Howard Sounes, born during my year of 1965, has written a book of scandalous proportions. The bedrock of the professional game is threatened by
The Wicked Game: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and the Business of Modern Golf. With the dilligence and flair of a tabloid journalist, Sounes reports on the growing-up years of Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods the way Mark Felt informed on the goings-on in room 723 of the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge. Having provided the necessary foundation of these three lives critical to the growth of American golf, Sounes paints a picture of three different men whose personalities and personal lives are much different (and necessarily so) from the public personas that we see and hear on television.

If it seems that I am intentionally vague about the essence of this seminal work, congratulations! Go buy the book, borrow it from the library, or steal it from a friend. By all means, though, read it. You will come away from the couch with a greater understanding of the sacrifices necessary of an iconic golfing figure, and will never again exclaim, “aww, he’s not so great,” at the water cooler, bar counter, or clubhouse table again.

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