GOLF BOOK CLUB

ONCE UPON a time, until the day this book focuses on in fact, Phil Mickelson was the nearly man of golf. The one tagged “best player never to have won a major” or, in rather crueller terminology, a “choker”. He was a gifted player who simply didn’t get the job done.

On April 11th, 2004, all that changed. Phil Mickelson, the darling of the American golfing public, won a major. And not just any major, he won the Masters. This book , written in conjunction with Don Phillips, doesn’t simply chronicle Mickelson’s march to victory on that Sunday, it – albeit in a strange way, interjecting the present (ie his play at Augusta) with the past (ie growing up, his relationship with his family and wife) – also gives us an insight into Mickelson the person.

First off, let’s get this straight: Mickelson comes across as a nice guy. In the book, family comes first – as evidenced by his decisions to be with his wife Amy for the birth of their children rather than at golf tournaments – and, remember, this book, in which he describes his greatest fortune being to have “a life partner” rather than to have won a major, came a long time before hife was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Secondly, this book does back up the belief that Mickelson was born with something of a silver spoon. Certainly, there is little comparison between Mickelson, whose birth announcement from his parents featured a drawing of a new born baby with a golf bag slung over his shoulder and an invitation to join them for a round of golf, with the formative years of the likes of Angel Cabrera (one of those to follow him as a winner at Augusta).

There’s much about this book that’s syrupy sweet, but that is just how Mickelson is. It even comes across in how he deals with his children. There’s the example of how he took away the cuddly toys of his daughter Sophia because of her play-acting and refusal to go to bed.

If the failure to win a major up to the 2004 Masters (he now has three majors) might have seemed to the outside world like a heavy weight for him to carry, the insights we get from this book is that Lefty always had trust in his own ability and points out that Ben Hogan and Sam Snead had many years of winning regular tournaments before they got the hang of winning majors.

Also, we get to see that Mickelson has a better sense of humour than might be generally known. One of his practical jokes involved Colin Montgomerie, who had been moaning about the terrible tee times he had been getting on the US Tour where the winners of tournaments generally get looked after better. Monty never won on the US Tour. And Mickelson acquired some official tour headed paper and sent it to the Scot with the information that an emergency meeting had called to discuss the issue and the consensus was it was time for him to actually win a tournament. Mickelson eventually confessed to the prank after witnessing Montgomerie’s interactions with his caddie on the putting green the following day.

The insights we get into Mickelson are not rocket science, even if he player admits he was so relaxed on the putting green ahead of the final round of the Masters he was discussing solar eclipses and spiral galaxies with his coach, Rick Smith.

We know he plays golf left-handed because it is a mirror image of the swing he saw his father use in the backyard of the family home in San Diego and we know of his devotion to family.

What we get is a gentle read, which could be completed in one (quick) sitting . . . or even put down and picked up at will. The picture painted is of a nice guy who happened to be born into a golfing household who went on to win the Masters, just as he predicted he would to his mother as a young child watching Seve Ballesteros (in 1980) win on television.

1 Mickelson makes the point that the real magic is not in winning a major, but the journey along the way. Does the book manage to convey this belief?

2 What influence do you believe Mickelson’s father had on him as a golfer?

3 Does this book give you a better appreciation of Phil Mickelson?

4 Throughout the book, there are personal recollections from people associated with Phil Mickelson, from his immediate family and from his golfing backroom team. Does this affect the flow of the book?

5 How do you rate this book out of a top mark of 10?