The Golf Ball Book

Rating:
Summary: "Standing Too Far from the Ball"
Review: As important as the golf ball is to the evolution of golf, little attention is paid to it in the thousands of books written on the history of the game. Unfortunately, although the author cites interesting facts concerning the ball, "The Golf Ball Book" disappoints by frequently distracting the reader from its central theme with unrelated golf stories and anecdotes. Career facts such as Mike Souchak's tour-record 257, Ben Hogan's tournament record, or Billy Casper's Masters experience read as unrelated filler to a book billed as devoted to the golf ball. Also, one does not expect proof reading errors (like the misspelling of David Duval's name) to appear in a high end golf publication. While "The Golf Ball Book" presents interesting information on the subject supported by colorful photographs, it is a read that (like so many putts) comes up short.

Rating:
Summary: "Standing Too Far from the Ball"
Review: As important as the golf ball is to the evolution of golf, little attention is paid to it in the thousands of books written on the history of the game. Unfortunately, although the author cites interesting facts concerning the ball, "The Golf Ball Book" disappoints by frequently distracting the reader from its central theme with unrelated golf stories and anecdotes. Career facts such as Mike Souchak's tour-record 257, Ben Hogan's tournament record, or Billy Casper's Masters experience read as unrelated filler to a book billed as devoted to the golf ball. Also, one does not expect proof reading errors (like the misspelling of David Duval's name) to appear in a high end golf publication. While "The Golf Ball Book" presents interesting information on the subject supported by colorful photographs, it is a read that (like so many putts) comes up short.

Rating:
Summary: Timeline scores a plus with golf ball history
Review: Being a golf enthusiest in the "Great white north" country of Canada we find ourselves with a lot of downtime away from the sport. Snow slows down the putting. However my wife gave me a copy of the Golf Ball Book for Christmas which seemed to take me away from the harshness of those long winter months (and now my wife has enjoyed the book as well, go figure). As I consider myself a bit of a history buff what I found intriguing about The Golf Ball Book was the ability for the author to parallel the golf balls evolution with other relevant historical occurences. Made it for a great read while putting it into perspective. A definite must to any golf enthusiest's library.

Rating:
Summary: Timeline scores a plus with golf ball history
Review: Being a golf enthusiest in the "Great white north" country of Canada we find ourselves with a lot of downtime away from the sport. Snow slows down the putting. However my wife gave me a copy of the Golf Ball Book for Christmas which seemed to take me away from the harshness of those long winter months (and now my wife has enjoyed the book as well, go figure). As I consider myself a bit of a history buff what I found intriguing about The Golf Ball Book was the ability for the author to parallel the golf balls evolution with other relevant historical occurences. Made it for a great read while putting it into perspective. A definite must to any golf enthusiest's library.

Rating:
Summary: This is a really cool book...
Review: That's what literally hundreds of buyers have told me. And naturally I agree with them rather than with Mr Plimpton's negative review. He misses the point to the way the book is presented. Most people, including me, have a problem putting time periods from previous centuries in their precise context. That was the reason for including parallel occurrences. For the mis-spelled name, I am sorry.