Customer Reviews

Swinging from My Heels: Confessions of an LPGA Star

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

..and I really mean it. If you have even the slightest interest in ladies professional golf you need to read this book.

Christina Kim provides a true insiders view of the LPGA. Her funny yet frank "confessions" confirmed a lot of what I thought, debunked a couple myths and yes, taught me a couple things I didn't know or think about. Her personal assessment of several women pros might surprise some folks. No spoilers here folks - buy the book!

This is a tough book to put down once you start. I pre-ordered it, got it today and just finished it. It's a quick and entertaining read you won't want to put down.

About the looper thing - seriously - I would do it any day for Christina Kim for free (call me Christina!).

Christina is definitely a personality, and Alan has a great writing style. I enjoyed this book, but I found that when it was over I wanted more. It certainly wasn't a tell-all, even though some "punches" were thrown, they were "full force". Enjoyable, and worth the read, but "gimme more!"

This is a wonderful insight into Womens Professional Golf. Christina offers her experiences with humor and she gives a great look into the stress these young women face in competition. If you would like to learn about the womens tour I would highly recommend this book. IF you want to learn about a most interesting young woman who has experienced a lifetime of challenges in her years on tour.

What great insight into this world - and fun to read, even for the non golfer. My golf addicted husband bought this for my 12 year old daughter who is a great golfer, but was advised to have parent read it first. She won't read it for a long time, but I absolutely LOVED this book and LOVE Christina. Even though I don't golf, I felt all the drama of the ups and downs in this book and loved the emotional perspective. I will be watching Christina and will recommend this book to many...Thanks..

I'm sure that I appreciated Christina Kim's story all the more because I'm from where Christina grew up. It's always fun to follow the success of a local person.
Christina Kim does a great job of telling her story of the 2009 year on the LPGA tour. As a casual golfer I came to understand just what a grind it is to go out and play each week, living out of a suitcase, and then try to have some semblance of a life. We keep hearing how mental the game of golf is and through her eyes the reader really gets an appreciation of that fact.
If you enjoy golf I heartily recommend this book.

Was never a fan of Christina Kim and in fact, found her extremely annoying. This book doesn't entirely change my perception of her being annoying but I've definitely become a fan. Never before has a book on a current (not retired) professional athelete been so honest and poignant in the athlete's struggles with life and career. Her honesty is freshing and at times endearing. The vulnerability that Christina Kim expresses will make anyone that reads this book a devout fan.

Go Christina!!!!!

I play a little golf. I am not a pro. I got this book for Christmas. It had been on my wish list for a while on B&N. I enjoy watching Christina Kim play golf. I like her enthusiasm and spunk. I love all her funky outfits. I read about her ups and downs in golf. Sounds like she is starting to grow up now. Hoping to see her play in real life one day. Enjoyed reading this book.

Bought this as a gift for a golfer and she loved it. Christina Kim is a one in a million LPGA member. Se has FUN golfing and makes you want to have fun doing it, as well.

"Swinging from My Heels" was a natural for me: Christina Kim is one of my favorite golfers. Alan Shipnuck is my favorite golf writer. In this book, Christina hooked me right from the start when she states that Shipnuck - who she describes as a "buddy going back to 2004" when he wrote a nice profile of her for SI - wrote her "all-time favorite golf book," Bud, Sweat, & Tees: Rich Beem's Walk on the Wild Side of the PGA Tour. Indeed: Best golf book ever, hands down. This partnership doesn't disappoint. Shipnuck captures Christina's voice and uniquely vibrant personality on these pages.

What's not to love about Christina Kim? The Kim family is the quintessential American success story. The daughter of hard-working, self-sacrificing immigrants from South Korea, her well-earned success represents the essence of the land of opportunity. Kim and Shipnuck detail the path to LPGA stardom that began when Christina's father, Man, stuck a club in her hand when she was 11 years old. A mere six years later, she vaulted into public consciousness for the first time with a stunning 62 at the 2001 U.S. Girl's Amateur Championship. $3.5 million in Tour earnings later, she's become a touchstone for true fans of women's professional golf.

The narrative of the book is an event-by-event recounting Kim's 2009 season. It ends up being quite a tale - but not for the golf itself. Kim's play is fair at best - un-confident putting and a penchant for late round collapses halve her earnings from the previous years. But the bigger picture is one of change, both personal and - for the LPGA itself - economic. On the personal side, Kim breaks up with a long-time boyfriend at the book's outset. This leads to a rekindling of her relationship with her Dad. Despite the always tetchy dynamics of a Dad/coach-to-daughter/student relationship - not to mention the gulf of a traditional immigrant Dad who raised a uniquely American daughter - theirs is an obviously loving relationship. The book captures every nuance of this father/daughter partnership. Other evidence of change are Kim's turnover rate on caddies, putters and drivers throughout the year...each too numerous to count.

For the LPGA, the changes of 2009 are almost uniformly negative...and many self-inflicted. 2009 is the year in which a rising wave of across-the-board discontent (players, sponsors, tournament hosts, administration) against LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens reached a crescendo. In a player-organized putsch, Bivens is forced out. Kim, a proud LPGA players' board member and perceived Bivens supporter, is later voted out by her peers. There's evidence of what Bivens' had wrought in these pages: though the 2008 economic downturn was definitely a big contributing factor, Bivens pushed out traditional tour sponsors and alienated others, thus leading to a materially shrunken tour. Part of Kim's lower earnings can be atributed to fewer opportunities to play. At the tour's lower echelons, this wreaked havoc on lives and careers. Shipnuck's superb profile in SI of the death of Erica Blasberg brought this home in the starkest possible terms.

More than anything, this felt like an honest, clear-eyed look at a sport, professional women's golf, that I've been lucky enough to attend in person a few times. I'll also admit that I'm a golfer, and a fan of the LPGA in general and among others, Christina in particular, who I met for the first time in the autograph line before buying this book. That's going to color this review. I apologize in advance.

I enjoyed the honesty, the thoughtful explanations of controversial issues, and the different perspective that Christina brought to the narrative. She didn't owe anybody an explanation of why she couldn't win a tournament in 2009, or the fines for swearing, or a defense of the Korean girls on Tour, any of that, but there it was, and that took courage. I really appreciated getting to know what I did as a temporary guest in Christina's world that I wouldn't know if I'd gone to 100 tournaments outside the ropes. She touched on just about everything we'd be interested in for her life as a professional golfer, inside and outside the ropes. We got to know her parents, friends, love interests, caddies, and other players through her eyes, and that was all much appreciated.

The only issue I had with the read was that I wished we'd get as long an explanation about the issues she brought up (Korean players, Player Council stuff) as she did when she narrated in painstaking detail the shot-making decisions, caddie conversations and results during the second round of the Dinah Shore, for example. I know golf is her job, but those didn't seem equal. Especially if Shipnuck is transcribing, the turkey talk could be longer.

All in all, well worth the read. You won't find many athlete stories more real. And I think that helps the LPGA.