cover image The 19th Hole: Favorite Golf Stories

The 19th Hole: Favorite Golf Stories

Carol Mann. Longmeadow Press, $19.95 (220pp) ISBN 978-0-681-41455-6

Golfer Mann, named to the LPGA Hall of Fame, here successfully brings off an entertaining idea. She elicits fairway anecdotes from all manner of celebrities, pro players, amateurs and spectators, with the contributions averaging two pages. Women golfers such as Patty Berg and Joanne Carner are well represented, as are male stars Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead. There are also politicians Gerald Ford and Tip O'Neill, comedians Bob Hope and Buddy Hackett, and athletes who have made their mark in other sports but take golf very seriously, such as Bill Bradley and Mario Andretti. Columnist Jim Murray offers his first (and, one hopes, his last) poem, and there are humorous moments galore, to wit: Tyro says to Caddy, ``How do you like my game?'' Caddy to Tyro: ``It's OK, but I still prefer golf.'' (July)