Book picks similar to
Emerald Fairways and Foam-Flecked Seas by James Finegan
golf
golf-related
ireland
Never Say Goodbye
Linda Kavanagh - 2011
But when her sister Claire inherits the family home she discovers her sister's secret diary, which tells a very different story.
Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible
Fred Shoemaker - 1997
They think about what's wrong instead of what's possible, and this is what Extraordinary Golf teaches: the art of the possible. Drawing on his experience teaching both amateurs and professionals for more than fifteen years, in his clinics around the country, in his Golf in the Kingdom seminars at the Esalen Institute, and at his own School for Extraordinary Golf in California, Shoemaker shows how extraordinary golf can be coached, learned, and practiced, with results not only in people's scores but in their sheer pleasure in the game. Combining a host of practical exercises with an entirely new point of view, he demonstrates how to focus not on the voices in your head but on the reality of golf: the club, the ball, your body, the course - the elements that actually make up your game. He shows how to approach shots creatively, instead of mechanically; how to read greens simply by staying awake; how to develop a powerful and consistent swing by rediscovering trust for your instincts; and how to improve yourself in competition by determining what you're competing for. He also gives simple guidelines on how to coach yourself, your spouse, and your children successfully.
Secrets of the Short Game
Phil Mickelson - 2009
His ability with the sand wedge and putter are legendary not only among fans but his peers as well, and it is his skill with those clubs that is primarily responsible for his winning 34 tournaments on the PGA Tour, including three major championships. In his first-ever instruction book, Mickelson explains in detail how to master every phase of the short game.Mickelson maintains that any golfer of average ability can become a deadly short-game player by approaching the subject with a blend of science (proper mechanics and setup) and art (imagination and feel). Mickelson does a fine job explaining both; combining the wisdom of his great teachers with his own fertile imagination, cultivated from 34 years of experimentation, trial and error.No golfer can afford to miss out on Mickelson′s secrets and tips.
The Last Stand of Payne Stewart: The Year Golf Changed Forever
Kevin Robbins - 2019
Here, Robbins brings Stewart's story vividly to life.Written off as a pompous showman past the prime of his career, Stewart emerged from a long slump in the unforgettable season of 1999 to capture the U.S. Open and play on the victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team. He appeared to be a new man that summer: wiser, deeper, and on the verge of a new level of greatness. Then his journey to redemption ended in October, when his chartered Learjet flew aimlessly for more than a thousand miles, ran out of fuel, and fell to earth in a prairie in South Dakota.His death marked the end of an era, one made up of "shotmakers" who played the game with artistry, guile, finesse, and heart. Behind them were Tiger Woods, David Duval, Phil Mickelson, and other young players whose power and strength changed the PGA Tour forever. With exclusive access to Stewart's friends, family, and onetime colleagues, Kevin Robbins provides a long-overdue portrait of one of golf's greats in one of golf's greatest seasons.
Winner of the USGA Herbert Warren Wind Book Award
To the Linksland: A Golfing Adventure
Michael Bamberger - 1992
In a sober, elegant voice, sportswriter Bamberger offers a passionate tribute to the allure of golf--its humor and history, its individualism and obsessiveness--as he tells of his introspective, inspiring pilgrimage to the Mecca of the game: "the linksland", the legendary round of Scottish courses.
A Son of the Game: A Story of Golf, Going Home, and Sharing Life's Lessons
James Dodson - 2009
But once there, the curative power of the sandhills region not only helps him find a new career working for the local paper but also reignites his flagging passion for the game of golf. And, perhaps more significantly, it inspires him to try to pass along to his teenage son the same sense of joy and contentment he has found in the game, and to recall the many colorful and lifelong friends he has met on the links. This wise memoir about finding new meaning through an old sport is filled with anecdotes about the history of the game and of Pinehurst, the home of American golf, where many larger-than-life legends played some of their greatest rounds. Dodson's bestselling memoir "Final Rounds" began in Pinehurst twenty-five years ago, and now "A Son of the Game" completes the circle as it follows his journey of discovery back to where his love of the game began a love that he hopes to make a family legacy."
Gangland
Paul Williams - 1998
The book includes an account of the murder of the Irish crime reporter, Veronica Guerin.
Two Sisters In Ireland
Jeanne Selmer - 2014
But a chance meeting at Logan Airport introduces them to Aoife, an elderly Irish widow who is returning home to the joys and stresses of her tight-knit family. Encouraged by their conversation with Aoife, the sisters are determined to see more than the usual tourist attractions. By veering off the beaten paths, they find holy wells and unexpectedly encounter ghosts and fairies. They sing in pubs and have fun meeting interesting people. Their new experiences ignite passions both spiritually and physically. Through rich descriptions of Ireland’s beautiful scenery and the stories told by its people, this tale brings readers along on a colorful and engaging journey.
The Bloodied Field
Michael Foley - 2014
That afternoon she went with her fiancée to watch Tipperary and Dublin play a gaelic football match at Croke Park. Across the city nine men lay dead in their beds after a synchronised IRA attack designed to cripple British intelligence services in Ireland. Trucks of police and military rumbled through the city streets as hundreds of people clamoured at the metal gates of Dublin Castle seeking refuge. Some of them were headed for Croke Park.Award-winning journalist and author Michael Foley recounts the extraordinary story of Bloody Sunday in Croke Park and the 90 seconds of shooting that changed Irish history forever. In a deeply intimate portrait he tells for the first time the stories of those killed, the police and military that were in Croke Park that day, and the families left shattered in its aftermath, all against the backdrop of a fierce conflict that stretched from the streets of Dublin and the hedgerows of Tipperary to the halls of Westminster.
Charlie One: The True Story of an Irishman in the British Army and His Role in Covert Counter-Terrorism Operations in Northern Ireland
Sean Hartnett - 2016
Despite his family’s strong republican ties and his own attempt to join the IRA, Hartnett shocked family and friends when he changed allegiance and joined the British Armed Forces. In 2001 Hartnett returns to his native Ireland, but this time as a member of the British Army’s most secretive covert counter-terrorist unit in Northern Ireland, Joint Communications Unit Northern Ireland aka JCU-NI, the FRU, 14 Intelligence Company, or simply ‘The Det’. For the next three years Hartnett is directly involved in some of the highest profile events of that period, from the arrest of John Hannan for the bombing of the BBC in London, to the tragic murder of David Caldwell; the prevention of the murder of Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair and some of the biggest blunders by British Intelligence in the history of the Troubles, including the true story behind the murders of Corporals Howes and Wood at an IRA funeral in 1988. ‘Charlie One’, the call sign for the most wanted targets of British Intelligence operations in NI, documents the journey of an Irish Republican serving in Britain’s most secretive counter-terrorism unit. Filled with roller coaster emotions and explosive revelations of British Intelligence covert capabilities and operations, Charlie One provides a truly unique, detailed and unbiased account of the secret war fought on the streets of Northern Ireland.
Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game
Gio Valiante - 2005
It can turn professionals into jelly and dominate the games of most amateurs. It alters swing paths, causes “tap-in” putts to go awry, and transforms a golfer from a brilliant shot-maker on the practice range into an incompetent hack on the course.Most golfers understand this, but do not have the tools to overcome it. That’s where Dr. Gio Valiante comes in. A pioneering sports psychologist, Valiante has studied the sources of an athlete’s fear, investigated the physiological and neurological impact of fear on performance, and, most important of all, developed a groundbreaking program for conquering it. With Valiante's help and by applying Fearless Golf, Justin Leonard went from three consecutive missed cuts to three consecutive top tens, and Chad Campbell recently moved from 98th in the world to 7th. Davis Love III went from zero wins in 2002 to four wins in 2003, and Chris DiMarco made the 2004 Ryder Cup Team.Emphasizing the need to replace a fixation-on-results with a commitment to mastery of one’s body and one's mind, Valiante’s approach will not only help golfers reach their true potential, it will make playing every round fun again. Through concrete confidence and mastery drills, he presents specific ways readers can break free of fear’s grasp and perform at their best—even under the most extreme pressure. With detailed quotes and anecdotes given exclusively to Dr. Valiante from the best players in the game—including Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els, and other tour professionals, Fearless Golf is the ultimate guide to the mental game, the hottest topic in golf today.
Bud, Sweat & Tees: A Walk on the Wild Side of the PGA Tour
Alan Shipnuck - 2001
The Tour is home to rowdy, randy young men often drunk with money and fame; fueled by alcohol and adrenaline, they barnstorm from town to town like rock stars, with all the attendant excesses. And in each player's shadow is his faithful caddie -- performing a thankless six-figure job that comes with all the security of a handshake deal. The PGA Tour offers fabulous rewards, but its good life does not come without a price. In Bud, Sweat, and Tees, Alan Shipnuck takes a no-holds-barred look at modern professional golf. Rich Beem, the hero of our story, joined the Tour as the most clueless of rookies, a logo-free rube only a couple of years removed from the straight world, where he made seven dollars an hour hawking cell phones. Beem took his winnings from big-money matches all across the state of Texas and scraped together enough to go out on Tour, but as he would quickly find out, getting to the big leagues is only half the battle. The fun-loving Beem, more likely to pound beers than range balls, first struggled to fit in among the country-club brats who populate the pro golf scene, and then had to fight to survive the cutthroat competition and crushing self-doubt. Staying true to his girl back home would prove equally challenging.Meanwhile, Steve Duplantis, the one-time golden boy of the Tour's caddie ranks, was enduring his own tribulations. At the tender age of twenty-one Duplantis began packing for Jim Furyk, and together they reached the pinnacle of the golf world, from Ryder Cup dustups to near misses at the Masters. But like Beem, Duplantis has a taste for thewild life, which helps explain how he wound up as a single dad, trying to balance the demands of fatherhood with the siren song of the road -- a juggling act that eventually cost him his lucrative job on Furyk's bag. Fate brought Duplantis and Beem together, and in their first tournament, the Kemper Open, they pulled off one of the most improbable triumphs in golf history.What happens next, at this unlikely intersection of lives and careers? How does a lifelong underdog like Beem handle overnight fame and fortune? Would Duplantis make good on this second chance and turn his career, and maybe his life, around? And would Beem and Duplantis's partnership survive the course of a turbulent season chock full of enough misadventures to land them in a Scottish jail?"Bud, Sweat, and Tees" is a sometimes bawdy, often hilarious, and always unpredictable account of a strange and magical year in the lives, on and off the course, of golfer and caddie. An exciting and often poignant story, it stands as the best insider's sports book since Jim Bouton's Ball Four, and marks Alan Shipnuck as a writer of extraordinary promise.
Golf for Enlightenment: The Seven Lessons for the Game of Life
Deepak Chopra - 2002
Confronted by the wild ups and downs of his own play, he consulted with golf professionals and developed a new approach to the game that any golfer can follow—from the novice to the expert. The results can be measured not only in increased enjoyment and skill, but also in greater wisdom about life beyond the 18th hole.Chopra’s own game has improved dramatically since incorporating the elements of his program. Instead of focusing on the mechanics of a “perfect” swing, Chopra reveals how golf can be mastered through mindfulness, a form of awareness that combines sharp focus and relaxation at the same time. Expanded awareness, he tells us, can accomplish much more than external mechanics to improve one’s game.But Golf for Enlightenment is also an engrossing story about Adam, an Everyman who is playing a terrible round of golf when he meets a mysterious young teaching pro named Leela. In seven short but profound lessons detailing spiritual strategies, she teaches Adam the essence of a game that has much to explain about life itself.Chopra has spent the last year taking the unique message in Golf for Enlightenment nationwide, teaching the essential tenets of his program at lectures and seminars to golfers everywhere. His message continues to help players turn an obsession into a positive life path.
Up and Down: Victories and Struggles in the Course of Life
Bubba Watson - 2021
Opening up about the toll that chasing and achieving his dream of being a champion golfer took on his mental health, Bubba Watson shares his powerful story of the breaking point that gave him clarity.Bubba Watson is known as the big-hitting left-handed golfer who plays with the pink driver--the small-town kid who grew up as a child golf prodigy before going on to win two Masters Tournaments, competing in the Olympics, and rising to be the number two golfer in the world.But every dream comes with a price. Feeling that he was never good enough, Bubba began to let the constant criticism from fans and commentators haunt his thoughts. Success in the game he loved was killing him.In Up and Down, Bubba opens up about his debilitating anxiety attacks, the death of his father and namesake, adopting his children, and how reaching a breaking point professionally and personally drew him closer to his family and God.Golf is what Bubba Watson does, but it is not who he is. Through his story, you'll learn how Bubba:Overcame his anxiety and feelings of inadequacyFound his true identity not in the standards of the world, but in the God who already knows he is enoughLearned to trust God with his gifts, family, and biggest dreamsBecame the husband, father, friend, and mentor he was called to beLife, like golf, is filled with ups and downs. Up and Down is the inspiring story of an imperfect man striving to become the best person he can be--wherever the course may take him.
Season of Second Chances
Aimee Alexander - 2020
A novel of family, love, and learning to be kind to yourself by award-winning, bestselling Irish author, Aimee Alexander. Grace Sullivan flees Dublin with her two teenage children, Jack and Holly, returning to the sleepy West Cork village where she grew up. No one in Killrowan knows what Grace is running from - or that she's even running. She'd like to keep it that way. Taking over from her father, Des, as the village doctor offers a real chance for Grace to begin again. But will she and the family adapt to life in a small rural community? Will the villagers accept an outsider as their GP? Will Grace live up to the doctor that her father was? And will she find the inner strength to face the past when it comes calling? Season of Second Chances is a heart-warming story of friendship, love and finding the inner strength to face a future that may bring back the past. Perfect for fans of Call The Midwives, The Durrells, Doc Martin and All Creatures Great and Small. The villagers of Killrowan will steal into your heart and make you want to stay with them forever.