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| The Greatest Player Who Never Lived: A Golf Story | 
enlarge | Authors: J. Michael Veron, Michael Veron Publisher: Gale Group Category: Book
List Price: $22.95 Buy Used: $0.01 You Save: $22.94 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating: 42 reviews Sales Rank: 668499
Media: Hardcover Number Of Items: 1 Pages: 286 Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9 Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 1886947899 Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6 EAN: 9781886947894 ASIN: 1886947899
Publication Date: March 2000 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review With very few exceptions--think Dan Jenkins's Dead Solid Perfect and Steven Pressfield's The Legend of Bagger Vance--golf's most notable fictions are generally consigned to the imaginative mathematics that weekend duffers jot down on their scorecards. Consider The Greatest Player Who Never Lived a truly rare birdie then. It's a thrilling golf novel that not only captures the game, but transcends it. J. Michael Veron's engaging fantasy begins when young law student Charley Hunter accepts a summer internship at the Atlanta law firm in which the great Bobby Jones was once a partner. Assigned to catalog Jones's dusty files, Hunter comes upon an intriguing correspondence that hints at an extraordinary story. True to his name, Hunter then sets out to learn the truth behind the unlikely exchange of letters between Jones, golf's erudite and nonpareil pillar, and a semiliterate phenom named Beau Stedman, who, on the verge of golfing greatness in the early '30s, disappeared under the cloud of a murder charge. With Jones's secret help and support, Beau manages to survive. A fugitive determined to honor his golfing destiny, he emerges here and there to play the greatest golfers of the era. Hunter isn't satisfied just with uncovering Beau's past, though; his obsession turns into a search for Beau's present, with unexpected complications. The novel is filled with lots of good golf, and with good writing about golf's enigmatic hold on those captivated by the game. But Veron, a Harvard-educated lawyer, aims beyond golf here--and holes it. In Player, he's crafted a solid legal thriller that smartly confronts issues of character, truth, justice, and guilt, which are, of course, pretty much the same issues every golfer confronts the moment he or she steps up to the first tee. --Jeff Silverman
Product Description Unwritten in the annals of the sporting world is the story of a man with unlimited potential who was denied his rightful place in the lore of golf His story had remained a mystery for so many years, yet it wasnt a mystery at all, since he had long been forgotten. It is a story that may never have been told had Charley Hunter not accepted a summer internship at Butler & Yates, a prestigious Atlanta law firm. Bobby Jones, the legendary amateur golfer, had once been a partner at the firm and his old legal files had been severely neglected over the years. The task of cataloging these files soon presents the young law student with much more than he anticipated. Charley learns quickly that there is a compelling tale buried within the files of Bobby Jones.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
Lackluster book, lackluster story. April 14, 2007 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It would appear that I am in the minority regarding the merits of this book. It is a nice story about a fictional Beau Stedman who was befriended by the legendary Bobby Jones. Beau's extraordinary prowess on the golf course is immediately recognized by his mentor Bobby Jones. But before he can make his mark, he is framed for the murder of a young wife and forced into exile, never able to gain the stature and notoriety that is his due.
Jones believes in Beau's innocence and, identifying with his young protege, Jones arranges a series of golf matches with the greats of the game which only he could engineer. And Beau beats them all! He has a perfect record against the best golfers of 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's. Hardly credible I would say, the vagaries of the game being what they are. While this is a sweet story, particularly the end, it suffers from a very superficial treatment of the characters and a fairly shallow and predictable story line. The story, save the very end, is not well written. All in all, this is a mediocre effort.
If you want to read a great golf novel go out and purchase "The Green" by Troon Mcallister. Now THAT'S a great golf story!
The Greatest Player Who Never lLived January 17, 2007 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A light, entertaining novel well couched in golf history and a plausebale story. You will solidlly identify with main character, his mentor and the narrator.
Veron writes like a lawyer January 2, 2006 1 out of 3 found this review helpful
J. Michael Veron apparently sat down to write The Greatest Player Who Never Lived in the same manner a trial lawyer would write a closing argument. He tells us what he's going to say, then he says it, then he sums up what he just said. There was very little tension in the story, only piles of documents to sift through along with the main character. It is at times laborious reading with a pleasant twist at the end. Golf fanatics and lawyers (who play golf) will enjoy it. Otherwise skip this tiresome read.
Simply Wonderful!! June 23, 2004 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am a more recent golf fan and not a player, but I devoured this book from page one and loved it. The author fills in wonderful details of Bobby Jones' legendary life and career (what a marvelous man he must have been), as well as telling a gripping story of a mythical relationship between him and the young player whose own meteor never had a chance to streak across the sky. Naturally golf lovers will love it, but that said, I think anyone who enjoys a good sports story or a story about great relationships tested in tough times will also love it. It's a jewel of a book -- don't miss it.
Good story, bad history March 30, 2004 This is a decent yarn with enough suspense to keep a golf fan interested, but I doubt than anyone outside of golf will enjoy the book. The protagonist is Beau Stedman, a caddy with great golf talent who is befriended by Bobby Jones. At a young age he is falsely accused of killing the wife of a resort developer at Hilton Head Island, SC. He flees and spends the rest of his life living and competing under assumed names, all with help from Jones. His story becomes public after an intern at Jones' old law firm finds Jones' files on Stedman and follows up on what he finds. For someone with knowledge of the locales in the story, particularly Augusta National and Hilton Head Island, the author gets so many background facts wrong that it's hard to get into the story. A fictional round at the Augusta National course starts with an error having #1 as a dogleg left, and ends with an error having #10 fairway to the left of #18 fairway. Another error is in a major premise, the development of resorts and golf courses on Hilton Head Island as early as 1930. Resort development of Hilton Head did not begin until construction of a bridge to the island in the 1950s. An essential of good ficition is that the reader must be persuaded to suspend disbelief temporarily and treat the story as true. Can't do that when you constantly run into background facts that you know to be untrue. The author is supposed to be a trial lawyer. He should have had a paralegal check his facts.
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