Review of A Golfer's Life (Paperback)

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, by its candor and by how well-written it was.It minimized many warts, but there is still some bite to it.

Arnold Palmer defines what charisma is.Charisma has nothing todo with skill, he certainly was not the most skilled or accomplishedgolfer.His talent and achievements fall short of those of Nicklaus, Hoganand even Gary Player.Yet Palmer with his amazing charisma can arguably beconsidered the most important golfer in the last 50 years.

A few yearsago I was watching a Senior tournament. My wife came by and becameenraptured by what was on.That was extremely odd, she usually does notwatch golf.She asked me who the man on the screen was that was sofascinating.It was Arnold Palmer.

The portraits that Palmer draws ofhis parents, especially of his father, are wonderful.His stories ofgrowing up are wonderful and I feel a good sense of the man and his roots. And he spares no words in discussing the death of his best friend while hewas at school at Wake Forest, a death he still somewhat blameshimself.

However, the story about the Ku Klux Klan meeting and hismother's reaction to it (live and let live) is rather naïve.

Palmerbrings up an interesting theory about his career, that his decision to stopsmoking played a factor in it.Nicotine creates a dependency, physical andpsychological, no doubt about it.Palmer feels that cigarettes helped himconcentrate.But I admire him for not starting again, even if it cost himsome strokes.So do his grandchildren and his fans, if he had not stopped,he would not be here today.

Palmer talks about several people in the golfworld at length.He speaks highly, yet evenhandedly, of Clifford Robertsand the Masters.I daresay that there are others who would not agree withthat opinion.

It is obvious that Arnold did not get along with Ben Hogan,but few people did.Hogan was a hard man and while Palmer speaks highly ofBen's skills, you can see that he did not like him personally.

Thesection about Nicklaus is fascinating.There is a major rivalry in manyways between the two of them, there is no question about it.Palmer makessome very astute observations about their divergent styles andpersonalities.

There is much greater kinship with Gary Player and thestories about Player are quite funny.

People have tried to analyzePalmer's appeal for years.One of the ideas is that he comes across as ablue-collar worker in a rich man's sport.It was him that drew fans acrossincome and class lines.

To many people, Arnold Palmer is old-lineestablishment.He was a close friend of Eisenhower, and of Bob Hope.Thebook slows when he talks of the rich people he is friends with.

Inparticular, I was repulsed by a golf course he built with an airstripwithin, so one can land one's private plane and then tee off.Give me abreak!

And his apparent tolerance for many of the racist policies ofthe PGA is galling as well.Palmer could have done more to bring the PGAinto the 20th Century.His decision to keep quiet and "work within thesystem" again shows naivity beyond belief.

But Palmer has somewonderfully nice things to say about President Clinton, so he iseven-handed.

Palmer is not overly introspective, so he does not tryanalyzing his popularity very much.He does say that he loves to perform,to show off and entertain people.He talks of his joy the first time thathappened.

A section of Feinstein's "A Good Walk Spoiled" discussesPalmer from a fan's perspective and also from a fellow player's.It givesa different perspective on the man.

Palmer has always been treated wellby the press.But he deserves a lot of the credit himself.He tells agreat story about Jim McKay getting all noisy and excited in the 1960Masters and interrupting Palmer's concentration.Palmer could have snarledor been nasty.Instead, he just smiled and McKay realized what was goingon.You can get more with the carrot...

At the time this book was written,his wife Winnie had just been diagnosed with cancer.She is no longer withus and my heart aches for Mr. Palmer and his loss.Palmer also talkslittle of his own fight with cancer and the remarkable recovery he hasmade.Nor does he talk about all the money he has raised for research ofprostate cancer.

There is very little about his daughters as well, orhis family life beyond his early married days.

In an ESPN show, one ofthose daughters said on-camera that her dad loved being Arnold Palmer. There are countless people who can testify of how nice a man he is.

Goodbook!



Click Here to see more reviews about: A Golfer's Life (Paperback)