There has never been a golfer to rival Arnold Palmer. He's the most aggressive, most exciting player the game has ever known, a dynamo famous for coming from behind to make bold last-minute charges to victory. To the legions of golf fans known around the world as "Arnie's Army," Palmer is a charismatic hero, the winner of sixty-one tournaments on the PGA Tour and still going strong on the Senior PGA Tour. But behind the legend, there is the private Palmer--a man of wit, compassion, loyalty, and true grit in the face of personal adversity. Golf-crazy as far back as he can remember, Arnie followed his dad, "Deacon" Palmer, the head greenskeeper, around the Latrobe Country Club fairways; as a youth he played at dawn before the club members arrived (the only time he was allowed on the course); by the time he graduated from high school he was headed for the national circuit. His rise to fame was meteoric, and by the 1960s he had emerged as one of the few American athletes the public truly cared about--a vibrant, daring, handsome sports celebrity who attracted wild crowds and enormous television audiences whenever he played and whose charisma propelled the explosion of enthusiam for golf in the sixties. Writing with the humor and candor that are as much his trademark as his unique golf swing, Palmer narrates the deeply moving story of his life both on and off the links. He recounts his friendships (and rivalries) with greats of the game, including Jack Nicklaus, his enduringly happy marriage with Winnie, his legendary charges to triumph and his titanic disasters, and his valiant battle against cancer. Returning to the Senior PGA Tour with unmatched zeal after his recovery, Palmer reminded fans of his unfaltering heroism--and the world of golf is thankful. From small-town boy to golfing legend, Arnold Palmer has lived one of the great sporting lives of the twentieth century. Now, with the help of acclaimed golf writer James Dodson, he has created one of the great sports autobiographies of our time.

A Golfer's Life

Biographies & Memoirs

JAMES DODSON

ARNOLD PALMER

Historical

Ballantine Books

There has never been a golfer to rival Arnold Palmer. He's the most aggressive, most exciting player the game has ever known, a dynamo famous for coming from behind to make bold last-minute charges to victory. To the legions of golf fans known around the world as Arnie's Army, Palmer is a charismatic hero, the winner of sixty-one tournaments on the PGA Tour and still going strong on the Senior PGA Tour. But behind the legend, there is the private Palmer--a man of wit, compassion, loyalty, and true grit in the face of personal adversity.  From small-town boy to golfing legend, Arnold Palmer has lived one of the great sporting lives of the twentieth century. Now, with the help of acclaimed golf writer James Dodson, he has created one of the great sports autobiographies of our time.

Random House Audio |

There has never been a golfer to rival Arnold Palmer. He's the most aggressive, most exciting player the game has ever known, a dynamo famous for coming from behind to make bold last-minute charges to victory. To the legions of golf fans known around the world as Arnie's Army, Palmer is a charismatic hero, the winner of sixty-one tournaments on the PGA Tour and still going strong on the Senior PGA Tour. But behind the legend, there is the private Palmer--a man of wit, compassion, loyalty, and true grit in the face of personal adversity. Writing with the humor and candor that are as much his trademark as his unique golf swing, Palmer gives us the deeply moving story of his life both on and off the links. He recounts his friendships (and rivalries) with greats of the game, including Jack Nicklaus, his enduringly happy marriage with Winnie, his legendary triumphs and his titanic disasters, and his valiant battle against cancer. Returning to the Senior PGA Tour with unmatched zeal after his recovery, Palmer reminded fans of his unfaltering heroism--and the world of golf is thankful. From small-town boy to golfing legend, Arnold Palmer has lived one of the great sporting lives of the twentieth century. Now, with the help of acclaimed golf writer James Dodson, he has created one of the great sports autobiographies of our time.

There has never been a golfer to rival Arnold Palmer. To the legions of golf fans around the world, Palmer is a charismatic hero, the winner of sixty-one tournaments on the PGA Tour and still going strong on the Senior PGA Tour. But behind the legend, there is the private Palmer--a man of wit, compassion, loyalty, and true grit in the face of personal adversity. Writing with the humor and candor that are as much his trademark as his unique golf swing, Palmer narrates the deeply moving story of his life both on and off the links. He recounts the loving relationship he shared with his father, "Deacon" Palmer, the course superintendent and head professional at the Latrobe Country Club where young Arnie developed his game, his friendships and rivalries with golf greats, his enduringly happy marriage with Winnie, his legendary charges to triumph and titanic disasters, and his valiant battle against cancer and remarkable recovery. Arnold Palmer has lived one of the great sporting lives of the twentieth century. Now, with the help of acclaimed golf writer James Dodson, he has created one of the great sports autobiographies of our time.

A Golfer's Life (Random House Large Print)

Random House, Large Print

Authorized, intimate, and definitive, Ben Hogan: A Life is the long-awaited biography of one of golf’s greatest, most enigmatic legends, narrated with the unique eloquence that has made author James Dodson a critically acclaimed national bestseller. One man is often credited with shaping the landscape of modern golf. Ben Hogan was a short, trim, impeccably dressed Texan whose fierce work ethic, legendary steel nerves, and astonishing triumph over personal disaster earned him not only an army of adoring fans, but one of the finest careers in the history of the sport. Hogan captured a record-tying four U.S. Opens, won five of six major tournaments in a single season, and inspired future generations of professional golfers from Palmer to Norman to Woods. Yet for all his brilliance, Ben Hogan was an enigma. He was an American hero whose personal life, inner motivation, and famed “secret” were the source of great public mystery. As Hogan grew into a giant on the pro tour, the combination of his cool outward demeanor and invincible, laser-guided accuracy on the golf course froze formidable opponents in their tracks. In 1949, at the peak of his career, Hogan’s mystique was reinforced by a catastrophic automobile accident in which he and his wife, Valerie, were nearly killed after being hit head-on by a Greyhound bus. Doctors predicted Hogan might never walk again – let alone set foot on another golf course. But his miraculous three-year recovery and comeback led to one of the greatest performances in golf history when in 1953 he won the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the British Open (something that’s never been repeated). In this first-ever family-authorized biography, renowned author James Dodson expertly and emotionally reconstructs Hogan’s complicated life. He discovers an intensely honest man handicapped by self-doubt, buoyed by the determination to prove his own abilities, and unable to escape a long-buried childhood tragedy – the core of the Hogan “secret.” Dodson also reveals both the legendary devotion and eventual strain in Hogan’s sixty-two-year marriage, and a Hogan rarely seen by the public: a warm, jovial man whose charitable spirit and sharp business sense enabled him to build the powerful golf equipment company bearing his name to this day. Ben Hogan: A Life is the authoritative inside portrait golf fans have long awaited.

Ben Hogan: An American Life

DOUBLEDAY

The Road to Somewhere

Celebrating the wonder, comedy and adventure to be found in the most unlikely places, best-selling author James Dodson takes his young son Jack on a once-in-lifetime trip through the great cities and eccentric byways of Europe. There are two kinds of travel, someone once said: first class and with children. During the summer of 2001, Jim Dodson discovers that travelling with a kid can almost make a grown man feel - and behave - like a child again. Two battered bags and an old baseball glove in hand, father and son set out to circle the globe and spy the wonders of the world. But the best-laid plans usually tend to go awry and Jim and Jack encounter a myriad of unforeseen obstacles during their journey - some hilarious and others heartbreaking. What they discover, on the busy marketplaces and sightseeing hot spots, the country inns and dusty back roads of Western Europe, are not the knights and dragons young Jack had once dreamed of, but something far more valuable: each other's company and a world where, at the end of the day, unexpected laughter and pain can make us all friendly small-town neighbours. With humour, warmth and wisdom, James Dodson explores the meaning of father-son relationships and the importance of finding and savouring friendship, beauty and wonder - especially when you least expect them.

Sports & Outdoors

William Heinemann, Ltd.

DEWSWEEPERS, THE, Seasons of Golf and Friendship

Dutton/Plume

Faithful Travelers

In Final Rounds, James Dodson told the poignant story of the golf trip of a lifetime with his terminally ill father. Now, armed with a fly-fishing rod and reel, he embarks with his seven-year-old daughter on an equally memorable journey across America in search of clear-running streams, swift elusive fish, and the eternal truths that only nature can provide. It has been said that life is what happens while you're waiting to go fishing. Only weeks after his eleven-year marriage abruptly ended in an amicable divorce, James Dodson decided to go on a fly-fishing pilgrimage west. His goal: to heal his wounded spirit and explain as best he could the vagaries of life and love to his beautiful, precocious seven-year-old daughter, Maggie. With his beat-up truck, Old Blue, and his aging retriever, Amos, Dodson and Maggie travel without plans or reservations, following where the spirit--and the lure of America's mighty rivers--leads them, on their way to one of America's grandest treasures: Yellowstone National Park. On the way, Dodson discovers a great deal about fishing, about America, and about the special relationship that exists only between a father and daughter. They travel from the Adirondacks, once a fly-angler's haven, to the mist-shrouded Niagara Falls. From the Michigan lakes where Ernest Hemingway roamed as a boy to small-town county fairs. From the majesty of Mount Rushmore to the mysticism of Harney's Peak, where Black Elk had his legendary visions, to finally the fly-fisherman's paradise of the San Juan River. Together father and daughter are bound by a tie as resilient and unpredictable as a fly-fisherman's line. For as the emotional waters in which they fish become ever more turbulent, Maggie's unspoken feelings of grief, anger, and blame begin to surface--a depth of hurt that forces Dodson to face his own unacknowledged pain and, worse, leaves him feeling helpless to make everything all right in his daughter's life again. Yet if fly-fishing has taught James Dodson anything, it is the rewards of patience, of following the wisdom of the course of the stream, the unexpected revelations reflected in still pools, and, of course, an abiding belief in plain dumb luck. With a little of each, these faithful travelers will find their way home again. Literate, honest, and deeply observant, Faithful Travelers is a beautiful meditation on the bond between parent and child and the nature of love and loss. In Faithful Travelers, James Dodson proves that sometimes life isn't what happens while you're waiting to go fishing: sometimes it happens while you're there.

Parenting & Relationships

Family Relationships

Bantam]

James Dodson always felt closest to his father while they were on the links. So it seemed only appropriate when his father learned he had two months to live that they would set off on the golf journey of their dreams to play the most famous courses in the world. Final Rounds takes us to the historic courses of Royal Lytham and Royal Birkdale, to the windswept undulations of Carnoustie, where Hogan played peerlessly in '53, and the legendary St. Andrews, whose hallowed course reveals something of the eternal secret of the game's mysterious allure over pros and hackers alike. Throughout their poignant journey, the Dodsons humorously reminisce and reaffirm their love for each other, as the younger Dodson finds out what it means to have his father also be his best friend. Final Rounds is a book never to be forgotten, a book about fathers and sons, long-held secrets, and the lessons a middle-aged man can still learn from his dad about life, love, and family. Final Rounds is a tribute to a very special game and the fathers and sons who make it so.

Final Rounds: A Father, A Son, The Golf Journey Of A Lifetime

Biographies

Faithful Travelers: A Father, His Daughter, A Fly-fishing Journey of the Heart

Leaders & Notable People

Random House Publishing Group

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by JAMES DODSON. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by JAMES DODSON

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by JAMES DODSON. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Golfer's Life

A Golfer's Life

A Golfer's Life

A Golfer's Life (Random House Large Print)

Ben Hogan: An American Life

The Road to Somewhere

DEWSWEEPERS, THE, Seasons of Golf and Friendship

Faithful Travelers

Final Rounds: A Father, A Son, The Golf Journey Of A Lifetime

Faithful Travelers: A Father, His Daughter, A Fly-fishing Journey of the Heart