Customer Reviews

The Scorecard Always Lies: A Year Behind the Scenes on the PGA Tour

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is probably the most boring sports book I have ever read.

Wow, I didn't know Phil Mickelson's golf shoes have only five spikes, each of which is eight millimeters in length, while Darren Clarke's seven spikes per shoe are only six millimeters long! Fascinating! That nugget of inside-the-ropes knowledge really set my heart racing and had me begging for more!

Only the typographical, grammatical, spelling and factual errors littered throughout the book kept me awake. Whoever edited this book should be ashamed of himself or herself.

Shall I offer an example? On page 106, Vijay Singh is cited as having been dogged by an allegation that he signed an incorrect scorecard at "the 1985 Malaysian Open in Jakarta". Er, Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia which, for the benefit of the author and editor, is an entirely different country. And, by the way, the missing word the author mysteriously fails to conjure up in describing the incident is "cheating".

What's more, why not tell the full story? The specific allegation was that Singh had deliberately overwritten his scorecard on one hole after his playing partner on Friday had signed the card, lowering his own score by one shot, thus allowing him to make the cut. It was only when his playing partner, who had shot the same 36-hole score as Singh and missed the cut by one shot, learned that Singh had advanced to the third round, that tournament officials were alerted. Allegedly, it was the actual physical evidence of the change in the scorecard that led to Singh being banned from the Asian tour.

Anyway, the author blithely tells us that Singh has always maintained "that the scorecard in question in Indonesia was kept by someone else." Golly, Chris, that's really holding his feet to the fire! Thanks a lot!

This is just one of the countless examples of the author's error-filled, soft-soap approach to the events and personalities covered in the book.

The book is terribly disappointing, or perhaps, disappointingly terrible. I feel like I deserve a refund.

I echo the sentiments of the past reviewers of this book. I have been watching the PGA tour religiously for 12+ years since my childhood and thoroughly enjoying recapping each season with friends and family. Naturally, when I saw this book I thought what a great source for some information/highlights that I mayb have missed from the '06 season. Well, the joy of reading the Kings English was sucked out of this book from the start. I wont take the time to reiterate all the spelling, grammatical and factual errors that have already been pointed out in past reviews. But I will point out two errors that I don't believe have been mentioned:

Page 234" "Off the 16th tee Mickelson hit another foul ball, this one a pull left." Chris, this may come as a shock to you, but Phil Mickelson is left handed. A pull for a left handed golfer goes to the right.

Page 252: "Other players were now wielding longer, graphite-shafted drivers with heads the size of toasters, while Woods stubbornly clung to his small-headed, 53-and-three-quarter-inch steel-shafted driver." Come on Chris, 53 and 3/4" driver shaft? Are you kidding me? Tiger's driver shaft was 43 and 3/4". How could you have made that mistake? No tour player (or amateur for that matter) plays a 53" driver shaft....unless, of course, they are over 7'2" in height.

The question has been asked in other reviews, but how could this book get published? And by S&S nonetheless, it just doesn't make sense. Regardless how quickly they wanted to get the book to press someone should have read it and checked for facts and spelling errors. One final error I would like to point out: Page 309: "Back at the office, Rick Lipsey unfailingly helped erase my mistakes. Farrell Evans did that, too..." Rick and Farrell, I don't know you but clearly you do not do as Chris suggests. This is an embarrassment to the author, to the publisher and more importantly, to the game of golf.

Decent behind the scenes stories about the PGA Tour, but it's hard to believe everything you read when there are glaring factual errors in it. Here's two off the top of my head:
1.) During the AT&T at Pebble, he writes of Aaron Oberholser, the fact that he's local to Northern California by going to Santa Clara State? Anyone with a history in Northern California will tell you that first, there's not a Santa Clara State, there's a private Catholic University called "Santa Clara University". However, Aaron didn't even go there either, he went to San Jose State University. Pretty big difference.

2.) During the Zurich PGA Event in New Orleans, within 6-9 months of Hurrican Katrina, there's a mention of Reggie Bush being in the City during the day right before the NFL Draft, "about to become the first overall pick." Any novice NFL fan could tell you that, a.) Reggie Bush was not taken number one over all in the NFL Draft in 2006, Mario Williams was by the Houston Texans, Reggie was taken second by the Saints and b.) Reggie Bush was at the draft itself that day and probably didn't go to New Orleans until the day after they drafted him, possible that night.

These are only two of what are probably many. Sorry Chris, but it's going to be difficult for me to take anything you write seriously any more with simple facts like this that are overlooked and printed in a book.



(This gentleman writes for Sports Illustrated now, but can't get a fact checker?)

As an avid golf reader, I was surprised to see this book appear as an Amazon suggestion. Why hadn't I heard of it? Now I know why. Besides the numerous factual errors previously mentioned, this guy lets his personal politics seep (or maybe creep is a better word) into the book throughout. Early on he takes a cheap shot at Rush Limbaugh. Later he ridicules home schoolers. He delights in naming the few PGA tour democrats and snidely refers to the rest as "God and Country" types. He has a breathless man crush on Tiger. (Hey, Chris, he's married. And straight.) I imagine his comrades in the environmental movement are on him for sacrificing even one tree for this drivel. Save your $17.16. This "God and Country" type wishes he had.

I cannot believe they would let this kind of stuff be published. I am amazed that someone who writes about professional golf for a living could make so many factual errors. This was a waste of money and it's rare I say that about a book. I feel mislead by the description.

This book is of the same ilk as Feinstein's Tales from Q School, but without a consistent human element. You don't follow a group of players through the season. It's basically just highlights from each Tour stop.

The only value I found in this book was that it described the period right after Feinstein's 'Tales'. Interesting to hear about some of the Q School graduates' fates.

Don't know what that other reviewer was reading but I subscribe to all the golf magazines and there was tons of stuff in this book that I'd never read before, like about Tiger's father's funeral and Mickelson hanging out with Mack Brown and the guys from REM and even a guy playing high on the Nationwide tour. Truly behind the scenes stuff. The stuff we knew about reads like a novel. Tore through it in two days-- great read, and very funny. Like the Feinstein book (A Good Walk Spoiled) but with Tiger and Phil and Vijay instead of the older players.

I'm a little disappointed with this book. I expected a little more behinds the scenes insight in to the players but, almost everything in the book is just a rehash of stories from golf magazines and The Golf Channel or any other golf broadcast.

There are so many factual errors, many more than listed in the reviews to date, that one can't really trust anything in the book.

And let me add that the incessant promotion of Sports Illustrated and its second rate golf writers gets really old.

Even golf addicts, maybe especially golf addicts, should leave this one be. Shame on the author and publisher for such shoddy work.

I had a whole list of things I found wrong in the book and was prepared to put them here but then I read the reviews and found that the previous posters listed most of the ones I found. But not all of them:

The author mentions Ben Curtis won the 2002 British Open. It was the 2003 British Open.

He tells a story of a flight Geoff Ogilvy took with Aaron Baddeley's wife, a reporter, and some other people. The reporter recites a line from the movie "Almost Famous" which he delivers as "We're flying over Wichita, Kansas and we're gonna die." The line is "We're flying over Tupelo, Mississippi and we're gonna die." Maybe the reporter delivered it incorrectly, but whatever, it's still wrong.

Near the end, he writes not once, but twice, that Tiger Woods won the "Williams World Challenge." Um, did his caddy suddenly get the tournament named after him? I think not. I've been to it 4 years in a row and every year it has been the "Target World Challenge."

I thought the book was interesting, but man, I just couldn't get over all of the factual and grammatical errors everyone has mentioned so far. It's one of the more poorly written books I've read in a long time.

There were a few stories I hadn't heard before, but they were overshadowed by the numerous factual/ typographical errors. In addition to those noted in other reviews:

- The ACE club is not in Lancaster, PA. And, Lancaster is not just outside of Philadelphia.

- Payne Stewart's putt to win the US Open at Pinehurst was not a "40 foot bomb".

- Tiger Woods' shot at the Canadian Open was out of a fairway bunker, not "heavy rough"

Too many more to list.