Paper Tiger

March 13, 2006
The title is a sly acknowledgment on Coyne's part of the karmic debt his memoir owes to George Plimpton, but while Plimpton merely finagled his way onto the PGA Tour, Coyne (A Gentleman's Game
) sets himself a higher goal: by dedicating a solid year to improving his golf game, he hopes to actually pass the qualifying school tournament that would allow him to compete as a professional. Believing that the difference between good and great golfers is consistency, Coyne moves to Florida for the winter for intensive training with swing doctors and sports psychologists, staying out on the course until his hands bleed. He faces the inevitable (and sometimes unexpected) setbacks with resigned humor, as he comes to realize that his year's age difference with Tiger Woods is the only thing he'll have in common with the champ. (In fact, it takes all the skill he can muster not to wind up DFL—"Dead Fucking Last.") Coyne treads a fine line between sarcasm and sympathy in his observations of his competitors, and though he occasionally gets lost in big-picture ruminations, his quest should resonate with weekend golfers who dream of going all the way.

May 1, 2006
This is Coyne's ("A Gentleman's Game") diary of his yearlong quest to become a professional golfer. In "The Old Man and the Tee", Turk Pipkin documented a similar journey, the notable difference being that Pipkin had financial resources. Coyne, on the other hand, had to empty his bank account and run up his credit card to accomplish his mission. With instruction from former PGA Teacher of the Year Dr. Jim Suttie, Coyne went from a 9.4 to a +0.4 handicap. What he discovered is that, with effort, dreams can come true. Talent is one thing -lots of people have it. Ambition is another. But lots of people have ambition, too. Commitment and effort -these are the two key qualities that Coyne demonstrates in his quest. It is hard not to be jealous of him, but it is a jealousy hard-earned. Truth be told, the real hero of the book is Allyson, Coyne's girlfriend, who demonstrates the kind of support one could only hope for in a significant other. This is an experience readers will be able to enjoy vicariously. Recommended for all public libraries." -Steven Silkunas, North Wales, PA"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2006
For all the low-handicap golfers who have ever wondered if they were good enough to play with the pros, here's the book to prove, once and for all, that, no, you're not good enough. Coyne, a freelance writer and onetime junior golf star, decided to see just how good he could be. Leaving his longtime girlfriend behind in Minnesota, he moved to Florida, aiming to work for a year at lowering his handicap to the sub-scratch range and then enter the notoriously grueling PGA Tour Qualifying School. This painfully funny, self-deprecating chronicle follows Coyne's odyssey: 75,000 range balls hit in one year, 15 shots shaved from his handicap, $52,000 amassed in credit-card bills. The result: not nearly good enough to compete with the pros but more than good enough to tell the story of why. Every golfer who has ever set a personal goal and failed to reach it (and that's every golfer who has ever touched a club) will identify with Coyne's odyssey, laughing and crying all the while at the absurd complexity of this confounding game.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)