[Tom Zeni]

John Feinstein's superb writing brings Paul Goydos to life with his Washington Post article. A truly enjoyable read.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051201614.html

[Matt Bosela]

Wonderful article.  Thank you for pointing it out.

[Wayne_Freedman]

A poignant,  effortless and personal read in the find tradition of Jim Murray.

[John Sheehan]

Tom,
Thanks for highlighting Feinstein's article.  Great piece.
John

[Rich Goodale]

Good piece, although I think it is strectching things to say that it comes close to Jim Murray's writing.

That being said, I really wonder why in the hell this story hasn't come out before?  I am sure I am not alone in desperately seeking PGA Tour players other than Tiger that I can follow and cheer for.  Until reading that article, Goydos was just another of the cannon fodder cyphers that populate the chosen 150.  Now I know he is somebody I can really respect and root for when he is in contention, or even just trying to make the cut.  How can the PGAT be so blind to the value of storeis like this?  It makes me wonder how many other stories like Goydos' are buried in the anodyne PR mahcine of the Tour.

These guys are not only "good" they have personalities.  Why are they so unknown to those of us who only follow the tour casually, as fans?

[Phil_the_Author]

Rich,

You asked, "I really wonder why in the hell this story hasn't come out before?  I am sure I am not alone in desperately seeking PGA Tour players other than Tiger that I can follow and cheer for..."

I think the answer lies in the reason of why the Goydos story is only reported and told AFTER his wonderful play at the Tour Championship. Was his story that much less the week BEFORE?

The problem with reporting sports, especially golf, is that it primarily concerns itself with successes and identifies these as newsworthy. There are wonderful tales and anecdotes of amazing people and what they have overcome and accomplished that go unknown and on "cutting room floors" simply because they didn't succeeed to dramatic triumphs.

This method of reporting the news defines what is newsworthy and to an extent the limitations of word totals and the printed page and airtime on television does limit.

It is the internet and it's near unlimited space that should now allow for these stories to be important and available to all before the great triupmhs and collapses, and in the case of Goydos, before the Tour Championship. That it does not and has fallen into the same trap as the print and television media in dealing once again with only the major stories being reported on and even discussed in blogs and chat rooms.

Little stories of little people having little triumphs and tragedies will remain little... That is an incredibly large tragedy...

[Dan Kelly]

It is the internet and it's near unlimited space that should now allow for these stories to be important and available to all before the great triupmhs and collapses...

Well, yes, but is there a market for those stories? Follow the money, boys.

Forgive me for being churlish, but what, exactly, is the wonderful Goydos story that you guys are talking about, and that tragically wasn't told till now?

I read the Feinstein piece, and I don't see any story there that HAD TO BE TOLD in the absence of a news peg. I wouldn't have *minded* reading about Goydos (I did, in fact, read about him, in the previous millennium, in Feinstein's "A Good Walk Spoiled"), but I don't see here any story so compelling that it demanded to be told.

I agree with Rich, entirely, that the PGA Tour PR machine is deficient in selling its player/contractors. But I don't see any story in Feinstein's piece that should have distracted main-line journalists from their previously appointed rounds.

When you tell me what that story is, I will prick up (not "perk up") my ears.

[Phil_the_Author]

Dan,

Evidently you missed the BRILLIANT line in my comments that said, "Little stories of little people having little triumphs and tragedies will remain little..."

My point is born out by your comments as to what is actually "newsworthy" and how that is decided. I don't mean that as anything more than an observation...

[Dan Kelly]

Dan,

Evidently you missed the BRILLIANT line in my comments that said, "Little stories of little people having little triumphs and tragedies will remain little..."

My point is born out by your comments as to what is actually "newsworthy" and how that is decided. I don't mean that as anything more than an observation...

Philip --

I don't recall missing that line of yours -- which I will concede is (possibly my least favorite of the overused words of the 21st century) brilliant.

My point is: How are you gonna give those tragically little stories the BIGNESS they deserve ... and put food on the table?

Dan

[Peter Pallotta]

"Until reading that article, Goydos was just another of the cannon fodder cyphers that populate the chosen 150."

Now that's good writing. Nicely done, Rich, you elegant bon vivant you. Besides everything esle, the cadence of that sentence is almost perfect.

Peter   

[Phil McDade]

I may have been one of the few here to have rooted for both players in the playoff. I may be alone in these sentiments on the board, but I really like Sergio, and am happy that he's taken this step toward furthering what has already been a very good career (and he's not yet 30).

But I was rooting a bit more for Goydos; I had read Feinstein's book years ago, and he obviously was taken by Goydos back then. He does seem cut from a different cloth than many of the others on tour; to drop the game in your 40s for a year to take care of your kids says a lot, I think.

[Rich Goodale]

Thanks, Peter, and thanks too for including a tyop ("esle") complementary to mine ("cypher").

Phil

I think that was my point.  The PGAT (I like the sound of "PGAT," BTW, as it rhymes with "twat"....) has seemed to claim to try to personalise the tour, but all it succeeds in doing is continually sanitizing and anodising it.  Of course there are 150 different (and maybe even interesting) personalities out there, but who would know it?  Compare and contrast that to football (US and ROW) or baseball or other forms of entertainment.

Dan

You are a scribe.  What should/could the PGAT do to better humanize/publicize themselves?

Rich

[Phil_the_Author]

Dan,

My point isn't that stories like that should be made big, but rather that there should be a place for the small stories that form just as many legends of the game as the big ones. After all, isn't Reader's Digest read by more people than almost every other periodical and yet it is filled with nothing but small stories... I believe it more a case of presentation and venue than market and readership.

If no place can be found for them on the internet, then they will be lost to all; that too is a shame.

I also recognize that the realities of the printed page and airwaves demand only the biggest of stories, and yet we still seem to fill their pages and the airways with photographs and comments of an obese, bare-chested and footed John Daly hitting a few golf balls at a construction site.

If there is room for that stories of that type there should more room for the little ones... Just an opinion.

[Jason Topp]

Dan,

My point isn't that stories like that should be made big, but rather that there should be a place for the small stories that form just as many legends of the game as the big ones. After all, isn't Reader's Digest read by more people than almost every other periodical and yet it is filled with nothing but small stories... I believe it more a case of presentation and venue than market and readership.

While I agree with the sentiment, I do not agree with the example.  Goydos has received extensive coverage compared to his accomplishments.  He was the featured player in "A Good Walk Spoiled" and has ever since been a player that Feinstein has covered.

If you are interested in journeyman stories, I would recommend the following:

1.  Micheal Bamburger's "To the Linksland"  His description of Peter Tervainian (sp) is as entertaining as it gets and describes a character that probably is better than could be created in fiction.

2.  Tin Cup Dreams - about Esteban Toledo - Not nearly as engaging but makes you like the guy and realize how much mundane hard work is involved with playing on tour.

3.  Rookie on Tour - Carl Paulsen autobiography.  Not a well written book, but is actually my favorite of this list for some reason.  The story is very interesting, at least until he starts describing each tournament round by round for the last half of the book.  I used to check his scores daily until injury issues apparently drove him out of the game.

4.  Bud Sweat and Tees - on Rich Beem - was written before he won the PGA and is an interesting depiction of a talented guy whose commitment to the game wavers.   

5.  The book on Robert Lanners - the farmer who qualified for the senior tour.

[Phil_the_Author]

Jason,

The story of Paul Goydos, PGA Tour player, has been a little one for many years, and yet I wonder why?

Consider this from Feinstein's article. "Everyone on tour has a Goydos story or a Goydos one-liner they like to repeat. When those who cover the tour regularly need a funny line or a smart comment on an issue, they find Goydos..."

Can you quote me a Goydos one-liner (other than those mentioned this on this past weekend's coverage)? I can't, and I read a lot of golf writing.

Whether it be stories about Goydos or any other of the lesser-Knowns of the game, I just wish there were more articles written such as this one from John Feinstein as it places a very human face on a game that, from the standpoint of the great players in the world, sorely needs one.

[George Pazin]

There is a tremendous amount about Goydos in Feinstein's A Good Walk Spoiled. I recall Feinstein focusing quite a bit on 3 unknowns - Goydos, Brian Henninger and 1 other guy I can't remember. Still, I don't remember coming away from the book with quite the depth of feeling this article conveys.

Thanks for sharing the link to the article.

Quite a contrast to the usual political tripe spewed in the other OT thread about W quitting golf.

[John Kavanaugh]

Did Goydos get a cut from the book A Good Walk Spoiled?  I will never understand how society lets people like Feinstein make a living off other peoples accomplisments or tragedies.  Oh yea, Goydos did get divorced, told a joke and has a sore foot....compelling stuff that should not be missed.

[tlavin]

Feinstein is a terrific writer whose recent books have unfortunately become mechanical affairs, devoid of the kind of passion that he exhibited in "A Good Walk Spoiled" which featured Paul Goydos.  This article is straight from the heart and is a great read.  Goydos is an interesting character and I was pulling for him to "not choke" on Sunday.  He didn't choke, although he didn't quite get it done.  I was also pulling for Garcia to "not choke".  He didn't, either.  I thought the entire telecast was as close to Shakespearean drama as golf could get: great characters with haunting back stories in search of redemption undergoing severe tests of character.

[Kalen Braley]

Feinstein is a terrific writer whose recent books have unfortunately become mechanical affairs, devoid of the kind of passion that he exhibited in "A Good Walk Spoiled" which featured Paul Goydos.  This article is straight from the heart and is a great read.  Goydos is an interesting character and I was pulling for him to "not choke" on Sunday.  He didn't choke, although he didn't quite get it done.  I was also pulling for Garcia to "not choke".  He didn't, either.  I thought the entire telecast was as close to Shakespearean drama as golf could get: great characters with haunting back stories in search of redemption undergoing severe tests of character.

Here here Terry, very well said.

It was hard to root against either one of those guys on Sunday.  Not knowing much about Goydos, it was refereshing to see him cracking jokes on the playoff hole and otherwise.  I too think the tour would be better served to have this kind of guy spotlighted more.

[Will MacEwen]

Feinstein is a terrific writer whose recent books have unfortunately become mechanical affairs, devoid of the kind of passion that he exhibited in "A Good Walk Spoiled" which featured Paul Goydos. 

"The Majors" was a big drop off from Good Walk, and the Bethpage book was dreadful - mechanical is the perfect word for it.  His Q School book was similarly bad - most of the good stories I had heard before, and a lesser writer did a similar book some years back.

[John Kavanaugh]

I am happy to see the death of the jovial overweight professional golfer always quick with a joke.  I find them as charming as a Vegas crooner...good day to that form of entertainment.

[Phil McDade]

I agree about the falloff in quality of Feinstein's work since A Good Walk...

But "The Last Amateurs," about the Patriot League, the lowest-rung of Div. 1 basketball (outside the Ivies), is a pretty good read. with some great anecdotes about a backup point guard for Holy Cross, who admits he may be the worst Div. 1 basketball player in the country.

[Mike Sweeney]

Did Goydos get a cut from the book A Good Walk Spoiled?  I will never understand how society lets people like Feinstein make a living off other peoples accomplisments or tragedies.  Oh yea, Goydos did get divorced, told a joke and has a sore foot....compelling stuff that should not be missed.

More cries for help from the frustrated Asphalt Contractor. First it is the raters who get free green fees, now it is the writer who gets paid for telling interesting stories rather than the "pundit" who get nothing!

PS. My view on John Feinstein is that he is an excellent researcher and an adequate writer who has a formula that works, but gets boring after a book or two.

[John Kavanaugh]

Did Goydos get a cut from the book A Good Walk Spoiled?  I will never understand how society lets people like Feinstein make a living off other peoples accomplisments or tragedies.  Oh yea, Goydos did get divorced, told a joke and has a sore foot....compelling stuff that should not be missed.

More cries for help from the frustrated Asphalt Contractor. First it is the raters who get free green fees, now it is the writer who gets paid for telling interesting stories rather than the "pundit" who get nothing!

PS. My view on John Feinstein is that he is an excellent researcher and an adequate writer who has a formula that works, but gets boring after a book or two.

I wouldn't call friends from coast to coast nothing.  Perhaps Feinstein can write a book about me...The worst architectural critic in the history of golf. 

[Peter Pallotta]

I have to admit I was always a bit troubled by non-fiction writers making their bones on the backs of others, especially the lesser knowns, and especially since nowadays it's only the lesser knowns who let that happen. A couple of years ago, I read about Bill Cosby negotiating a book deal. I think I have the details basically right: he was looking for a (large) fee for actually writing the book, but even a larger fee for his name, i.e. for the fact that it was Bill Cosby writing about "Bill Cosby", which name he argued he'd worked hard for decades to establish and which had a value independently of any product (like a book) he might produce, and which he should be paid for in addition to any writing fee

Peter

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