Necessary Roughness

I finished The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield on my flight home Wednesday night. The story is told by a 75-year-old reminiscing about his experiences as a 10-year-old assistant caddy.

The book breaks several times between the past and present, reminding me of The Princess Bride. We find out that Bagger Vance is a warrior god using the game of golf to teach his players about life. His main message is to simply act, without hope and without fear. The character also touts golf as the supreme sport because one truly only competes against oneself.

I found the mysticism used to advance the plot was employed well near the beginning and end of the book, but in the middle, where Vance is revealed, the explanation distracts from the plot. I feel some mystery would have worked better. The descriptions of golf are well done yet anticlimactic, as the big conflict over the soul of the golfer in question is over, and the reader is left not with guessing whether the golfer wins but how.

I find myself not wanting to see the movie, because I did not find the subject matter fascinating enough to warrant viewing someone else’s interpretation of the book’s imagery. I would recommend this book only to golf enthusiasts.