For us rabbits the game of golf is a constant battle between fantasy and reality. The great hopes and ambitions that accompany us on the first tee quickly evaporate by a combination of mother nature, gravity and the cruelest of luck. One of the charms of the Great Game is that we are constantly chasing what is, in theory, attainable but in reality highly elusive. It is a perpetual series of occasions for hope. David Feherty summed it up when he said; "Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle." It is astonishing how long the occasional miracle can remain in the memory to the total eclipse of all else. Golf is a game whose hook is baited with hope. This book is a compendium of quotes from players who have been similarly troubled by the journey from great hopes to cruel reality. I hope you enjoy their reflections.

A beloved New York Times bestselling author and golf aficionado shares his insatiable curiosity, trademark sense of humor, and vast knowledge of the game in this cavalcade of original pieces about why we love the sport, now featuring three additional new pieces. This is the book Rick Reilly has been writing in the back of his head since he fell in love with the game of golf at eleven years old. He unpacks and explores all of the wonderful, maddening, heart-melting, heart-breaking, cool, and captivating things about golf that make the game so utterly addictive. We meet the PGA Tour player who robbed banks by night to pay his motel bills, the golf club maker who takes weekly psychedelic trips, and the caddy who kept his loop even after an 11-year prison stint. We learn how a man on his third heart nearly won the U.S. Open, how a Vietnam POW saved his life playing 18 holes a day in his tiny cell, and about the course that's absolutely free. Reilly mines all of the game’s quirky traditions—from the shot of bourbon you take before you tee off at Peyton Manning’s course, to the way the starter at St. Andrews announces to your group (and the hundreds of tourists watching), “You’re on the first tee, gentlemen.” He means that quite literally: St. Andrews has the first tee ever invented. We’ll visit the eighteen most unforgettable holes around the world (Reilly has played them all), including the hole in Indonesia where the biggest hazard is monkeys, the one in the Caribbean that's underwater, and the one in South Africa that requires a shot over a pit of alligators; not to mention Reilly’s attempt to play the most mini-golf holes in one day. Reilly expounds on all the great figures in the game, from Phil Mickelson to Bobby Jones to the simple reason Jack Nicklaus is better than Tiger Woods. He explains why we should stop hating Bryson DeChambeau unless we hate genius, the greatest upset in women’s golf history, and why Ernie Els throws away every ball that makes a birdie. Plus all the Greg Norman stories Reilly has never been able to tell before, and the great fun of being Jim Nantz. Connecting it all will be the story of Reilly’s own personal journey through the game, especially as it connects to his tumultuous relationship with his father, and how the two eventually reconciled through golf. This is Reilly’s valentine to golf, a cornucopia of stories that no golfer will want to be without. **The Sports Librarian’s Best of 2022 – Sports Books**

Whether it's the hacker who caught his own ricocheted drive, the pro who stripped down to his shorts to play a shot, or the caddie who lost a golf bag during a round, one thing is certain: Golf is a funny game." -From the introduction From bogies and birdies to par shots and eagles, Zullo offers outrageously funny golf tales certain to entertain golf's millions of enthusiasts. More Golf Is a Funny Game From Arnie's infamous run-in with the ninth tee at Rancho Park Golf Course to the amateur hacker who was hit in the head by his own ricocheting golf ball, Allan Zullo presents more than 100 sidesplitting anecdotes of life on the green for linksmen and women in dire need of a laugh and a lower handicap. Recounting mulligans and master strokes from the days hickory shafts ruled the fairways to the 2006 PGA, Champions, and LPGA Tours, this comical compendium is executed with the precision of a flawless bunker shot into the cup.

Presents a collection of golf games designed for singles, pairs, groups, and teams, along with side bets, driving games, and games to improve golfing skills.

Written with the help of golfing poets such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, Charles “Chick” Evans, Grantland Rice and Billy Collins. Laid out as a golf course with Holes (chapters) such as “St. Andrews,” “Agonies and Frustrations,” “Advice,” “Politics and War,” “Links with the Devil” and “The Women’s Game.” Illustrated with pictures, cartoons and photographs. The text and poems include humorous tales, historical dramas and personal accounts that will touch the hearts of golfers universally. Much of the material comes from inaccessible books and magazines published in the U.S., England and Scotland before 1930.

"Golf Foreplay" is the perfect beginner's guide for golf novices who need to know the basic rules, etiquette, and fundamentals of the game (including invaluable dos and don'ts) before they step onto the green.

What do tiny bars of complimentary soap, spam sandwiches and pillow hogs have to do with fishing? When does one more "last cast" beget another? How can some people confuse fishing with ... sex? This collection of short stories answers those questions, and more. Dennis Dauble - biologist, fisherman and author previously of "The Barbless Hook" and "Fishes of the Columbia Basin" - returns with more wry and humorous tales gleaned from a lifetime of fishing experiences and insights. Among the revelations received at the rod's handle: some tipping points aren't revealed (alas) until after you pass the point of no return. A four-beer buzz can move a relationship along only so far. And as any friendly, but competitive, fisher might tell you, there's a limit to how much you can trust others when it comes to a good thing. Any reader will likely see themselves somewhere in this delightful collection - and fishermen and women will particularly find kindred spirit for their passion. As Dauble writes, "Fishing creeps into your thoughts, conversations and dreams to create transcendent connections that surprise and amaze."