My Usual Game [Paperback]

David Owen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

My Usual Game chronicles David  Owen's funny and enlightening quest to come to  terms with a game that has frustrated and fascinated  him ever since he was a child. Follow Owen as he  rescues his swing at golf school, spends a week  with the inventor of the modern golf club, nearly  wins a three-day Pro-Am at a tournament on the PGA  Tour, travels with three golf-crazed friends to  tacky Myrtle Beach, follows Fred Couples and Paul  Azinger at the Ryder Cup, and discovers what may be  the darkest secret of the golf swing: The difference  between a slice and a draw is a certain number of  beers.

My Usual  Game is a hilarious and wonderfully literate  tour through the sometimes peculiar culture of this  very popular sport. Golfers of all ages will  discover My Usual Game for many years  to come. It is destined to become a classic of  golf literature.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The title sets the tone for David Owen's delightful romp through golf's mysteries, marvels, and malevolences: "Just once," goes the traditional Scottish lament, "I wish I would play my usual game." Owen, who turned away from golf as a kid because Richard Nixon played it and Jerry Garcia didn't, sets out anew to find his game in all the usual--and not so usual--places: he searches for a swing at golf school; pursues golf's enigmas in Scotland; explores the secrets of club design at the Ping factory; follows Freddie Couples at the Ryder Cup; and, once he gets his handicap down to a respectable single digit, sets out to tear up some of the best courses in the land. This is a wonderful odyssey into a maddening game, and Owen covers his course with sharp insight, prose as smooth as Augusta's greens, and wit as inviting as the bottom of the cup. But don't let his sense of humor lull you; Owen is serious about his quest to come to terms with this game. His ability to accept "the difference between a slice and a draw is a certain number of beers" is--no kidding--sober testament to that. No hacker on the planet would disagree. --Jeff Silverman

From Publishers Weekly

Owen (The Walls Around Us) sounds like a reasonable human being but for his obsession with golf: as he puts it, "Monks feel about God the way I feel about golf." But even those who spurn the links as the territory of white, fat-cat Republicans (Owen admits to a bit of unease on that score) will enjoy reading his reasons for loving the sport, a most compelling one being that "golf is life simplified and improved." Also of interest are his visits to famous courses in Scotland and Ireland; his sessions in a golf camp, which actually helped to improve his play; and his theories on golf as male bonding and a means of escape from females. Everything in the book sails over the sand traps except for an overlong and boring chapter on the Ryder Cup matches, which pit the U.S. against an all-Europe team and are played alternately in the U.S. and Europe. Many of the entries in this collection first appeared in such periodicals as Esquire, Golf Digest and The New Yorker. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Main Street Books (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385483384
• ISBN-13: 978-0385483384
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,437,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, December 10, 1999

By 

Christopher W. Nace "cnace" (Frisco, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Usual Game (Paperback)

I laughed (Myrtle chapter).. I cried (Top Ten chapter).. A roller coaster of action and suspense (Disney Pro-Am Chapter).. a Thriller (Ireland Chapter- or more specifically, Irish cuisine)...Humorously captures the emotions of anyone who suddenly (and dramatically) becomes smitten with this game. Only true golf lovers need apply.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars He is every avid golfer, February 1, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Usual Game (Paperback)

If you think of golf while at the office, in the car, on the can; if you perform practice swings whenever you are sure you will not hit a wall, furniture or another person; if you dream of playing every course that has been mentioned just barely favorably in print, you will love this book. I saw myself and every golfer I have ever met in this book. And I couldn't help but laugh at most of those golfers that Owen met including himself sometimes. I also felt much envy for the courses he was able to play especially in the UK. He moves from subject to subject as smoothly as a putt on the number 1 green on the first day of the Masters. This book brings an understanding to the game for hackers that you don't get from watching pros. Loved it.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, March 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: My Usual Game (Paperback)

Wonderful book...easily the best book I read all last year. I've read it twice thru now and its still great. I laughed out loud many times--mainly because I saw myself or others I know in Owen's stories. A must-have for anyone who enjoys golf.