Full Description
Many golfers would agree with Andy Brumer that there is poetry in the game of golf. And Brumer is not the first to insist that there is more to the game than the superstars, swing gurus, and high-tech equipment that dominate talk of the game today. In this series of essays, Brumer, one of the most insightful writers on golf, considers the game from unexpected and often surprising angles. At once contemplative and compelling, The Poetics of Golf explores the links between golf and life by way of art and literature, philosophy and psychology. In portraits of various players—including Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam, and Arnold Palmer, among others—Brumer teases out the truths that their games can tell us, not just about golf, but about character and courage. And he also offers an unconventional yet enlightening look at the intricacies of the golf swing, course architecture, and golfing equipment. Finally, his book reveals to us—in its content and also in its wide-ranging, often lyrical style—that golf is by no means only a game.
Contents
PrefacePart One. Golf as MemoirTaking It Back InsideNight GolfSamGirls and Golf in PinehurstGolfless in BerkeleyPure WineCheating at GolfPart Two. Lives of the GolfersWhat Do Golfers Want?Pro-trait #1: Arnold PalmerLight My FivewoodPro-trait #2: Jack NicklausThe Meaning of Tiger WoodsPro-trait #3: Bobby JonesPro-trait #4: John DalyPro-trait #5: Charles Howell IIIMike Austin, "Mr. 515"Pro-trait #6: Gary PlayerPro-trait #7: Fred CouplesBig Shots at Bighorn (July 31, 2002)Pro-trait #8: Craig StadlerPro-trait #9: Raymond Floyd's SwingPro-trait #10: Annika SorenstamCan You Have Too Much Love?Pro-trait #11: Se Ri PakCanvassing the CoursePro-trait #12: Tom WatsonPart Three. The Golf Swing as the Axis of the WorldGolf MundiThe Swing Sculpture"I've Got It!" (or the Madness of "Y")Basho's Haiku and the Three-ring SwingFingerprint SwingsDream LessonsOn Phil's WatchThe Zen Puppet SwingTelling Golf's SecretSeeing the LightBending HoganThe Pathological Driving RangePiano Lessons to NobodyPart Four. Golf as a Tool ChestFaithless to the FourteenThe Half-degree SolutionStrokes of GeniusAbout FaceVestigial HeadcoversPart Five. Golf and the SoulThe Golf Course as a Work of ArtGolf and CreativityGolf and SpiritualityBob'n AroundGolf's Imponderables (and an Answer from Jack Kerouac)Winter Scene with Figures Playing KolfSource Acknowledgments
