The Power Fade Golf Blog

Over the last few days, I’ve spent time here and there reading through a bit of Shane Ryan’s Slaying the Tiger.  I picked it up after reading a short excerpt on http://www.golfwrx.com about the Masters and the membership at Augusta National Golf Club, and even though I’ve only managed to get through a couple of chapters, I don’t think there is a single golfer that follows the PGA TOUR at all that would not be fascinated by the stories in this book.

Ryan does an incredible job (thus far) of researching his subjects, creating a storyline that feels like it has progression, and telling the story in a way that is relatable to the average golfer.  In short, he posits a more clear picture of life on TOUR than we get from your average Golf Channel broadcast and associated advertising.

From the book: “As the golf writer for Bill Simmons’s Grantland, Shane Ryan is the perfect herald for the sport’s new age. In Slaying the Tiger, he embeds himself for a season on the PGA Tour, where he finds the game far removed from the genteel rhythms of yesteryear. Instead, he discovers a group of mercurial talents driven to greatness by their fear of failure and their relentless perfectionism. From Augusta to Scotland, with an irreverent and energetic voice, Ryan documents every transcendent moment, every press tent tirade, and every controversy that made the 2014 Tour one of the most exciting and unpredictable in recent memory.

Here are indelibly drawn profiles of the game’s young guns: Rory McIlroy, the Northern Irish ace who stepped forward as the game’s next superstar; Patrick Reed, a brash, boastful competitor with a warrior’s mentality; Dustin Johnson, the brilliant natural talent whose private habits sabotage his potential; and Jason Day, a resilient Aussie whose hardscrabble beginnings make him the Tour’s ultimate longshot. Here also is the bumptious Bubba Watson, a devout Christian known for his unsportsmanlike outbursts on the golf course; Keegan Bradley, a flinty New Englander who plays with a colossal chip on his shoulder; twenty-one-year-old Jordan Spieth, a preternaturally mature Texan carrying the hopes of the golf establishment; and Rickie Fowler, the humble California kid striving to make his golf speak louder than his bright orange clothes.”

Pick it up today for only $11.84 on your Kindle (or your iPhone) at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Tiger-Year-Inside-Ropes-ebook/dp/B00N6PD1WK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1434414898.