations."

Another similarity is that...sigh. Nearly everyone mentions that Tiger Woods is the world's greatest player, a phenomenon, shouldn't be able to do the things he does, and on, and on and on...Not that I don't agree, but by the end of the book, (and by the end of any golf telecast where he's even in the same state as the tournament), the praise gets so old that it's all I can do to not change the channel. Moving on!

From Kenny G., "I began to realize through golf that sometimes you can't get it all together. Sometimes you hit a perfect drive and it lands in a gopher hole."

From Don Ohlmeyer, "...golf is very much like life. It teaches you to win gracefully and lose graciously."

And a great anecdote from producer Jerry Weintraub. While he was golfing with George Bush (41) at Sherwood in Los Angeles, "As a courtesy, he invited President Reagan to join us, and he accepted, which was a surprise. We teed off at Sherwood around seven, and early in the round, one of President Reagan's shoes broke. I asked him what size he wore and he said he didn't know. He hadn't bought a pair of shoes in forty years."

Though I can't say that "The Leaderboard" stands out dramatically from the other golf books that I've read, I can say that Amy Alcott seems to have an easy way of drawing her interviewees out, setting up the kind of stories you might hear while on the 19th tee with a frosty beverage in hand. Of course the names in this book aren't exactly the ones you might find at your local course, and that's what makes it the most enjoyable.