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The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport
by: Carl Hiaasen

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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.352092
EAN: 9780307266538
ISBN: 0307266532
Label: Knopf
Manufacturer: Knopf
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: May 06, 2008
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: May 06, 2008
Sales Rank: 2347
Studio: Knopf

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Product Description:

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.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- nostalgia
Hiassen's recollections of golf with his father and golf with his young son struck a nostalgic chord. It seems that he knew he was being a real pain sometimes with his dad but at this point he cherishes the memory of Sundays playing golf with dad--- and then he enjoys watching his own son learn the game. It brought a lump to my throat. This book brought a number of audible chuckles too, particularily his purchase of all those weird golf "aids" that we always see in the back of golf magazines.
Play on!

Rating:

- The Downhill Lie
Carl Hiaasen shines a relentlessly humorous light on the agonies and the ecstasies that are well known to all amateur golfers. A must read for golfing adicts.

Rating:

- Hackers Beware
Hiaasen's recent book is not more of the same. This one is NOT funny. If you are a golfer, love a golfer, or are related to a golfer, this book rings WAY too true. Bought it, read it, passed it on to my golfer son-in-law, and asked him to ignore the parts about politics and just wince at the rest of it. I've read all of Hiaasen's books and as many of his articles as I could lay hands on here in Michigan and when visiting Florida, and have always loved his stories. I would hope, for the sake of his readers, that he goes back to his stories and lets the truth- telling lie there, near the cup and the alligator.

Rating:

- Poking fun at Golf
In true Hiaasen form, this is a humorous look at what many contend to be a serious sport. I was laughing out loud by page 20, and appreciating his serious rant by page 38 as he decried the development of ever more golf courses and golf course subdivisions chopping up his beloved Florida landscape. Hiassen is a great writer, one of the best at using current situations to develop biting humor.
This personal account of his return to golf after a 30-year hiatus is a great read.

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