Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season

by Bob Smiley

During the winter of 2008, sitcom writer Bob Smiley decided to join his fellow writers and walk the picket line in support of the Writers Guild of America. A golf junkie since boyhood, Smiley reached out to ESPN and got a freelance gig writing golf humour columns from the point of view of the average 18+ handicapper. When he realised the writers' strike was going to last longer than he'd anticipated, he decided to attempt a feat many sports fans fantasize to follow Tiger Woods from the gallery for every hole of an entire season. So with a wife and two small children at home, Smiley hit the PGA trail, travelling on the cheap for months on end. His adventures took him from San Diego to the deserts of Dubai, through the gates of Augusta National, and to, arguably, the greatest U.S. Open of all time at Torrey Pines, where in June of 2008 Tiger defeated the opposition on only one leg. (His other one was debilitated by a torn ACL and fractured tibia.) Following his inspiring victory at the U.S. Open, Tiger announced that he was going straight into surgery and would sit out the rest of the 2008 season. Although this turn of events eliminated the possibility of a Grand Slam (winning all four Majors in a single calendar year), Tiger's strength and courage in the face of golf mortality add a whole new dimension to his story - and to Smiley's.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 29, 2008

About the author

Bob Smiley began his writing career as a research assistant to the late, great William F. Buckley, Jr. In 2008, he wrote the sports memoir Follow the Roar, chronicling his journey around the globe as he followed Tiger Woods for every hole of an entire season.

His latest project is the satiric novel Don't Mess with Travis, now out from Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press.

Don't Mess with Travis has been heralded by Kirkus, Booklist, The Dallas Morning News, Steve Forbes and Breitbart.com, who called it "one of the year's best and arguably the most stinging work of political satire since Christopher Buckley's Boomsday."

Smiley continues to write for television and film, having written for network sitcoms as well as for Fox News Channel’s Half Hour News Hour.

He is currently writing a pilot for Disney XD and developing a half-hour comedy for AMC, along with having a movie deep in development with producer/director McG.

Reviews

[Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read, however, im not sure this book would give you anymore information on the 2008 season than just watching the rounds themselves.

[Myke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I probably would have given this 4.5 stars if i could have..., ah, who am I kidding, It's about Tiger for garsh darns sakes.
Bob; you did a fine job, and I envy the experience you had following around sports history like that, but i'm glad you wrote a book about it, and a good book it is.
I plowed through this gobbling up every last detail of the swings, and the crowds, and the scores, and the cheers. All of it fascinating. To me anyways.
I will never look at the Masters the same way though. I had no idea they were such pricks down there to the spectators. It's beautiful on TV, but unless you are high, it must be miserable to try to follow a player around that course.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never get sick of Tiger so I found this pretty enjoyable, but there's something missing. the excerpts from Deadspin.com probably raised my expectations to an unfair level. Smiley's a funny dude but spends too much time talking about the actual golf and not enough time giving us "outside the ropes" Tiger. If you watched the golf when it happened (as I did) the book gets boring in places. I left w

Loved the US Open recap that finishes (I watch that Monday round once a week on DVR and still enjoyed what Smiley brought to it) and loved some of the Tiger practice "stories" he came across but I was hoping for much more of that.

[Chris Kaufman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of golf and of Tiger Woods. This is a must-have for any Tiger fan, and really any sports fan. The author followed Tiger Woods for all 604 holes of his magical 2008 season and described it magnificently in these pages. The color photographs in the middle of the book were a bonus. Reading this book brought back images and exciting memories from Tiger's 2008 tournaments that I remember watching intensely. If it was possible to rate this higher than 5 stars, believe me when I say that I would. Awesome!

[Ric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up in Tiger’s era of dominance, so it was so easy to idolize him when he was destroying everyone else on tour. This book brings me back to those times when I was just starting to play high school golf, and watching Tiger to try and gain whatever knowledge I could from seeing him play. I remember that 08 US Open like it was yesterday, and reading about it and visualizing it brings back great memories.

[Turi Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of good things I could say about this book - insightful, interesting, etc. - but what kept coming back to me was that I was chuckling all the way through. Not laughing uproariously, but a nice level of background humor coursing through the whole book. Fun and funny, a solid golf book. Just makes me wish Tiger would've played in a few more tournaments last year...

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not really into golf (although I dated a golfer in high school, which was around the time Tiger got big) and I was surprised at how I could not put this book down. A good balance of sports and human interest.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

More about golf than I thought it would be - I think I expected a stunt memoir a la A.J. Jacobs. That being said, I really enjoyed it and it drove me to look up youtube clips of some amazing Tiger shots.

[Keith Pillow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This great book was written by my friend Bob Smiley, who followed every single shot of every single round played by Tiger Woods in his injury-shortened 2008 season. Humourous, entertaining,and insightful...

[Brian123 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good book, highly recommend this to all Tiger fans especially those of us in snow covered states. Very enertaining!!!

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I would enjoy this book because we would get access to Tiger, but it turns out the author didn't get any more access than any other joe who can buy a ticket.