Golf Is . . .: Defining the Great Game

By Dover Publications

The unconquerable frustration of golf, in which every player competes largely against himself and almost always loses, brings out a rich vein of unquenchable wit and fatalistic humor. Enhanced by historical and modern photographs, this hole-in-one gift book collects quotations that complete the phrase "Golf is . . ." Incisive observations from duffers and pros alike include remarks by P. G. Wodehouse, G. K. Chesterton, Winston Churchill, Ben Hogan, Tommy Bolt, and many others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Oct 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9780486320359

Book preview

"Golf is...

DEFINING THE GREAT GAME

EDITED BY PAUL DICKSON

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, Inc. | Mineola, New York

Copyright

Copyright © 2012 by Paul Dickson

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

Golf Is...: Defining the Great Game is a new work, first published by Dover Publications, Inc., in 2012.

International Standard Book Number

eISBN-13: 978-0-486-32035-9

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation

48796201

www.doverpublications.com

What is golf? asked prolific novelist and golf addict P. G. Wodehouse in one of his collections of golf stories. Tell me in as few words as you can just what it’s all about?

You hit a ball with a stick till it falls into a hole.

Exactly.

The first rule in the golf rulebook is the one that defines the game as one which consists of hitting a ball with a club from the tee into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the rules.

As a lifelong spectator and sometimes participant in the game, I have been long fascinated with the two words Golf is... and over the course of the last few years I have collected hundreds of definitional lines. It is amazing how many ways this definition can be finished.

What follows are some of the most amusing, diverse, and informative ends to the subject and verb. A few explanatory notes are in order first.

Before we tee off it should be mentioned that the most famous Golf is… quote, Golf is a good walk spoiled, first attributed to Mark Twain in the December, 1948 Reader’s Digest, is certainly not Twain’s words. No earlier citation can be found linked to the great author, who was, nevertheless, an avid golfer. In his Yale Book of Quotations, Fred R. Shapiro wrote: "Commonly attributed to Twain, but the Stevens Point (Wis.) Daily Journal, 19 Dec. 1913, printed the following without attribution to any named individual. ‘Golf, of course, has been described as a good walk spoiled.’" In the UK the quote is sometimes credited to Winston Churchill who, like Twain, did not utter this line. Ralph Keyes notes in his book The Quote Verifier, that parochialism plays a role in the misattribution of this line given to Mark Twain in the United States, and to author Kurt Tucholsky in Germany.

Fore!

" Golf is...

DEFINING THE GREAT GAME

Contents

ANDRE AGASSI

AMY ALCOTT

PETER ANDREWS

GEORGE ARCHER

TOMMY ARMOUR

MAX BAER

ERIC BALDWIN

ERNIE BANKS

MIKE BARNICLE

SAMUEL BECKETT

DEANE BEMAN

JIM BISHOP

PHIL BLACKMAR

JANE BLALOCK

TOMMY BOLT

DREW BREES

GAY BREWER

HEYWOOD HALE BROUN

GUY BROWNING

ART BUCHWALD

STEPHEN BULL

DEREK BURSHIEM

GEORGE H. W. BUSH

PATRICK CAMPBELL

BILLY CASPER

HUGO CHÁVEZ

DEEPAK CHOPRA, M.D.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

ALISTAIR COOKE

DR. RICHARD COX

BRUCE CRAMPTON

BEN CRENSHAW

VINCENT CRUMP

JOHN CUNNINGHAM

BERNARD DARWIN

FRANK DEFORD

ROBERTO DEVICENZO

ANDREW DEWSON

CAMERON DIAZ

GARDNER DICKINSON

CELINE DION

JEAN DONALD

RICK DORSEY

BILL DWYRE

EDITORIALS ON GOLF

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE ESSEX GOLF CLUB ANALOGY

NICK FALDO

DOUG FERGUSON

RAYMOND FLOYD

B. C. FORBES

ROBERT FORGAN

MICHAEL J. FOX

EDWARD FRYATT

PAUL GALLICO

AL GEIBERGER

DAVID LLOYD GEORGE

KING GEORGE V

RABBI ISRAEL GERBER

GARY GRAF

HERB GRAFFIS

REV. BILLY GRAHAM

MILTON GROSS

PAUL HARVEY

ALEX SANDY HERD

CARL HIAASEN

BEN HOGAN

BOB HOPE

HORACE G. HUTCHINSON

HALE IRWIN

SALLY JENKINS

DEREK JETER

ROBERT TYRE (BOBBY) JONES

ROBERT TYRE JONES, IV

MICHAEL JORDAN

VESTA M. KELLY

CHARLES KINGSLEY

BILL KIRBY

TOM KITE

TOM KUBISTANT

REX LARDNER

HENRY LEACH

HARPER LEE

CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN(HAUPT

TONY LEMA

HAL LENOBEL

GENE LITTLER

NANCY LOPEZ

JOE LOUIS

GEORGE LOW

SUSAN LUCCI

RAMSAY MACDONALD

BOB MAISEL

BILL MANDEL

LLOYD MANGRUM

WILLIE MAYS

NORA MCCABE

GUS MCCOBB

GRAEME MCDOWELL

JOHN MCENROE

H. L. MENCKEN

SCOTT MICHAUX

PHIL MICKELSON

CARY MIDDLECOFF

MIKE MILLS

MINI-GOLF / PUTT-PUTT

LARRY MIZE

KEVIN MODESTI

JUSTINE MOSS

KYLE MOYLAN

MUNSEY’S MAGAZINE

JIM MURRAY

JACK NICKLAUS

BRIAN O’CONNOR

PAUL O’NEIL

BOB ORBEN

DAVID OWEN

ARNOLD PALMER

WILLIE PARKJR.

WESTBROOK PEGLER

HARVEY PENICK

H. I. PHILLIPS

GARY PLAYER

NICK PREVENAS

CHARLES PRICE

NICK PRICE

TED RAY

RICK REILLY

JAMES SCOTTY RESTON

QUENTIN REYNOLDS

CONDOLEEZZA RICE

GRANTLAND RICE

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ

WILL ROGERS

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

CHARLES ROSIN

DR. BOB ROTELLA

BABE RUTH

ST. ANDREWS GOLF CLUB RULE #1

GENE SARAZEN

DICK SCHAAP

HAROLD SEGALL

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

MARTIN SHEEN

ALAN SHEPARD

DINAH SHORE

CHARLIE SIFFORD

SIR WALTER SIMPSON

SAM SNEAD

CRAIG STADLER

BRIAN