Book Review: The Gigantic Book of Golf Quotations

The Gigantic Book of Golf Quotations is about as accurate a title as I’ve ever seen a book. Edited by Jim Apfelbaum with a foreword by Arnold Palmer, this book is absolutely loaded with golf quotations.

Organized by subject and indexed by name, the book contains several thousand different quotations relating to golf. Subjects range from the definition of what golf is to competition to instruction and everything in between.

Here are a few of my favorites:

“Golf wasn’t meant to be fair.” – Pete Dye

“Every kid learning to play golf dreams about winning the Masters, and about winning the Open, not about being the leading money winner.” – Tom Kite

“Man, I can’t even point that far.” – Gay Brewer, Winner of the 1967 Masters, on John Daly’s length off the tee.

The Good

It contains a huge selection of golf quotes.
The book is well organized into topical chapters, but also indexed by name for easy look-up.
Excellent reference book for anyone who lives and loves golf.
It’s well-suited as a coffee table book in any serious golfing household.

The Bad

The book contains a lot of material, but probably could have been condensed down into a smaller footprint. The quotes are rather spread out and at nearly 800 pages, the hard cover edition is fairly large and is nearly 4 pounds in weight.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, this book delivers as promised. It’s gigantic and contains thousands of golf quotes ranging from funny to serious. I must say that it’s going to appeal to those of us who are somewhat fanatical about golf. It would make a great gift for the golf nut in your life. If you write about golf like I do, then this is a mandatory reference book.

If you have any inclination at all toward owning a book of golf quotations, then this is the book for you. It’s hard to imagine another book doing it any better.