Why Golf?: The Mystery of the Game Revisited

Many like golf. Some of them are obsessed by it. The only people who truely seem to object to it are those who have never even picked up a club and simply tried to hit a ball, despite the outcome. What everyone, despite their own personal connection (or lack of) to the game, would like to know is why. Why do people spend sums great and small to play a game with more furver than has been seen in virually all of human history?... Read Full Review

This is a good book for people who like to read about golf. The author's thoughts on the sources of golf's appeal to the human psyche and well observed accounts of golf charcters and out-of-the-way golf places yield intriguing insights into the special qualities of the game. The author's tone is genial and unpretentious. Reading it is a bit like meeting a pleasant stranger on the first tee and sharing some thoughts... Read Full Review

As a curious, but skeptical non-golfer, I hoped Why Golf would reveal something which would turn around some dubious stereotypes about the game and the reasons people play it with such apparent zeal. To my surprise, I learned that while golf may appeal to primal human attraction to stretches of clipped grass, it is as much about enduring human nature as any endeavor which seeks perfection rarely if ever attainable. Bob... Read Full Review

This wonderful book answers the question that every golfer has been asked: "Why in the world do you play that stupid game?" Part of the answer that we duffers already know is that even the most modest golf course is a pretty nice place to take a walk. But Cullen goes beyond that, and shows that there might actually be a deeper reason, reflecting our species' emergence from the forest on to what Cullen calls the "clipped... Read Full Review