The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport
by Carl Hiaasen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Carl HiaasenEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-06
ISBN: 0307266532
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport
Book Review: Trials, tribulations, and the love of the game
Summary: 5 Stars
It is delightful to encounter a book that, in addition to being an excellent read, strikes an especially responsive chord in the reader's mind. Such was the experience with Carl Hiaasen's THE DOWNHILL LIE, an entertaining and enjoyable saga about the midlife return to the frustrating and fascinating game of golf that many readers may have gone through in their lives. As one who gave up the sport in my late 20s, when spending hours on the golf course became difficult and I found time to return to the game in my mid-40s, the Hiaasen narrative brought back many memories and nods of recognition. Perhaps more important, it offers many laugh-out-loud observations that a wise and humorous writer shares with his audience.
Many will recognize the Hiaasen name as a newspaper columnist for the Miami Herald and the author of bawdy and entertaining novels set in the State of Florida that poke fun at contemporary issues of American life. A Hiaasen novel skewers politicians, businessmen, retirees, rednecks and countless other denizens of the "Sunshine State." He has applied this formula to more than a dozen bestselling fictional works.
Now the celebrated author has turned his wry humor inward. After a 32-year absence from the game that he first played with his father, Hiaasen, now a grandfather with bad hips and other equally bad appendages, decides it's time to return to the game he abandoned in his youth. Why? Because, as he ruefully acknowledges, "I am one sick bastard."
While he may be "sick," he is wonderfully funny. Any golfer will appreciate his observation about a fine-looking new set of irons, too beautiful to throw in anger after a bad shot. As he attempts to explain the golf handicap system, most golfers will nod in approval. But, just like Hiaasen, they really have no idea how that tell-tale number that appears after their name bears any relation to golfing reality. Reading THE DOWNHILL LIE is a reminder to every golfer of the various circles of the inferno that constitutes golf, from lessons to gadgets to ecstasy and occasional humiliation. He experiences it all and shares it with readers in a fashion that every golfer will understand.
Hiaasen, of course, is not just an average guy returning to the game of his youth. Indeed, his book allows him extravagances that the average golfer can only dream about. One day, in a moment of deep depression, he emails his friend, professional golfer and television commentator David Feherty. His tale of woe and torment results in Feherty sending him the latest model Cobra Driver and ultimately a second model after the first is not quite the correct club for Hiaasen's swing. For his effort, Feherty gets the back page of THE DOWNHILL LIE in the form of a complimentary blurb.
Every gadget purchased, every club and indeed some of the most expensive lessons in golf from the prestigious David Leadbetter Academy are chalked up to research for Hiaasen's book. I must admit to pangs of jealousy that he has really come up with the perfect scam to have someone else pay the price for satisfying his every golfing whim. That envy is assuaged by two facts: unlike Hiaasen I can't write, and nothing he does seems to help his golf game. Frustration fills the pages of THE DOWNHILL LIE, and because it is a golfer other than me suffering ignoble fate, I have to admit it is pretty funny.
I know Hiaasen will never read this review, but perhaps a friend will call it to his attention. Patience, Carl. Several years ago, just like you, I returned to the game I had abandoned. I struggled for a few years, but now at age 60 I am playing the best golf of my life. True, it is mostly attributable to equipment and the humility of moving up a set of tees, but it is improvement nonetheless and I am enjoying every minute of it!
THE DOWNHILL LIE is a perfect Father's Day gift for your golfing dad, or the book to take along on your next golfing trip. Those who have never suffered through golf hell will not understand Hiaasen's anguish, but the rest of us have a wonderful reminder that there are many out there equally frustrated and tortured by the game invented by drunken Scotsmen.
--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
Summary of The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport
Ever wonder how to retrieve a sunken golf cart from a snake-infested lake? Or which club in your bag is best suited for combat against a horde of rats? If these and other sporting questions are gnawing at you, The Downhill Lie, Carl Hiaasen?s hilarious confessional about returning to the fairways after a thirty-two-year absence, is definitely the book for you.Originally drawn to the game by his father, Carl wisely quit golfing in 1973, when ?Richard Nixon was hunkered down like a meth-crazed badger in the White House, Hank Aaron was one dinger shy of Babe Ruth?s all-time home run record, and The Who had just released Quadrophenia.? But some ambitions refuse to die, and as the years?and memories of shanked 7-irons?faded, it dawned on Carl that there might be one thing in life he could do better in middle age than he could as a youth. So gradually he ventured back to the dreaded driving range, this time as the father of a five-year-old son?and also as a grandfather.
?What possesses a man to return in midlife to a game at which he?d never excelled in his prime, and which in fact had dealt him mostly failure, angst and exasperation? Here?s why I did it: I?m one sick bastard.?
And thus we have Carl?s foray into a world of baffling titanium technology, high-priced golf gurus, bizarre infomercial gimmicks and the mind-bending phenomenon of Tiger Woods; a maddening universe of hooks and slices where Carl ultimately?and foolishly?agrees to compete in a country-club tournament against players who can actually hit the ball. ?That?s the secret of the sport?s infernal seduction,? he writes. ?It surrenders just enough good shots to let you talk yourself out of quitting.?
Hiaasen?s chronicle of his shaky return to this bedeviling pastime and the ensuing demolition of his self-esteem?culminating with the savage 45-hole tournament?will have you rolling with laughter. Yet the bittersweet memories of playing with his own father and the glow he feels when watching his own young son belt the ball down the fairway will also touch your heart. Forget Tiger, Phil and Ernie. If you want to understand the true lure of golf, turn to Carl Hiaasen, who has written an extraordinary book for the ordinary hacker.
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