Arnie and Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf’s Greatest Rivalry
Posted on
December 20th, 2009
by Kahuna
Product Description
Surprisingly, one of sport’s most contentious, complex, and defining clashes played out not in the boxing ring or at the line of scrimmage but on the genteel green fairways of the world’s finest golf courses. Arnie and Jack. Palmer and Nicklaus. Their fifty-year duel, in both the clubhouse and the boardroom, propelled each to the status of American icon and pushed modern golf to the heights and popularity it enjoys today.
Arnie was the cowboy, with rug… More >>
Arnie and Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf’s Greatest Rivalry
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you dont have to golf to enjoy this book. it reads like a novel. it is so inspiring. you just fall in love with their bitter sweet rivalry. i loved this book!
Rating: 5 / 5
Growing up watching these two compete, I’ve always wondered about the inner-workings of their relationship. This book covers it in so much detail, it’s incredible. If you enjoy golf, it’s history and especially the history of the Arnie and Jack relationship you must read this book. I loved it!
Rating: 5 / 5
I enjoyed the first several chapters of this book & being a fan of both Arnie & Jack liked hearing their perspectives. But….found it very repetition. You can only take so much of the “Jack won & Arnie was upset” or “Jack had the trophies but Arnie had the fans.” It’s great subject matter that should have been written better.
Rating: 3 / 5
I consider myself a serious golfer and longtime fan, but there’s so much in this book I didn’t know about Palmer or Nicklaus. The reporting here was excellent, especially on the business side. This was as enjoyable and revealing as any golf book I’ve read.
Rating: 5 / 5
Apart from the fact that “Arnie & Jack” contains too much repetition and a plethora of hyperboles,the writing style of Ian O’Connor is good. And the amount of research he must have conducted in order to assemble the book and support his argument is impressive.
But if the author had focused strictly on the “golf rivalry,” between Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, partialing out factors such as personal charisma, physical appearance,and business acumen, the importance of the rivalry would be diminished. To be frank, Palmer is just an important golfer whereas Nicklaus is perhaps the greatest golfer who ever lived.
There is a tendency in some books dealing with golf to exaggerate the importance of certain rivalries or even of single golf matches. A clear case in point is Mark Frost’s book, “The Match.” It’s subtitle, “The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever,” is especially ludicrous.
Yet reading such books may give pleasure to many readers, especially to those who are students of the history of golf. After all, it has often been said that there is an inverse relation between the size of a ball in a sport and the quality of the writing in that sport.
Rating: 3 / 5