Customer Reviews

The Sure Thing: The Making and Unmaking of Golf Phenom Michelle Wie

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
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The Sure Thing is an intriguing look into the life and times of Michelle, giving insight not before known to the public, and shedding some light on how not to raise a child prodigy. If Tiger's dad did it right, this will show you the other side of trying to raise another Tiger. A must read for all golf fans, and for any parent interested in learning from the mistakes of others.

I was one of the people who was sick of hearing about Michelle Wie every time I turned around. I thought her attempts to play with the men were silly publicity stunts that would not go away. After reading this book, it is abundantly clear that her parents were behind her sudden rise-and fall. This book chronicles Michelle's talent, her relationship with her parents, caddies, instructors and the press. The Wie's private lives seem fairly closed to the outside but this book gives us a glimpse of what went on. I actually feel sorry for Michelle and hope she continues to do well on the LPGA tour--where she is having some legitimate success inspite of mom and dad.

A must-read for anyone who has a prodigy sports kid and thinking of cultivating him into the next big thing. You almost feel sorry for Wie after reading this but alas she is still a multi-millionaire at such a tender age so no tears or even a tiny violin here.

Still you can't help but think what could have been if it wasn't for all the wrong mistakes that her parents made. From reading this book, I think a major mistake was her dad thinking he knows more about golf than golf professionals themselves?! I mean that sounds like a total ego thing and I cannot imagine why anyone can even think that way given he is relatively new to the game and not really an accomplished golfer. Certainly firing one of the best caddies in the LPGA tour did not help and it seems her decline started right after the firing. The second biggest mistake is changing her swing. When she first came into the scene, everyone marveled at her beautiful fluid swing. That was basically her signature other than her good looks. Now why would anyone change something like that is perplexing. This is like Agassi deciding to change his forehand motion or Pete Sampras changing his service motion. You don't mess with success. We may never know what was the cause of the change because in the book, Wie sort of blamed her wrist injury and so to compensate for the injury she was using other parts of her arms and body to swing at the ball. However, I don't think letting a golf pro tinker with her swing did any good either.

Again, don't really feel sorry for her. Multi-millionaire and if golf doesn't work out, she will have a good career acting or modelling ala Kournikova. But it was a fun read to look at how stupid people ruin a potentially great career of a young athlete.

An interesting look at the quick rise and quicker fall of the Michelle Wei - "golf's next big thing." However, the story reads more like a very good extended feature article than a book-length work. The author is able to provide a compelling narrative at points, but can't seem to get enough purchase on the strands that could tie larger thematic questions into this study.

Ultimately, the problem of the story is that it ends up on the outside of the Wei machine, which consists only of her close family. From the book's reporting it seems that even agents, coaches, doctors and caddies were kept at a distance from the decisions made about her career. This, in itself, is probably the most important element of Wei's shooting star trajectory. But the author, though doing the best he can, can't seem to really penetrate that fortress. In the end, we are presented with several reasons which combined to lead to Wei's collapse: Injuries, Exhaustion, Business Decisions, etc. But without that more intimate look at the inner-workings of the command center during those years, we are still left with many questions.

Wei's accomplishments are nothing short of amazing when looked at in retrospect, and there are moments her achievements and her determination are inspiring. But the book, to its credit, doesn't shy away from Wei's outbursts or moments of arrogance or petulance.

NO COMPLAINTS. I ENJOYED READING THIS BOOK. BEING FROM HAWAII MADE IT GREAT READING.

THANK YOU,
ROGER

As an avid golfer and a follower of the Wie story I wasn't able to resist this book. I was disappointed that John Feinstein hadn't taken on the project. The first half of the book was excellent, the comments on Michelle's immigrant parents (from South Korea) were insightful into the family dynamics and possible explanation for why things went so awry.

The last part of the book I found disturbing because I felt the author quoted sources close to Michelle - a family friend, her doctor and her sports psychologist - which he could not have gained access to without her consent.

I was left with an admiration for Michelle that in spite of being brought up to believe she was a superstar and then falling well short she continues to play.

very well written book. Easy reading. A must for anyone wondering what happened to Michelle.

Eric did a phenomenal job in capturing the life and times of Michelle Wie. I would reccommend this book to anyone who loves Golf as much as I do.

Weather you like golf or just a good story - this book is worth the time. The author has an easy to read style and has the low-down on this wonder girl golfer. Great read.

On page 241 of his 244 page book, author Eric Adelson tells readers that, "The root cause of her decline, the force that contributed to all the factors that brought her down, was greed." What's strange about this conclusion is that it's the first and only time the word 'greed' is used, and that unless "wanting it all" as quickly as possible as an athlete and parent is defined as greed, there is nothing in his account of Michelle Wie's life to support what we commonly think of as greed. On the contrary, one might apply the term to an author who first interviewed Wie for ESPN magazine at the age of 10 and now has followed that up several years later with his own book. Preying on the young for corporate and individual profit? (It makes one wonder who is more dangerous to society, child sexual predators or journalistic ones.)

The story here is basically of a precociously talented young girl with a modern egalitarian viewpoint, and typical pushy middle class parents, in this case with a Korean twist. Instead of sending Michelle to her room, in her case junior tournaments where she would learn the rules of the game and how to win, her parents encouraged, managed and justified the most self-destructive aspects of her teenage impatience and immaturity. And all aided and abetted by a rapacious press out to make big profits, playing on a society overly taken with child prodigies.

Through this process during her most important formative years, Michelle Wie's growth as a golfer and individual were stunted. That's not easy to overcome. Will her relatively belated recognition and correction of what happened be enough for her to fulfill her potential? We'll see. I wish her the best.