Arnie & Jack book

Arnie & Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf's Greatest Rivalry
By Ian O'Connor

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.

Yet for all the ink that has been spilled on these two essential golf figures individually, no one has ever examined their relationship in this way. Arnie was the cowboy, with rugged good looks, Popeye-like forearms, a flailing swing, and charm enough to win fans worldwide. Jack was scientific, precise, conservative, aloof, even fat and awkward. Ultimately, Nicklaus got the better of Palmer on the course, beating him in major victories, 18-7. But Palmer bested Nicklaus almost everywhere else, especially in the hearts of the public and in endorsement dollars -- Palmer was the top-grossing athlete for thirty years, until Michael Jordan surpassed him.

With dogged reporting and crisp, colorful storytelling, the award-winning sports columnist Ian O'Connor explores this heated professional and personal battle in fascinating, intimate, and revelatory detail. Drawing on unique and exclusive access to Palmer and Nicklaus, and informed by some two hundred new interviews, O'Connor illuminates the two men's extreme differences and sprawling influence through mini-dramas, such as their little-known first meeting on the course at the topsy-turvy U.S. Open in 1962, their early involvement with marketing and a small agency called IMG, and their intense competition for golf-course designs in their later years.

By the end of this page-turning narrative, which spans five remarkable decades, we see that each man wanted what the other had: Arnold had the adoring fans but wanted the trophies. Jack had the trophies but wanted the love.


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Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #755 in Books
Published on: 2008-04-11
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
368 pages

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Editorial Reviews
Review
Thrillingly dramatic depictions… Comprehensive interviews humanize the two legends while contextualizing their roles in the game's history… Exemplary. (Kirkus Reviews )

"You can't go wrong writing or reading about those two guys, and O'Connor certainly got it right." (Newsday )

"Fascinating . . . A nice mix of golf history and interpersonal dynamics." (Booklist, ALA )

"A considerable amount of original research... Recommended." (Library Journal )

"Refreshing and captivating." (Tampa Tribune )

". . . an exceptional read." (USA Today )

"O'Connor's book is great because it reminds you how much fun and how ferocious golf used to be." (Kansas City Star )

"Finely written, intricately researched and smartly reported." -- YahooSports.com

"O'Connor's chronicle...gives readers a picture-perfect view of how they made the sport what it is today." — John Feinstein

"…THE definitive book on [Arnie and Jack's] often complicated but honorable relationship." — Gene Wojciechowski

"O'Connor explains the most complicated of human relationships in the simplest of terms…the fascinating journey…should not be missed." — Bill Plaschke

"A classic work…the most riveting personal moments...[it] is the best thing I've read in a long while." — Edwin Pope

"O'Connor, reporting in rich detail … while lifting golf to the big leagues of American sports." — Dave Kindred

About the Author
Ian O'Connor is a nationally recognized sports columnist who has twice been named the number-one sports columnist in America in his circulation category by the Associated Press sports editors. He currently writes columns for the Record of New Jersey and FoxSports.com. Previously he penned columns for USA Today and the New York Daily News. He is the author of The Jump: Sebastian Telfair and the High Stakes Business of High School Ball.


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Customer Reviews
Some good material, but an excess of expletives.
First the positive feedback. For the most part I enjoyed the book. While some of the stories were familiar to me already from other sources, there was some new material as well.
Now the negative feedback. The author used gratuitously vulgar language throughout the book. Sometimes, when quoting someone, it's necessary to relate it uncensored to give the full effect. At other times it's not. The author should learn the distinction. But he went far beyond just using "colorful" speech when quoting someone. It seems to be part of his writing style. Some players were "shooting the s__t". Arnold hit a shot from the rough even farther into the "s__t". Someone "was rips__t" about some situation. Could it be that the stories can be told without the frequent use of the word "s__t"? On a similar vein, we learn that Nicklaus was conceived in a second-story room over his father's drugstore? Really? Did the author really know where Jack was conceived? Would it not have sufficed to say where he was born?
As I kept encountering stuff like this, the author's style became more and more annoying and almost ruined the book. But enough information about this great rivalry came through that I was able to fight through it and finish the book.

Jack and Arnie
An excellent book - well written and very insightful. It was fun getting an inside look at these two legends. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Fantastic Read!
Fantastic read. It's the first book I've read from Ian O'Connor and I was not disappointed. Both Arnie and Jack are two genuine sportsmen and gentlemen. I've met both as a volunteer at PGA events and both were class acts. I know there was a fierce rivalry between them and this book chronicles it all.

This book is a great run through history and every member on the PGA Tour should a. read it and b. write a thank you letter to these two gentlemen as their rivalry put golf on the map. The money they are making today is a result of these two.

In the end, it doesn't matter who won what. Both golfers are universally loved, respected businessmen and class acts. A lot of professional athletes today should read this and take note of their actions both on the course and off.

Both are legends and masters of their sport.