It's Only a Game: Words of Wisdom from a Lifetime in Golf Hardcover - 2006

by Jackie Burke; Guy Yocom

Gems of wisdom about golf and life and a spirited call for a return to the game's core values from one of the game's most respected elder statesmen and former champions

Legendary player and teacher Jackie Burke is the preeminent elder statesman of American golf. A PGA Champion, a Masters Champion, a Vardon Trophy winner, and a PGA Player of the Year, he won four consecutive tournaments in 1952; and is a winner of seventeen events on the PGA Tour, a five-time Ryder Cup member (twice as captain), and a member of the PGA, Texas Golf, and World Golf Halls of Fame. Before leaving the PGA Tour he cofounded (with Jimmy Demaret) the world-famous ChampionsGolf Club (host of the Ryder Cup, U.S. Amateur, and five PGA Tour Championships) and has instructed students including Phil Mickelson, Hal Sutton, Steve Elkington, Ben Crenshaw, and many other PGA Tour pros in a career that has spanned seven decades.

Reverberating with the straight-talking Texas wisdom that could only come from Jackie Burke, It's Only a Game will bring the words of this venerable sage to everyone who loves the links. Spiced with anecdotes from a long and illustrious career, this stirring book features pithy insights on the nature of competition and the erosion of amateur play. Burke goes on the record about profit-minded equipment manufacturers and self-promoting golf gurus. His provocative topics include insight into why the 2004 U.S.Ryder Cup team suffered its worst defeat ever (Burke was a cocaptain), the alarmingly high cost of playing public and resort courses, country clubs that stress cosmetic appearances over the playing of the game, and a host of other topics. He also provides no-nonsense, time-tested secrets for improving anyone's golf game, based not on shallow 'tips' but on a well-rounded, sensible approach to the game that he began developing before the Great Depression.

Acclaim for It's Only a Game:
'Easily the best golf instructional-type book since Harvey Penick's Little Red Book. . . . This book is a classic.'
Bud Shrake, coauthor Harvey Penick's Little Red Book'Jackie is a warrior. He is a born competitor who meets every challenge head on, on and off the golf course. His values and integrity are unassailable, as pure as those of any man I've known.'
Ben Crenshaw

'This book is pure Jackie, and I hope that from reading it you get some of the fulfillment and enjoyment he's given to me and others over the years.'
Steve Elkington