Date: 25 Aug 2006 19:49:23
From: Big Z
Subject: Fun Read and Spoiler: "Paper Tiger: An Obsessed Golfer's Quest ...
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To Play With the Pros" ...
The book chronicles Tom Coyne's quest, from his own perspective (he's a
published author of "A Gentleman's Game"); to take a year off and see
where this former HS player near miss college player's game might take
him if he commits to it for a full year. The book's expected climax is
a descripton of that year's US PGA Q-school but the anti-climax is that
his playing results aren't acceptable (too many Po-Dunk Opens and not
enough Mid-Ams and Ams sanctioned by the USGA) and so he winds up
playing 2 or 3 other tour's qualifying schools along with a mini-tour
or two rather than "THE" school.
The book starts with him renting a condo in a golf community with
course privileges and range privileges and basically beating balls in
parallel with taking a series of lessons with 4 or so of the top gurus
(giving each a try-out before finally settling on one of them). He also
takes a few lessons from a sports psychologist specializing in golf and
also joins a specialty gym, doing a program of golf specific exercise
to lose weight and join the "flat-bellies" in their quest.
Interestingly his connections and quest (and perhaps the fact that he
already had the book deal :-)) lead to him getting some free gear just
like the pros: Mizuno sticks, a staff bag and the best ball in golf
(Titleist) ...
Each chapter begins with a heading of the current date, his location,
his new USGA playing index and new (lowered) playing weight. Where it
gets curious to me, from my perspective to be verbose or redundant ;-);
is his interspersion of the chapters with his tournament results and
detailed descriptions of that week's tournament ... my question is what
are the odds of someone who gives his handicap as a +0.4 (literally a
1/2 stroke better than your extremely rare hypothetical scratch golfer)
shooting a 92 in the Canadian Tour's qualifying school? His follow on
scores in that particular school are respectable (a 77 and an 81; but
he goes back to an 86 or so on the final day) but still in the various
chapters he literally never goes low (i.e. below 74 or so) under
tournament conditions or even in the casual rounds that he describes
with his father's friends and his former friend who's an ex-golf
(teaching assistant type of) pro. The former friend even beats him
when he comes for a visit to Fla. I.e even in his descriptions of his
casual play it's mostly a selective memory of one or two truly
exceptional holes (getting home in 2 on an historic 600 yd. hole and
eagling it; a hole that he claims only one or two players in history
have ever got home in two on or eagled or both ...:-)). Rather than
the description of someone who is regularly beating the snot out of all
of the locals in his area with his +0.4 and taking all of their money
with clutch shots that he pulls off on demand when the money is right;
it's more a description of a happy go lucky somewhat talented "sprayer
of the ball" having a good time ...
Is it possible to get a true +0.4 USGA index by merely being a member
of an executive condo type course in Fla. with 4 or so drivable par 4s
and then teeing it up with the big boys or is this book just so much
"entertainment" with little to say about a "real" mini-tour type of
perspective. Doesn't the USGA index take account of the ease of the
course or could these tournament courses and the fact that you're
playing "under pressure" really make that much of a difference in one's
score? Don't the people seeing you post your scores to get your GHIN
monitor these types of things?
Are these other tours unethical for taking this guy's money when from
the description of his tournament results; index or no index; he'd seem
to have no business being out there with what would seem to be a vanity
handicap based on his actual tournament scores under pressure
conditions ...
all-in-all a fun read in the "Fine Green Line" mold but as with that
book it didn't really ring true as far as what a "real" player would
experience playing a "real" tour as there was a huge disconnect between
the guy's scores and his "handi."
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