Above all, a very strong recommendation: Georges Jeanneau’s new book “Les Miscellaneous du golf” must be permanently within reach of any self-respecting golfer!
On your nightstand or in the living room, or in the office, whatever! This formidable book is a bouquet of multicolored flowers, made up of 1,000 little stories, anecdotes, historical facts, sports summaries, unpublished memories that we choose at random from total happiness. Buy this book quickly! Buy several at a time to offer to your best golfing friends! and keep it warm on your favorite table, right next to our late friend André-Jean Lafaurie’s Golf Lovers Dictionary!
What is it about ? Miscellaneous. I admit that the term is a bit old-fashioned and not very sexy, but it explains what it is: a collection that brings together various studies and novelties. In short, a mixture of little information about golf from its creation to the present.
Georges Jeanneau, to whom we owe twenty books, spent two years collecting in his archives and in his memory the great facts that every golfer should know. An early version not preserved by the publisher had 700 pages. Too bad, we would have liked to know everything! –; the book published today by Solar still contains 380 of them.
A true abundance that pays homage to our sport of passion.
Golf Planète met Georges Jeanneau, this expert golf lover. This is what he told us.
The competition is born with every shot
Why one day we fell in love with golf?
I would say because it is an individual sport (and therefore a bit selfish) and often unplanned. Because the competition is born with each shot. Because we live on hope, dreaming that the next step will be better than the previous one…
How was your first encounter with this sport that is also culture?
The meeting took place at the Club Med in Marrakech, I was 35 years old and I took advantage of an initiation that turned into love at first sight. I left tennis, I signed up, I just returned to France, in Villarceaux where I spent 30 years. The good thing was that my wife also loved golf from her first lessons. In 1993 I bought a house on the Saint-Laurent golf course in Morbihan and with our two children we also practiced in Brittany. Golf has become a family saga.
Where did the idea to write this book come from? how did you proceed
I had wanted to write this book for ten years. And one day I sat in front of my computer, pulled out a bunch of books, searched my memory. (Actually, for family reasons I visited my wife in the hospital, which left me with many moments of solitude; and the confinement was beneficial to me)
He had already written several books on golf, including biographies of Catherine Lacoste, the great French champion who took up golf after seeing her father land, and Jean Garaialde, an exceptional man of consideration, class and sporting success.
In fact, I had the idea for this book for a long time. I didn’t know if she should give it a French, European, global focus… Then, one day, unfortunately, my wife was hospitalized. Between the visits and the confinement, I clung to the writing of this book.
I bet not to retain a chronological, thematic or other presentation. Everyone can snack as they want. Freely.
my three favorite stories
Among these hundreds of misc, which three will you personally remember and why?
The first: the golf shot on the moon and its moral (page 220). With an amusing reminder and comment: the R&A sent a congratulatory telegram to Alan Sheppard, noting however that before leaving a bunker, one must rake. Good example of British humour. And then, the American astronaut never wanted to reveal the mark of the bullet… Rejecting any advertising approach to this historical gesture.
The second: The honesty of Bobby Jones: it’s your turn to discover on page 215, this incredible attitude, and today almost impossible, of the great American champion during the 1925 US Open.
The third: I hesitate between the putt that Nicklaus gave to Tony Jacklin (p. 88) and that fairy tale that was the caddy association of Lowery (10 years!) and Ouimet (p. 98).
Golf is the school of life.
To a child who wants to start playing golf, what words would you say to encourage him?
I would tell him that golf is the school of life where respect, humility and perseverance are cardinal virtues.
Who are the champions you would cite to help you understand and move forward?
Without hesitation, Seve Ballesteros! He democratized golf in Europe and as a champion, I have never seen another player come out of an inextricable situation so well….
Ah, Ballesteros winning the British Open! Today 90% of the players no longer have charisma, especially among Americans.
Among the works already published by Georges Jeanneau, he wrote in 1999, Le Golf en France, some centuries of history, the first important chronology of French golf (Lacoste Award for the most beautiful sports book of the year 1999), Le Golf en France, some centuries of history (Ed. Atlantica), Histories and news of golf (Ed. Atlantica), Catherine Lacoste wins the US Open (Ed. FFGolf), Jean Garaïalde, Forty years of victories (with André-Jean Lafaurie) (Ed. FFGolf) , The centenary book of the French Golf Federation, The centenary golf courses of France, with Jean-Bernard Kazmierczak (Ed. FFGolf) etc…
LES MISCELLANEES DU GOLF, by Georges Jeanneau
Solar Editions, 380 pages, hardcover, €19.90
Author contact: [email protected]
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