Sticks

Rating:
Summary: Author, author!
Review: The author describes in wonderful detail a golf course, the club membership, and the town with its history and hopes. Those hopes are held a little differently by different camps and the characters' perspectives are clearly portrayed. The characters come to life in this book and so does the geographical area.
I found this book to be difficult to put down. I wanted to crawl in and live there and join Candlesticks. Any golfer will relate to the idyllic setting and design of the course.
As an aside, the reader will wonder about the burps in the editing of this book. The story, however, and the author's work far surpass those bumps in the road.

Rating:
Summary: A small town drama with golf as the backbone...
Review: This book deals with the contemporary issue of changing a golf course to make money. In Stowe Towne, Ohio, the local course is called the Candlesticks. A developer wants to surround it with high-priced houses, which would require redoing most of the course and alienating many of the locals. Subplots abound: the town's best golfer is married to a real estate agent; their daughter is girlfriend to the son of the plan's biggest boosters; the owner of the only other course nearby has development plans of her own; two different politicians support both sides of the plan; etc. But all of this would be for naught if not for golf - the force that opens, holds together, and concludes the story. Things sometimes get too complicated, and the main story takes about fifty pages too long to get going. Yet, the author beautifully captures the feel of small town America and the fight of tradition vs. progress. And the ending is totally unexpected! If you are a reader, you will enjoy this book. If you are a golfer, you will love it.

Rating:
Summary: A good walk affirmed.
Review: Wryly narrated small town politics (rooted as far back as the Civil War) swirling around the possible conversion of The Candlesticks golf course ("The Sticks") into an upscale residential golf development. Keenly observed and often quirky characters like Sticks Bergman, lifetime resident and superb golfer, and the "daughters" of the town "heroes" caught in the middle of the controversy. And occasional golf stories that take you right onto the course. The author knows his craft, tells a great yarn, makes you smile, and would likely make a great golf partner. A good walk affirmed for golfer and non-golfer alike!