Grip it 'n' rip it - but Daly doesn't often takes his own advice

GOLF BOOK CLUB: PHILIP REIDreviews  Golf My Own Damn Wayby John Daly

FOR THE vast majority of golfing purists, the bible – at least as far as golf instruction is concerned – is Harvey Pennick's Little Red Book. So, you'd say, it's typical John Daly that a player who doesn't do things by the book, on or off the course, should attempt basically to reinvent the wheel. There's the JD way and no other way; and, for what it's worth, this is Daly's offering to the masses.

Strangely enough, there are parts that will appeal. For a player who still espouses the grip it-‘n’-rip it philosophy on the tee, Daly actually manages to get across some messages to the everyday golfer on how he should prepare before a round and how to get the best out of his game. The pity is he doesn’t often takes his own advice.

An example? At the very start of the book, Daly’s advice to club players is to spend at least half-an-hour on the range before a round, not practising but to establish a rhythm with your swing.

Yet, later on in the book, Daly confesses he doesn’t have a pre-round practice drill of his own. Indeed, he observes that his longtime agent and friend Bud Martin observes that a typical nine o’clock tee-time would see Daly wake up at eight, hit the nearest McDonald’s for a couple of Egg McMuffins, a large fries and a chocolate shake at 8.15, roll into the course parking lot at 8.30, sign some autographs, stroke about half a dozen eight-foot putts before teeing up at 9.00 and “striping a 350-yard drive down the left centre of the fairway.”

This is quite a different book to his candid autobiography, My Life In and Out of the Rough. This is much tamer, written by ghostwriter Glen Waggoner, with the intention to make the reader believe he is having a conversation with Daly, who claims to be a member of the “30-30 Club” that has no waiting list, no subscriptions, no dress code and just two rules: never show up at the golf course more than 30 minutes before your tee time; never smoke more than 30 cigarettes a round.

Personally, I don’t think this book does Daly any favours. Daly has had his share of problems (weight, injuries, gambling, drinking, marriages) and is currently on suspension from the US Tour and, consequently, is spending time on the European Tour.

But there is also something extremely likeable about Daly. He has charisma, and the bad boy image in a world of professional golf that has much of a sameness makes him stand out from the crowd. In this book, in an attempt to give us the “real” Daly, there is an apparent need to constantly revert to the use of bad language, almost as if Daly is talking to his friends in the bar in Arkansas. It is not an appealing trait in the book, however. The upside to the book is that Daly does have some interesting insights.

Sure, his approach is simplistic; but, for the majority of readers who don’t want to get into angles and planes, it nevertheless gets the message home and could conceivably shave a shot or two off your next rounds.

Also, Daly – who claims to have played golf all around the world with the exception of Antarctica – gives us his list of favourite golf courses (staying clear of “places like Shinnecock Hills and Winged Foot and Oakmont and all those other places that the USGA picks for the US Open”). His choices? The first happens to be the Lion’s Den in Dardanelle, Arkansas . . . designed by a certain John Daly!

In fairness, he later adds Torrey Pines to the list instead, putting his order as St Andrews, Augusta National, Muirfield, Thundering Waters (in Niagara Falls, Canada) and then Torrey Pines.

If you're a John Daly fan, you'll probably enjoy leafing your way through this book. If you want instruction, opt for the original and get Pennick's Little Red Book.

Questions for Readers

1 Does the conversational style of writing work in this book?

2 Daly recounts the time that he and Mark Calcavecchia were once fined for playing too fast, while Mark O’Meara and Greg Norman escaped censure for a similar action (completing their round in one hour 24 minutes). Do you believe Daly was victimised?

3 Does Daly’s personality come across in the little anecdotes he recounts?

4 Does he succeed in bringing instruction down to an everyman level?

5 How do you rate this book out of a possible top mark of 10?