The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf
by Mark Frost
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mark FrostEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-11-03
ISBN: 0786888008
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Hyperion
Book Reviews of The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf
Book Review: An Enjoyable Excursion Into The Beginnings Of Modern Golf
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw the Disney movie based on this book, which is primarily aimed at a young audience, with my 12-yr old daughter, and liked it a lot. I then read this book, which I liked even more.
The movie crudely equates Harry Vardon's and Francis Ouimet's humble social origins and contrasts them with the elitists who ran the game before their rise. Frost's account shows that the truth was more complex. Although acknowledging his great ability, the socially snobbish British golfing establishment always emphasized Vardon's modest social background. Americans honored Vardon for his abilities without much consciousness of his working-class origins. Indeed, for this reason, Vardon loved playing in America so much that he briefly considered relocating to the U.S., like his brother. In contrast,while regarded as an upstart for having caddied at the Country Club as a youngster, Ouimet didn't encounter anything like the same social obstacles in obtaining a chance to play at the 1913 U.S. Open. Golf in America, like its society, was more open and egalitarian than in the old country.
The movie also does not explain, as the book does, that Americans were considered underdogs in their own championship tournament; the American game had previously been dominated by Scottish and English champions and by Jerseyman Vardon, and an American had won the U.S. Open for the first time only a few years before. I was also surprised to learn that in 1913, amateur players were considered the best, and held professional golfers somewhat in disdain. Like the film, the book builds the tension as Ouimet works a three-way tie with Vardon and Vardon's friend and fellow Jerseyman Ted Ray. A heartwarming subplot is the friendship between Ouimet and his diminutive ten-year old caddy at the Open, Eddy Lowry. The two remained friends into old age, and a monument to them still stands in front of the Country Club.
A great sports story -- in fact, the best kind, in which the reader roots for both competitors. I recommend it for anyone who likes golf, or for anyone who doesn't.
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