Product Description

Golf had never made sense to Tony Lawrence. It didn't make sense to his wife or their six-year-old daughter either - not that they'd ever been foolish enough to try and play it. Then, fast approaching his 50th birthday, he found himself laid low with Post-Viral Fatigue, made redundant, newly cast as a house husband and - the final straw -humiliated over 18 holes by his 13-year-old nephew. So he set himself an ultimatum: 12 months to discover the secret of golf or give up for good. This is the story of the year that followed; of how one of life's Mr Averages, a stone or two overweight, committed to crisps, chocolate biscuits and the odd glass of wine as part of a balanced diet and, like most bad golfers, believing in fairies and the power of miracles, pursues his chosen Holy Grail - to play a couple of rounds in single figures and, in glorious culmination, to beat his three brothers for the very first time, not to mention that diabolic nephew with the glinting teeth braces. If only finishing the ironing, baking an edible broccoli soufflé for dinner and understanding the workings of his daughter's mind were as easy. His quest takes him further afield than he could ever have anticipated. How can it possibly be so difficult to fix a golf swing? (Soon he is two-timing his swing teacher). Do club manufacturers sell us sets of clubs to improve our game or just to bolster their profits? How on earth did that session of hypnotherapy in a deep squishy armchair lead immediately to the best round of his life? And why is it that his young daughter confuses 'Brazil' with 'Walnut' in her geography homework? He learns booming drives from one of England s long-driving champions, receives a trenchant talking-to from ex-British Open champion Vivien Saunders and stands on thermographic 'force plates' to have all 28 parameters of his putting stroke dissected by computer. His marriage survives, despite the holes he gouges in the lounge carpet. The result is a funny, frank and touching testimony of one man s attempts to master an art, and as near as any sane person has come to the secret of the elusive, maddening, impossible game of golf. But, as we leave him at the moment of truth, standing over a five-foot putt for that final climactic match, muttering, 'Hole this and I'll carry on playing, miss it and I give up...,' you don t have to be interested in golf to find Hacked Off an intriguing exploration of the place of sport in life, and of how our drives sometime land in areas quite different from where we'd been aiming. His daughter, incidentally, came up with the rather good subtitle.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31078 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

About the Author
Tony Lawrence is a freelance journalist who spent much of his career working around the world with such international news agencies as Reuters and Agence France Presse. He has covered many major events, from an Indian general election to Mother Teresa's funeral, rugby and cricket World Cups, World Athletics Championships and several Olympic Games.

Customer Reviews

Thoroughly enjoyable
Great book. Really enjoyed it. Fun insights about the things we love, hate and don't understand about golf. Great gift for anyone who likes golf - this is what all of my mates are getting for birthdays this year!

Good read
Enjoyable book which can be read quickly with some good observations on golf, sport and life. Missed opportunities to expand on family and young child anecdotes, but will hit sweet spot with golfing hopefuls who enjoy a laugh at themselves and others.

Fairway to Heaven?
I wasn't sure what to expect... but ended up thoroughly enjoying this book, which cracked along at a good pace. Despite the fact that (unsurprisingly) I knew the ending, I found the path to it informative and entertaining. Yes, some poetic licence was taken, but why not?

Have given the book as a gift to a number of friends (not necessarily golfers!), all of whom have throuroughly enjoyed it.