Customer Reviews

The Wicked Game: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and the Story of Modern Golf

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

 

 

The story of men's professional golf since the 1950s is laid out in an easy-to-read, highly enjoyable style. The chapters are well-crafted, and lively and fun. The stories of the classic major tournaments are re-told in a fresh way, based on new interviews. But the heart of the book is what we don't usually learn about the likes of Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods (also Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Byron Nelson et al): the business deals, the politics, the personal lives. And some of these golfing heroes have feet of clay. Criticism is well-balanced and fair-minded, however, unless you happen to think pro' golf already has an open-handed attitude to women and ethnic minorities. Sounes obviously has a low opinion of the golf establishment, bodies like the PGA and PGA of America. But at the same time there is real affection here for the great tournaments and genuine appreciation of big characters like Arnie Palmer who are, whatever their faults, interesting men who have lived rich lives. Now I know exactly how rich.

Tartly written, well researched, and consistently entertaining, I can't believe this book ranks so low on Amazon's list right now. I've been a casual golf fan for a very long time and played golf as a kid on the course Tiger Woods grew up on (Meadowlark, in Huntington Beach), and I found Sounes' book well worth the read. As a Tiger "fan" myself, being almost a hometown boy, I found the book to have a great deal of verisimilitude and accuracy. In fact, I have a lot less respect for Tiger now than I did before. Then again, I can't imagine what it's like to have such celebrity thrust upon you before you've even had a chance to mature as a person.

Sounes really has the tart, dry British reporting style mastered. He is blunt and direct (humorous at times - check out the "heavily bosomed" comment about Phil Mickelson) and holds consistently to a theme in this book, which is that golf is truly a hidebound cultural phenomenon marked by a grimly maintained tradition of racism and elitism - and not just in America. Sounes marshals a large battery of evidence to buttress this view, and some of the information he unearths about golf clubs in the American South is just astounding. He also manages to cover pretty much every key golf event in the last 50 years in a compelling and entertaining manner. This is a remarkable achievement in his limited page count.

The book focuses on three primary personalities - Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger. The first two made themselves very available during the course of the book; in some ways they may regret having done so, as Sounes is not unsparing in his analysis and criticism. But surprisingly enough, Sounes saves his most stinging commentary for Tiger, and to some extent for his father, Earl Woods. Palmer and Nicklaus, despite their credentials as rock-ribbed Republicans, still come off as human beings. Tiger decidedly does not.

I won't go much further to avoid spoiling the book, but any open-minded golf fan really must read it. It's a minor classic. I feel that it's one of the few of its kind that actually comes from the real world, instead of being a hagiography. He sounds a little bit like Edward Gibbon, another English writer with a tart tongue regarding his subjects.

I bought this book after reading a rave review and it is a tremendously engrossing read: the whole story of modern golf in its glory, and the skeletons in its closet. Many surprises. Finely written. Often funny, and a new take on Tiger Woods for sure.

Looking for a book with recent history of golf, the Wicked Game is much more than Howard's lure of title. More than any one topic -regarding just one topic in the book, Tiger Woods, Howard clearly explains the development of Tiger in a fashion many golf fans might liken to finding out who was really behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. I believe a sum of facts led the writer to understand how the control found in the game of golf, is reciprocal with all that is for the greater good!

This book is the best single analysis of modern golf as a business. And since the partial collapse of Woods, we see so many of Sounes points manifested.

A generally quick and easy-reading overview of the lives of Palmer, Nicklaus, and Woods is ruined by the author's insistence of sticking racism and sexism in your face.

Sounes uses a self-important journalistic style dripping with preconceptions. And this: A player uses a masturbatory grip on a golf club. Please ...

Sounes is hip and investigative - OK, I got it. No wonder personalities in the limelight avoid characters like Sounes posing as authors who demand their time, then produce drivel like this.

Only a racist can so incorrectly evaluate racism in golf and only a true sexist can incorrectly evaluate sexism in modern golf. Shame on Mr. Sounes for attempting to sully a great game with contrived evidence.

The game of golf is racist and sexist. I get it. In fact, I got it after the first twenty times Sounes whines about it.

Some interesting stories on the business dealings of the Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods but I don't buy the agrguments regarding discrimination in the PGA. It is too easy to carve out one piece in the overall history of race relations and make Palmer and Nicklaus (and other major golfers) look bad for not leading the charge for change. Many American failed in this area.

And why doesn't the author focus on Woods lack of involvement in making change? Woods is like Palmer and Nicklaus in their day - great golfers focused on their game.

Don't waste your time with this book. Not sure what the author had against Earl Woods, but he does not waste an opportunity to make him look bad. Several times the author points out inconsistencies in statements made by Earl Woods regarding his past. All I could think about was who cares? What does this have to do with the "business of modern golf"? If you're interested in the relationship between Arnie and Jack (both in business and on the course) I would recommend "Arnie and Jack" by Ian O'Connor.