The Wicked Game: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods & Modern Golf Business | Golf History Book, Sports Biography & Business Strategy | Perfect for Golf Fans, Sports Enthusiasts & Business Readers

Nominally a book about three men who are arguably the most influential golfers ever to play the game: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods. However, the actual discussion of these men's careers is not the main focus of this book. Instead, the author spends more time denigrating the "heroes" of the book than highlighting their careers. The first half of the book concentrates on Palmer and Nicklaus, and much of the discussion is about what the author deems their failure to single-handedly racially integrate professional golf. Although I've seen this theme before, Sounes takes his criticism to a level that is somewhat unreasonable. He seems to feel that either Palmer or Nicklaus or a combination of the two could have forced the tour to integrate in the 1960's. There is no discussion of possible barriers that might have existed, instead the author adopts the thesis that, since it didn't happen and these were the big names in golf, it must be their fault.Remarkably, the rest of the book concentrates on character assassination of two men who are probably the the most notable African-Americans associate with the pro game, Tiger Woods and his father Earl. It seems somewhat incongruous that two of the book's protagonists are critiqued for their failure to help black athletes get on tour, while at the same time the remainder makes a case that Earl Woods is a liar, bigamist, and poor father who manipulated his child for his own glory, and that his son Tiger is an antisocial, tightfisted misanthrope who misappropriates money to self-serving charities while gambling away millions. It seems ironic that Palmer and Nicklaus are torn down for not leading the charge for integration, and then when a man of color finally comes to a prominent position in golf, he is torn down as well.Throw in some criticism for golf clubs that didn't integrate their membership racially at a very early stage or who bar women, and you've pretty much gotten the gist of the book. A social critique thinly veiled as a book about golf, this work just cries out for fact-checking and a balanced point of view. It's hard for me to stomach this depiction of Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods as self-centered, grasping, and avaricious. They are golfers, and my purpose in purchasing this book was to read about them playing golf. I was disappointed.