Tin Cup Dreams: A Long Shot Makes It on the PGA Tour [Paperback]

Michael D'Antonio (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786886471 | ISBN-13: 978-0786886470 | Publication Date: May 9, 2001

Now available in paperback, Tin Cup Dreams is the remarkable odyssey of self-taught golfer Esteban Toledo, a former boxer who overcame poverty and the wrong side of the tracks to make it through Q School and a make-or-break season on the PGA Tour. With uncommon grit and determination, Toledo finally triumphs after a 12 year quest that took him to the depths of despair.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D'Antonio gives a rare behind-the-scenes look at the PGA Tour while keeping readers on the edge of their seats with his chronicle of Toledo's struggles. Traditionally, golf was a dreamer's path to glory. Tin Cup Dreams shows that it still is.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The premise is simple and not unfamiliar: a writer attends the PGA's qualifying tournament, or Q. School, and latches on to one of the winners, whom he then follows around for a season on the tour. The resulting chronicle would have been a disaster had the player, like so many Q. School graduates, not made the cut on the tour; D'Antonio lucked out in finding Esteban Toledo, a self-taught Mexican grinder who just wants to earn enough to keep his Tour card for another year and for whom a Tour victory would represent not fame and fortune but the final step away from his dirt-poor origins in Mexicali, where his family "never had money for [Christmas] presents or a tree, or a feast." Although D'Antonio's recounting of round after round of golf grows a bit tiresome, you can't help but pull for Toledo. He overestimates his own mistakes. He practices with singular will. He has to learn to trust his well-meaning caddy. And he frequently doubts his own self-worth, especially when confronted by the racism that clearly pervades Tour events--on several occasions, Toledo is denied access to player areas because he's Mexican. On top of Toledo's quest, readers also get a fascinating look at the PGA not shown on TV, plus dozens of interesting tidbits and anecdotes from golf history. Overall, D'Antonio comes in at one under. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Golf has always been a game in which impossible dreams could be achieved. But is that still true, in an era when champions are groomed from infancy? Determined to find out, D'Antonio went looking for a long shot to follow. He found one in self-taught Mexican Esteban Toledo, and this account follows Toledo's first year on the PGA Tour. Of all the "year in the life" golf books that have appeared in the wake of John Feinstein's best-selling A Good Walk Spoiled (1995), this one is the least derivative and most satisfying. Toledo's story is a human-interest bonanza--dirt-poor childhood in Mexico, former boxer, caddy turned champion--and D'Antonio lets the facts speak for themselves, never piling on the pathos. Best of all, golf fans will see a side of the tour here they have rarely seen before--the nameless grinders who must struggle to win enough money to keep their tour cards for another year. Toledo's triumph makes a genuinely inspiring sports story. Bill Ott --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (May 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786886471
• ISBN-13: 978-0786886470
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,492,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Besides the influence of family and growing-up experiences in small town New Hampshire I have been most affected by two people I met in college, my wife Toni and my first mentor, writer Donald Murray. Both have encouraged me to express my creativity, connect with others, and find ways to serve. They understood intuitively what I later found expressed so well by Viktor Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning. I've found that if I don't take maysellf too seriously, and add a little silliness, it's a pretty good recipe.
Today I live in Long Island, not far from the sound. I have two grown daughters, Amy and Elizabeth, who have becopme the other great influences on my life.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking..., December 14, 2000

By 

Mike Klaas (Springboro, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tin Cup Dreams : A Long Shot Makes It on the PGA Tour (Hardcover)

This book was simply sensational! Anyone who has ever touched a golf club should read this book, because it makes anyone a believer that the "impossible" can happen. I could not put this heartwarming book down after reading page after page of Esteban's trials and turmoils on his path to greatness on the PGA Tour. What a great book for anyone who's been told that they cannot do something. Esteban Toledo silenced all his critics and proved that he could!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down., August 3, 2000

By 

E - man (BRIARCLIFF, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tin Cup Dreams : A Long Shot Makes It on the PGA Tour (Hardcover)

Being an obsessed golfer, I really enjoyed the "play-by-play" and the "insider" information the story provides. It is generally very well written (there were numerous typo's - poor editing). I just didn't want to put it down. It was like I was experiencing it with him.

It's a great success story, one that anyone will enjoy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars it made par, June 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Tin Cup Dreams : A Long Shot Makes It on the PGA Tour (Hardcover)

a fascinating look at a journeyman pro golfer, better known as a "grinder," whose obsession with making the grade on the pga circuit is offset by his own mood swings. the subject is a rags to riches story, a poor mexican boy made good, and while his story is told well, his life on the circuit offers little drama apart from making the cut each week. estaban toldeo ain't no king kong misfit a la john daly; merely a hardworking, somewhat anonymous golfer, who might be one of the top 100 players in the world, but still doesn't get the respect he deserves. the author chose toledo to follow after meeting him at the qualfying school, or q, and liked what he saw--the intensity and natural feel he had for the game. had he chosen a different subject, one who was more voluble and expressive, this behind the scenes account of a pro golfer would have moved faster. instead, it petered out like a long par five, though you have to give credit to toledo for his self-discipline and desire to keep playing and playing and practicing and practicing. by the way, too many typos--bogeys!