The Elder Statesman

Book Review
Alliss’ 19th Hole
Trivial Delights from the World of Golf
By Peter Alliss with Rab MacWilliam
Da Capo Press

Paperback $12.95 

By BILL DUNCAN

I have four sons. All are golfers. Two good enough to go pro and two duffers. I’m not even a duffer and certainly didn’t influence my sons toward the game.

But I do find golf fascinating, particularly for its trivia since I am a trivia nut. Once for their Christmas presents, I sent each son a book I wrote especially for them called "Golf Nostalgia," in which I wrote in the introduction, that the material came from many sources. "The editor dug into the subject as he would to research any book. True to a researcher’s code, credit is given to the source and that is par for the course."

What I found in my research was that golf is a funny game. It must be because cartoonists consider the game one of their primary sources of material. No other sport creates that much humor.

That’s why I found "Alliss’ 19th Hole," a new book by Peter Alliss, the son of British golf legend Percy Alliss, such an intriguing read.

The book is new in America, but it was first printed in Great Britain in 2005. Peter Alliss, in case you didn’t know, is the "Voice of Golf" for the BBC and is a regular commentator on golf for ABC-TV.

Alliss is no amateur when it comes to the game of golf. He has won three British PGA championships, played in eight Ryder Cup competitions and has represented England in ten World Cup competitions.

His writing partner, Rab MacWilliam, an editor and publisher, owns Sports and Leisure Books, a publishing house in England.

"Alliss’ 19th Hole" is a book filled with unusual facts and fables about golf, a game Alliss describes in his introduction as "a mirror of life: everything is there to be seen, and a person’s game, on many

occasions, is a reflection of their personality."

He said "Golf is a game replete with sadness and joy, courage, inexplicable happenings and, above all, great humour."

I have to agree with Alliss. Golf is a funny game no matter how you spell humor. His book is filled with the oddities of the game like the retelling of animal intrusions on the golf course, noting that 11-year-old Willie Fraser of Kingussie, Scotland, once killed a grouse with his tee shot, or that W. J. Robinson of Kent, England hit a cow in the head with a tee-shot and "the animal staggered on for 50 yards or so and then dropped dead."

Alliss even recorded that Jimmy Stewart killed a cobra with his club at the 1972 Singapore Open and then continued with his round. Alliss quips that birdies and eagles are not the only part of the animal lore in golf.

Lee Trevino apparently captured Alliss’ fancy because he devotes many pages to the famous golfer whom he notes came "from humble beginnings in Texas, born to Mexican parents and growing up in a house without electricity or running water."

In the quote section on golfers, Travino was the most quoted. I liked the one in which Travino says:

"When I’m on a golf course and its starts to rain and lightning, I hold up my one-iron, ’cause I know even God can’t hit with a one iron."

God must have sent Travino a message. Because he was struck by lightning while playing golf — not once, but twice.

Other great golf quotes included in the book are: 
"This is a game of misses. The guy who misses the best is going to win." – Ben Hogan.

"All men are created equal. I’m just one stroke better than the rest."

-Gene Sarazen on winning the 1922 U.S. Open.

"Every good man is tested in the crucible of humiliation."

-Chip Beck on his defeat in the 1989 World Matchplay Championship.

Alliss even quotes President George W. Bush, whom he described as a "speed golfer," who likes to finish a round in under two hours. Alliss said during the 1999 Ryder Cup, the U.S. team was losing 10-6 after the second day. Bush read the team a letter Col. William Barrett Travis wrote to his troops who were surrounded by Mexican troops at the Alamo. The letter ends with the words, "Victory or death." The U.S. team won the trophy.

Alliss is right. Golf is humorous, to wit a headline on the sports page of the Oregonian newspaper: "Grandmother of 8 makes hole in one."

Whether you are a golfer or not, "Alliss’ 19th Hole," is a good read.

(Bill Duncan is editor of The Senior Times. He also writes a weekly column on the Thursday Opinion Page of The News-Review.)