From Booklist
Ostensibly about retooling his golf swing, Reed's account develops in surprising ways that are incidental to the conventions of the golf instructional. Dreaming of walloping a 300-yard drive, Reed seeks out Mike Austin, a long-ball specialist who, in 1974, set a record for the longest shot in professional tournament competition. Reed concedes that Austin (who was in his early 90s when Reed met him in 2001) seemed to be a man of self-aggrandizing habits: every story about his life was over the top, his every swing tip the greatest discovery ever made. But enough about Austin did check out to convince Reed to relax and enjoy his swing guru's bombastic ways and drill-sergeant delivery. As he adjusts his swing according to the barked instructions delivered by Austin from his Barcalounger, Reed perceives a genuine friendship forming, deepened by Austin's survival of a health crisis. Culminating with Reed playing the course where Austin set his record, this intriguing mix of instructional, memoir, and biography could be the sleeper hit of the golf-publishing season. Gilbert Taylor
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Book Description
The tale of an eager golf disciple and Mike Austin, the sport’s most legendary long-driver and keeper of the secret to the perfect golf swing "Can you teach an ordinary golfer like me to drive the ball 300 yards?" With this question Philip Reed’s search for the greatest golf swing begins, and so does his unanticipated journey through the triumphs, rumors, boasts, and heartaches in the life of ninety-one-year-old golf legend Mike Austin. As a middle-aged journalist striving to learn the simple task of driving a golf ball for distance, Reed discovers the complex soul of the man who has driven it farther and better than anyone else—and did it in his own inimitable way. When Reed met Mike Austin, he already knew that the elder man held the record for the longest drive ever—recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records—an awesome 515-yard shot during the 1974 U.S. National Seniors Open. But what Reed didn’t know was that his enrollment in the Mike Austin school of golf would offer him a degree in history, Austin-style—turning pro at age eighteen; winning wagers on miraculous trick shots and earning the nickname of the "golfing bandit"; sharing a Hollywood apartment with Errol Flynn; giving secret golf lessons to Howard Hughes; matching shots against Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, and Chandler Harper; and training today’s long-drive champions, such as the mighty Mike Dunaway. In this book, Reed chronicles his tutelage under the cantankerous Austin as his drives get longer and longer while his understanding of Austin’s prodigious legend grows. More than a revealing tale of golfing secrets, this is a story about a great man in the twilight of life handing down a legacy of extraordinary stories, hard-earned lessons, and tough love. In the end, one man’s search for the greatest golf swing leads him to a treasured friendship and the secrets of living life to the fullest.

FROM THE PUBLISHER