ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ANYONE WHO HAS EVER PLAYED GOLF would doubtless agree that there are days when Mark Twain’s famous assessment of the game, “Golf is a good walk spoiled,” is 100 percent accurate. My wife, who does not play, always asks me, “If you love golf so much, then why are you always in such a bad mood coming off the golf course?”

It is a question I can’t answer. A golfer understands; a nongolfer can’t. Golf is addictive and aggravating. It is also energizing and enervating. But I think I can honestly say I have finally found a way to come off the golf course in a good mood: go out and watch great players. That’s what I’ve done for the last fifteen months and, at the same time, I’ve had the chance to get to know and (I hope) understand what makes them tick.

My game plan starting this book was to work with a smaller group of athletes than I have in some of my other books; to try and really get inside the heads of the players and to take the readers there with me. If I have succeeded, it is because of the remarkable patience of my core group. As someone who has covered just about every sport there is, I can honestly say that I found golfers the most open and cooperative group I have ever dealt with. In fact, the list of people I need to thank is—as you are about to find out—a very long one.

There is no way I can possibly give enough thanks to the men who became jokingly known around the press rooms on tour as Team Feinstein: Davis Love III, Curtis Strange, Tom Watson, Paul Azinger, Jeff Sluman, Billy Andrade, Nick Price, Mike Donald, John Cook, Lee Janzen, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Tom Kite, Bruce Fleisher, Paul Goydos, Brian Henninger, and Jeff Cook. Their willingness to share their time and their thoughts with me made it possible for me to write this book the way I wanted to: not only from inside the ropes and the locker room, but from inside their minds.

I also owe special thanks to a number of others who gave me large chunks of time: Frank Chirkinian, the executive producer of CBS’s golf coverage; Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus; and the tour’s two commissioners during my research: Deane Beman and Tim Finchem. Several other players were also generous with their time and thoughts. They include Jay Haas, Peter Jacobsen, Fred Couples, Brian Claar, Ben Crenshaw, Brad Faxon, Jim Gallagher Jr., Glen Day, Mike Hulbert, Robert Wrenn, Brad Lardon, and Patrick Burke.

A number of caddies also helped make my life easier and more enjoyable on tour, most notably Frank Williams and Jimmy Walker, but also Mike Hicks, Craig Cimarolli, Jim Mackay, Jeff (Squeeky) Medlen, Bruce Edwards, Joe LaCava, Pete Bender, Ken McCluskey, Tony Navarro, Mike Carrick, and Chris Mazziotti.

Several agents went out of their way to help me, notably Ken Kennerly of Golden Bear; Chuck Rubin of Assured Management; Vinny Giles of Pros Inc.; Frank Williams of Great White Shark (wonder who he works for); Doc Giffin of Arnold Palmer Enterprises; and Bev Norwood of IMG, whose assistance was absolutely invaluable.

Terry Hanson was a guide, an adviser, a friend, and an ear always willing to take time to listen throughout the process.

The people at the PGA Tour had no particular reason to go out of their way to make my life more enjoyable, but they did anyway. John Morris and his communications staff were as patient as the players, answering questions, clearing the way for me to get into tournaments without any hassles (not to mention dealing with the security goons who didn’t know anything about the rules of the tour or of common courtesy at the L.A. Open), and bending over backward virtually all the time. My sincere thanks go to all of them: Marty (CS) Caffey, (Hi) Chuck Adams, Mark Mitchell, Dave Lancer, James Cramer, Bob Hyde, Denise Taylor, Vicki Page, Dianne Reed, Jodi Herb, Leslie Sinadinos, and, last but certainly not least, America’s number one stats guy, Wes Seeley, who had the answer for every conceivable question and some that were inconceivable.

Thanks also to Sid Wilson, regardless of his lack of taste when it comes to Mexican food, and to Cathy Hurlburt and Patty Cianfrocca. Sam Greenwood, whether he is one arm’s length from the ropes or not, and Pete Fontaine took lots of pictures and walked lots of holes and helped make it all fun.

The rules and promotions people also acted above and beyond the call of duty on more than one occasion, most notably rules gurus Ben Nelson, George Boutell, Wade Cagle, Slugger White, Arvin Ginn, and the two guys who no one is better than, Mark Russell and Jon Brendle. In promotions, Don Wallace, Lee Kaplan, Malcolm Turner, Rich Pierson, Gerald Goodman, and Larry Strong always had answers for my various and sundry questions.

That’s a lot of people. Wait, there’s more. At the PGA of America: Joe Steranka and the always groovy Julius Mason. At the U.S. Golf Association: Mark Carlson and Craig Smith. At the Royal & Ancient: David Begg. At the European PGA Tour: Mitchell Platts.

I received a good deal of advice from a number of writers who have been around the sport a lot longer than I have: Dave Kindred, who has been my mentor for more years than either one of us wants to think about, made more important suggestions than I can possibly count; Len Shapiro has also given me coaching and counsel forever; and Bob Woodward may not break 90 very often, but his suggestions on how to focus the book were—as always—invaluable.

There were many other writers, too numerous to list, who went out of their way to be kind, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Larry Dorman, Tim Rosaforte, Jaime Diaz, Dan Jenkins, Gary Van Sickle, Geoff Russell, Robinson Holloway, Bob Verdi, Jo-Ann Barnus, and Michael Bamberger.

I am also extremely grateful to the people at Golf magazine for taking a rookie golf writer onboard at the very beginning. Mike Purkey came up with the idea for an On Tour column and convinced George Peper and Jim Frank to let me write it. I hope they enjoyed it half as much as I did. Thanks also to Fred Vuich for stepping in on short notice to provide the pictures for this book.

None of my books would ever get published without my agent, Esther Newberg, who is, of course, far more than an agent and has been ever since I got into this business. That has been especially true during the past eighteen months. Since Esther and I each have exactly no patience, we desperately need someone with great patience as our liaison. That person is her assistant, Amanda Beesley.

I have also been extremely fortunate to have a friend and publisher and editor like Peter Gethers during the last seven years, and equally fortunate that, when Peter chose to pursue his own writing career, Charlie Hayward and Michael Pietsch at Little, Brown were willing to step into the considerable void caused by his career change. This book is the product of a great deal of hard work done by Esther, Amanda, Peter, Charlie, and Michael.

At the request of my wife, I am not going to list all my friends because I always go on far too long and invariably leave someone out. They all know who they are and how much they mean to me. I do have to mention (sorry, Mary) Norbert Doyle, the world’s most underrated golfer, and Tim Maloney, whose heroics eighteen months ago will not soon be forgotten.

Finally (please stop cheering) there is my family: Mary, Danny, Dad, Margaret, Bobby, and last, but certainly not least, David, whose yeoman efforts in tracking down printer ribbons for me rescued this project. Dealing with the loss of my mother during these last eighteen months has been the most difficult thing any of us has ever gone through. I would like to think the support we have given one another is a tribute to her constant insistence that nothing in life is more important than your family.

It was my mother who first took me onto a golf course. She taught me early on that you didn’t have to be a great player to love the game. Every Sunday afternoon, she would turn on the television and watch the pros. She always told her friends, “I’m the world’s leading golf voyeur.”

During the last fifteen months, I’ve had the chance to play that role. I loved every minute of it. As in so many other things, my mother taught me extremely well.