The Greatest Game Ever Played

The Greatest Game Ever Played
Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf
By Mark Frost
Hyperion , 2002
ISBN: 0-7868-6920-8 $30

The Ben Curtis story is different, obviously, but it is entertaining to consider the two improbable victors of a major championship their first time out. Francis Ouimet, of course, was an amateur and had no interest in pursuing a professional career in golf. He was also intimately acquainted with the course where he beat the immortals of his day head to head. Curtis, a pro, if unheralded, had never laid eyes on Royal St. George’s before arriving to play weekend practice rounds. He was able to post a score and thus avoid a playoff against his famous rivals, leading to a less dramatic but equally satisfying result. As astute an observer as Bernard Darwin thought highly of Ouimet and his game, but you won’t find an honest scribe who believed Curtis had a shot; even his caddie had never heard of him, and, as late as Saturday night figured his man was likely good for an 80 on Sunday and a tie for 20th.

There does seem to be some common ground as regards the type of man in question, and we can assume that each firmly believed deep down that he could do it. John Hopkins, writing in The Times of London, began his account by noting Curtis’s Hollywood good looks. Ouimet, we learn here, through the eyes of one experienced writing for television, had “a clarity of spirit and …straightforward manner: happy, courteous, good-humored, well-adjusted, and uncomplicated,” even if he appears to the author physically as a cross between Woodrow Wilson and Stan Laurel, hardly leading man stuff, but a good egg nonetheless.

Perhaps it’s apt that a novelist and television writer weaves together the storybook qualities of Ouimet’s triumph for a modern audience.

The movie-goer may not care (it’s already in development) but the historian, or even the careful reader, should know that a popular device is in play. Invented feelings and words are assigned to all concerned, including the stoic triumvirate. There is “A note on the Writing” following the acknowledgements; it should by all rights be up front. The “dramatist’s license” helps in advancing the story and also in tying loose ends together. Reality’s never so tidy. History sometimes takes a seat to scriptwriting, what they call nowadays literary nonfiction. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was wonderful, but less so after the author’s confession that well, the lines between credulity and creativity, were crossed.

It is hard for the skeptic to believe that Harry Vardon, a man by his own account “who kept quiet and never gave vent to his true feelings” held out paternal feelings for Ouimet, just the sort of embellishment Hollywood can’t seem to avoid, but who knows? Maybe he did see something of himself in the young Francis.

Quibbles aside, the research, as history always does, turns up entertainment value beyond the imagination, what ifs like: how things would be different if Vardon’s illness hadn’t prevented him from boarding the Titanic; or how golf history would’ve changed had the volatile Johnny McDermott kept his sanity. And isn’t it interesting that at the presentation ceremony Ouimet apologized on behalf of the fans for disrupting his British competitors? The more things change… Johnny McDermott, a tragic figure, fiercely committed to defeating the Brits, was just ahead of his time. In an age of petulant tennis prodigies, the War at the Shore and sack dances, he’d have been a national hero, and golf would’ve perhaps lost its virginity and perhaps even its soul just as it entered the Golden Age of Sport. Also, a fun discovery it was to come upon this wonderfully lyrical phrase from Ted Ray: that his ball wasn’t stuck behind a tree, but was, rather, “stymied by a monarch of the forest.”

This is the USGA’s International Book Award Winner and it deserves a wide audience. “Never despair,” was Vardon’s motto – incidentally his books are worth seeking out – and it is wonderful to see, even in this day and age, how the spirit of those competitors, including Vardon’s axiom for his game and life, and Ouimet’s modesty, remain ever in vogue. Let’s hope they find someone who has a decent swing – and grip! – to play Harry on the silver screen.

Golf’s Greatest Eighteen

Jimmy Breslin was writing about the 1962 Mets when he observed that “Figures are notorious liars, which is why accountants have more fun than people think.”

Number crunchers dying to know what, say, Gene Sarazen would’ve made for winning two Long Island Opens in “new” money will enjoy the new math. Of course, money of any vintage is welcome, no doubt a comfort in old age, but what Hogan or Hagen made way back when converted to the present is far less riveting a currency exchange, I suspect for most, than what comes back from turning dollars into euros or pounds. Golf, can we agree, is about so much more than The Money?

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the effort and burned midnight oil by the calculator. But far more captivating is curling up with venerable members of the fellowship to hear tales worth retelling. And there are always entertaining tidbits, the sort of trivial detail that fills notebooks and can fill out personalities or debunk myths: Gene Sarazen unknowingly hitting on Bob Hope’s wife, Gary Player on the range when Ben Wright closed his hotel room blinds, and there again when he pulled them open the following morning, and just about anything with Trevino.

ZEN Golf

TMastering the Mental Game
By Dr. Joseph Parent
Doubleday, 2002
ISBN: 0-385-50446-2 $17.95

There’s a euphoric updraft with the best instruction books (and, even rarer, a carryover into non-golfing matters.) No telling how long it can last nor how long before excitement (Yes!) turns to inertia (#$@&*). There’s the first blush of enthusiasm, then invariably gears stick. Wheels spin. The book moves from nightstand to bottom shelf. Dust gathers on the tops of the pages. This ride may be familiar to dabblers in Harvey Penick or Bob Rotella.

Aware of having been down the road before, your correspondent can only attest that this book has been nothing short of a continual comfort and revelation, wise and insightful. Every time it’s cracked. The Hearthstone nightstand is a crowded place. Benchley and Thurber, Charteris, Honig and Hanh. This book has a permanent spot.

Conscious Golf, reviewed last time out, is an excellent primer, and I’m wedded to several techniques. This advanced edition is for those who already seriously play the game. Those who perhaps have been guilty of caring too much, who, frankly, have bumped up against themselves too often, suffering from a most spiritually unfulfilling and unhealthy frustration. The doctor has a tour presence, a Ph.D. in psychology, a Buddhist foundation, a sense of humor and a knack for compelling and believable parables.

A favorite, the case of the evil caddie is discussed in Talking Points. ViJay Singh contributes an endorsement. Perhaps his example only confirms the difficulty of catching the mental game genie in a bottle, but that wouldn’t be the Buddhist approach anyway. As they say, “Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.” If you’re willing to consider and apply the ramifications of ancient truths – without unduly delaying play, of course – the results will truly astonish.

Don’t complain
About anything
Not even to yourself.

Best Ever Golf Movies

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