Slices: Observations from the Other Side of the Fairway

By I.J. Schecter

Publication Date: 2006

"In golf, there are the elite, and then there are the rest of us. We others, lumped together in the Duffer Zone--you know us from the formal announcements we send out whenever we break 100--are like the thousands who finish mid-pack in a big-city marathon: happily unremarkable, content just to enjoy the sunshine with some like-minded others, unconcerned about the guy who crossed the tape forty minutes earlier. We are competent but not brilliant. We are enthusiastic, though a far cry from intense. Our fairway woods are mostly reliable, but put a 3-iron in our hands and we might as well be swinging a screwdriver."
To the low and high handicapper alike, golf represents an ongoing quest and an exhilarating challenge. In this brilliant collection, award-winning author I.J. Schecter embarks on a dogged pursuit of golf's elusive Holy Grail--breaking 100--with hilarious results. Clinging to boundless (and often groundless) optimism, Schecter attempts to untangle the secret to good golf in increasingly desperate ways--like playing five different courses in five days, accompanying a greenskeeping team on their pre-dawn rounds, trying to replicate one of Tiger Woods' legendary shots, and turning to a three-year-old for guidance. Like any golfer, he comes to realize that the journey, though demanding, proves its own reward.
A unique book from a gifted writer, Slices is an eloquent, witty celebration of both the game of golf and the unwavering efforts of those who try, again and again, to tame it.