Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

Golfers know the name. Most others don’t

I want to recommend a book to all of you interested in human beings who lift themselves up through hard work and determination. It is a golf book. But before you roll your eyes and move on to another post or site, take time to consider.

Francis Ouimet won the 1913 U.S. Open as 20-year-old amateur against the world’s top player, Harry Vardon. Both men grew up in tough circumstances, and both reached the heights of golf–Vardon as a professional and Ouimet as an ameteur. Their parallel lives make for good comparisons, although these two men, unlike the ones in Plutarch’s classic, actually met and faced off against one another. Both men, Vardon in England and Ouimet in America, lifted golf to a new level in the consciousness of ordinary folks.

Mark Frost writes compellingly. His prose is excellent, and he pieces together the biographies well. I have read only four chapters so far, but every word has been a joy. Tired eyes at night is all that keeps me from reading cover to cover in a single sitting. The link will take you to Amazon where the Introduction is available for reading.