Follow The Roar by Bob Smiley
March 2nd, 2009Title: Follow The Roar
Author: Bob Smiley
Publisher: HarperCollins (2008)
In honor of Tiger Woods’ glorious return to the PGA tour I read an awesome book about Woods’ 2008 season. Now, a little background about myself that I’m sure you are interested to read: I hate golf. Now…one may argue that the reason for my hatred for golf is because I am incredibly bad. I would concede that point. I have played 18 holes of golf (of the non miniature variety) one time in my life. Par was 72. I shot 146. For those who are not very good at math…that means I shot more than 2 shots for each stroke that I should have. Now you see why I hate golf. Because it is stupidly maddening. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
Oops…sorry for the angry digression. Anyway, while I hate playing golf…I love watching it. Actually, I should qualify that statement too. I love watching Tiger Woods play. Other golf is boring. So to sum up my feelings about golf: I love Tiger Woods.
Follow The Roar: Tailing Tiger for all 604 Holes of his Most Spectacular Season by Bob Smiley is a very well written and funny book about tracking Woods for every hole of the 2008 PGA tour. Starting in La Jolla, California for the Buick Open in January through all the tournaments he played…ending back in La Jolla in June for the US Open. Now, at the beginning of the season Smiley was NOT a Tiger Woods fan. Tiger Woods is a robot…which Smiley did not like. This is a legitmate complaint of Woods. He doesn’t mess around when he is out on the course. He doesn’t talk to fans…or even look human out there. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Phil Mickelson (who is also a really really good golfer…but not quite as good), who is the “people’s golfer”.
Smiley wanted to track Woods through a season to see if he could see what the big deal was. Sure, Woods is AWESOME and probably the best golfer ever…but why do people love him so much if he never gives back to them? As Smiley moves through the season he finds himself rooting for Woods to win. He finds himself captivated with the pure talent of Tiger Woods. Who cares if he smiles at fans?!? I don’t…and neither does Smiley. As long as he dominates when he is out there…that’s good enough for me.
For those who know golf…The 2008 US Open was especially awesome because Woods was playing on a torn ACL and 2 stress fractures in his leg. I imagine it is hard to play golf like that. In fact…that’s probably why I was so bad that one time I played. I think I probably had stress fractures. He made a dramatic come from behind victory, nailing a huge putt on the 18th hole in the 4th round AND the first playoff round. Naturally, I missed watching it because I was driving in a car on vacation in California. (Luckilly the car had XM radio and I could listen to it! Which my wife was EXTREMELY happy about!)(side note: golf on the radio is about as exciting as you think it is.)
Smiley does a great job on this book. His writing is very very funny and you really find yourself caring about what happens to him and the other people he meets along the way. The exceprt at the end of this post is a wonderful example of Smiley’s excellent writing (he also has a great blog) and the impact Tiger Woods has on people. This is a really great book…especially if you are a Tiger Woods fan!
Stewart Cink lines up an uphill, five-foot putt for par. His opponent, Tiger Woods, is already in the hole with a bogey. Tiger’s 4 up on Stweart, halfway through the 36-hole final of the Accenture Match Play. But it’s not over. In fact, if Cink makes this, he can stall Tiger’s momentum and cut into the lead, starting the last 18 holes a very catchable 3 down. A big putt, to say the least. He takes a practice stroke with his belly putter, then carefully rests it behind the ball. I look around to see if everyone else shares my suspense and notice I’m the only person actually watching Stewart Cink. I follow the gallery’s eyes to the far side of the green to see what’s so distracting.
Tiger Woods is putting on his watch.
Rating: 5 out of 5
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June 17th, 2009 at 6:02 am
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October 7th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Bob,
Hope you get this. Didn’t know how else to get in touch. Thought you would like to know that Bob Pease is dying. Prostate cancer finally caught up. He has hung on for some weeks, but it will come soon. He spoke about you often. Be nice if you would write a note, I know it will make him happy – maybe even compete with the morphine.
Bob Pease
8025 Stone Pl.
Ventura, CA 93004
“coach” allison
January 6th, 2010 at 10:03 am
[...] Game by Michael Lewis – Just because I like every book he writers. This was no exception! Follow the Roar by Bob Smiley – This is a book about Tiger Woods’ 2008 golf season. The book is even more interesting [...]
August 25th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Bob — I had never seen this…it appeared as a side piece on an article about Tiger’s wife’s interview with People.
Thank you for all you did when Bob was so ill. You and Kate were two of his favorite people when you were at Buena High School. He loved to hear about your success. And then you came to his memorial service….you were the one speaker Bob would have loved to hear….the others were his friends but you were one of his beloved students.
Thank you so much. I wrote to you but I had the wrong address (you don’t write your return address too legibly???? but then you write every thing else wonderfully. Thank you for showing up when bob and I needed some confirmation that life is really a fun worthwhile journey. Mary Pease