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Driving Myself Crazy: Misadventures of a Novice Golfer
"Golf!" exclaimed Jessica Maxwell's friend Rande. "I thought golf was for Republicans...and dorks!"
Adventure writer Jessica Maxwell is neither, but she is a woman--and even today golf is primarily a sport for men. In fact, according to an unverifiable legend, the very name of the game comes from the words "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden." But Jessica loves a challenge, and when she decided to invade this male-dominated territory, she plunged in headfirst, the same way she learned how to ski and fly fish--two very demanding sports she took up in her early thirties after a life as a confirmed "non-jockette." Surely golf couldn't be that much more difficult...could it?
Breezy and offbeat, Driving Myself Crazy is Jessica's first-person account of her golfing education--the teachers, the theories, the mistakes and misadventures, and the confidence she feels once her game begins to improve.
In this irreverent memoir, we get a front-row seat as Jessica struggles to learn golf's etiquette, customs, and rules of engagement--from her first comical attempts to simply hit the damn ball, to the ultimate sign of arrival as a bona fide woman golfer... a complete set of Nancy Lopez clubs!
Among those who help Jessica master the game are Peter Croker, a revolutionary teaching pro from Australia, and Cindy Swift Jones, his partner and putting guru, as well as Peggy Kirk Bell, a seventy-seven-year-old legend and one of the most famous figures in the history of women's golf, and the queen of golf herself, Nancy Lopez. We also meet a gallery of other vivid characters from the fairways and greens, including the handsome "golf stalker" Graham, a man of mystery, wisdom and uncanny timing.
Along the way, Jessica also visits some of the most beautiful golf courses in the the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Alabama, considered by many to be the world's finest public golf facility; the scenic Whitefish Lake Club in rugged Montana; and the stylish Pine Needles course in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Celebrating the sport one pro claims is 80 percent physical for beginners and 85 percent mental once you know what you're doing, Driving Myself Crazy, is an engaging and often hilarious account of one woman whose obsession carried her across the globe and led her to discover that despite all the frustration, golf--played right--is a beautiful game.
Adventure writer Jessica Maxwell is neither, but she is a woman--and even today golf is primarily a sport for men. In fact, according to an unverifiable legend, the very name of the game comes from the words "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden." But Jessica loves a challenge, and when she decided to invade this male-dominated territory, she plunged in headfirst, the same way she learned how to ski and fly fish--two very demanding sports she took up in her early thirties after a life as a confirmed "non-jockette." Surely golf couldn't be that much more difficult...could it?
Breezy and offbeat, Driving Myself Crazy is Jessica's first-person account of her golfing education--the teachers, the theories, the mistakes and misadventures, and the confidence she feels once her game begins to improve.
In this irreverent memoir, we get a front-row seat as Jessica struggles to learn golf's etiquette, customs, and rules of engagement--from her first comical attempts to simply hit the damn ball, to the ultimate sign of arrival as a bona fide woman golfer... a complete set of Nancy Lopez clubs!
Among those who help Jessica master the game are Peter Croker, a revolutionary teaching pro from Australia, and Cindy Swift Jones, his partner and putting guru, as well as Peggy Kirk Bell, a seventy-seven-year-old legend and one of the most famous figures in the history of women's golf, and the queen of golf herself, Nancy Lopez. We also meet a gallery of other vivid characters from the fairways and greens, including the handsome "golf stalker" Graham, a man of mystery, wisdom and uncanny timing.
Along the way, Jessica also visits some of the most beautiful golf courses in the the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Alabama, considered by many to be the world's finest public golf facility; the scenic Whitefish Lake Club in rugged Montana; and the stylish Pine Needles course in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Celebrating the sport one pro claims is 80 percent physical for beginners and 85 percent mental once you know what you're doing, Driving Myself Crazy, is an engaging and often hilarious account of one woman whose obsession carried her across the globe and led her to discover that despite all the frustration, golf--played right--is a beautiful game.
- GenresSports
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 28, 2012
Liked the last two chapters...Nancy Lopez interview and golf tour of Scotland. Was mostly about how she learned to play golf & all the private coaching she got.
September 10, 2007
This a great book about learning a new sport and enjoying life! Jessica Mawell will make you fall off the couch laughing and then run to the nearest golf course!
December 14, 2012
Not as entertaining as others I've read by this author. Still like her, though. I'd read more of her works.
July 8, 2013
As a woman who just took up golfing I found this book quite funny and entertaining, but I'm not so sure I would have otherwise.
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June 4, 2018Reread August 2002
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews