The Fine Green Line: My Year of Golf Adventure on the Pro-Golf Mini-Tours

By John Paul Newport

Book Overview

What happens when a man leaves home for a year to pursue his dream?

One day, playing a particularly spectacular round of golf, husband and father John Paul Newport suddenly tastes what it's like to be a pro. Deciding to take a year off and hit the road playing golf's mini-tour circuit, Newport embarks on a wild trip through America's fairways. Over the course of his journey inside the somewhat shady, often hilarious underbelly of professional golf, he uncovers a world of people so totally addicted to golf, to the delusion of achievable perfection, that they sacrifice everything else to the quest. He also discovers the nature of his own obsession with the game, and how this constant pursuit of perfection on the golf course reflects the same challenges and frustrations one encounters in life. What does it take to master such an intricate, unpredictable game? In golf, as in life, why is one so consistently incapable of acting up to one's clearly established potential?

As Newport struggles to cross that Fine Green Line--the infinitely subtle yet critical difference between the top golf professionals and those who never quite make it--he realizes that life, like golf, doesn't let you get away with anything. This is a story about letting go of fear, facing challenges, and embracing risks--a compelling personal journey that captures many of the frustrations and elations of midlife both on and off the course.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767901177
• ISBN13: 9780767901178
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Great Golf Book

If you are really into golf, you will love this book. It has a lot of insight into what makes golf so addictive, as well as many first hand accounts of what it's like on golf mini-tours. The author explores what it is that separates the very good golfer (under 5 handicap), from the tour player. In the process, he examines, in a way that most golf nuts can relate to, why golf has the attraction it does.Reading this book was validating, fascinating, and entertaining. I highly recommend it.

Highly recommended

This book was a wonderful read -- it draws you into the author's world and his struggle the way good fiction does. I got this book as a gift and was a bit skeptical at first, thinking the premise sounded a bit self-indulgent. But Newport is anything but self-important -- he has a self-deprecating way and is brutally honest with himself and very funny, a good combination. A lot of the book, the best parts in my opinion, are the portraits of the people around him and the life they live in the trenches of golf. Anyone who loves golf will love this book and learn a lot.

A wonderful and fun read

Like John Newport I once shot a round under par but have never found it again. Since then I have searched for the mystical zone but nada. Even if not too many of us can afford to take a yr off to see how good we can get... this book gives us a brutal but honest glimpse into what our fate would most probably be if we tried. The secret maybe you have to be born with a little talent but we can never make ourselves believe that in this day and age of unlikely persons overcoming obstacles. I found the book very well written and an easy read. I would recommend it to any serious golfer.

A brilliantly-written tale of golf obsession.

I laughed out loud so much that my wife started reading the book, too, and actually finished it. Now finally she understands something about why I love golf so much. Newport writes like a dream and though he doesn't attain his golfing goal, that's not the point. He goes deep, into the heart and soul of the sport.

Compelling, witty, and soulful

The book is wonderful on two levels. First, it is fun and thoroughly enjoyable. Secondly, it presents an interesting philosophical viewpoint on golf and life in general.