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Title: First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush by Don Van Natta Jr. ISBN: 1-58648-008-1 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Light History For Everyone
Comment: Dick Van Natta Jr. offers 14 mini-biographies of our Presidents in his work, "First Off The Tee", that are all engaging and fun to read. His book is well researched, documented, and could provide a catalyst for further study of these holders of the Oval Office. He does not suggest this is a serious study of political science or even character profiling of the men he writes about. Golf has played an interesting role with many of our chief executives since its introduction to the US. One president, Ulysses S. Grant, happily swung a club only outside of his country. Were this chief executive to have played on a regular basis at home, he easily would have taken the top spot as the most miserable golfer to ever occupy The White House.
The author traces the game from its start when it was a little known activity, to its growing stages when it became a political liability to play, to when a President on a golf course is no longer a negative but expected, as the game has grown in popularity. The author credits players like Tiger Woods for dramatically expanding the games audience. He also documents one President who built hundreds of courses and likely would have been the finest Presidential player before disease took away his ability to even walk. The historical record is also corrected with the President who outplayed everyone including Eisenhower, and other Presidents who would play in the fog before they would risk a photograph being taken. One other President courted and played the game with the woman who would become his wife, and is believed to have assumed many presidential responsibilities when his health failed.
This is not a heavy-handed weight of a book to be lugged around and plowed through. It is readable, accessible, and has moments of laughter. All History need not be written with such ponderous prose so as to be a chore for many to read. I think many will pursue more traditional biographies of these Presidents after being introduced to them by Mr. Van Natta Jr.
Rating: 5
Summary: Who says you can't investigate and entertain
Comment: For years I have reached for the New York Times whenever I saw Don Van Natta's byline. As one of the nation's top investigative reporters, his stories were always incrediblly well written and chock full of insider information that most of the times his subjects would rather not reveal. He found out and reported facts but never forgot the importance of color and detail and good old fashioned story telling. First off the Tee combines these traits into a highly entertaining book that brings these Presidents and the pasttime they share with millions of Americans to life. I gave it to my husband for his birthday and he read it in a weekend but not until I had finished it. I work in politics and he loves golf and we both loved the book. You can't do better than that.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great Gift For Golfer
Comment: I don't golf. Never did. Never will. I think golf is borrrring.... but, I bought this book for a guy who loves golfing. Absolutely loves it. He claims to be good at it. Well, he loved the book. He was laughing when he told me about how much he enjoyed it. I think he really appreciated getting the book, especially getting it from someone who doesn't know a thing about golf! I recommend this as a gift for anyone who golfs. Especially someone who would enjoy the history of the presidential golfers.
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Title: Who's Your Caddy? : Looping for the Great, Near Great, and Reprobates of Golf by RICK REILLY ISBN: 0385488858 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Air Force One : A History of the Presidents and Their Planes by Kenneth T. Walsh ISBN: 1401300049 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 14 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Somewhere in Ireland, A Village is Missing an Idiot by David Feherty ISBN: 1590710096 Publisher: Rugged Land Pub. Date: 19 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Open: Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black by John Feinstein ISBN: 0316170038 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf by Mark Frost ISBN: 0786869208 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 06 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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