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<\/a>Joseph Bronson\u2019s PARdon Me<\/em> (Silicon Valley Press, $21.99) is our one book, a third self-published volume from Bronson, who has had an enviable life as the sole golfing executive in his Silicon Valley tech company, so he was the guy sent to represent the firm when all the juicy pro-am invitations rolled in.<\/p>\nNow in his late 70\u2019s, Bronson has played a bit. He\u2019s clearly a passionate golf nut, willing and able to go all over the world to play top courses, with a decent game to boot. It would be easy to hate him, but his writing suggests a genial sort, not overly boastful, along with his donating all book sale proceeds to The First Tee and university golf programs.<\/p>\n
So one is willing enough to browse his musings from, his subtitle suggests, \u201c50 Years of Golf, One Hole at a Time.\u201d If that latter phrase were really in effect the result would be stultifying. As is, the book\u2019s rather random nature is easily consumed in small bites. There are tales of playing at Pebble Beach with Arnold Palmer; a pro-am round with an utterly silent David Duval; three senior pro-ams in the same year with pro Dale Douglass, prompting the pro to ask Bronson if he really worked for a living.<\/p>\n
There are sections on particular holes\u201426 par-3 holes Bronson considers the best he\u2019s ever played, and 20 holes he considers the most challenging he\u2019s tackled. California courses are strongly presented here as that\u2019s Bronson\u2019s home base but, as mentioned, he gets around, so there are holes from the midwest, the east, England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, all with comments on the holes, some memorable pro tournaments moments at them, and maybe a little too much about how the author fared on each.<\/p>\n
I read the book in galley form, so maybe the few errors I ran across were corrected in the final version; Robert Trent Jones Jr, Bruce Charlton and Jay Blasi designed Chambers Bay in Washington state, not Pete Dye, for one example.<\/p>\n
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This isn\u2019t just a novelty album. Taylor is, after all, in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, having penned such classics as \u201cWild Thing\u201d and \u201cAngel of the Morning\u201d back in the day\u2014he\u2019s been around, too. And his four duet albums early in the century with Carrie Rodriguez (\u201cRed Dog Tracks\u201d being one) are classics in what is best described as Americana music, or maybe Alt Country.<\/p>\n Anyway, it\u2019s a delightfully winning formula here, because Taylor also has golf cred. The package includes two CDs\u2014one of just the songs, the other of the songs with some golf stories commentary by Taylor. There\u2019s also a 63-page booklet that includes all the lyrics, but even more so the story of Taylor\u2019s father, Elmer, who for 50 years was the head pro at the Sunningdale Golf Club in Scarsdale, New York.<\/p>\n That\u2019s Elmer Voight, father to Barry Voight, a geologist and volcanologist; Jon Voight, the actor, and James Wesley Voight, who took the stage name Chip Taylor because he had a good short game.<\/p>\n All three boys played golf, but John and Chip were especially talented, thanks to Elmer; Chip briefly turned pro himself before Willie Nelson recorded one of his songs and propelled him down the music business path.<\/p>\n Elmer played in a couple of U.S. Opens before injuring his back in an accident (another car accident would kill him in 1973 at age 63). He\u2019s mentioned fondly in an excerpt in the booklet from Bill Kilpatrick\u2019s Brassies, Mashies, & Bootleg Scotch<\/em>, a book we reviewed here<\/a> way back in 2011.<\/p>\n There are certainly echos of Willie Nelson on hand, Taylor even sounds like him on \u201cHello Ball,\u201d mostly likely based on Willie\u2019s \u201cHello Walls.\u201d \u201cCry Baby\u201d\u2014about whiners\u2014is likely a reference to Janis Joplin\u2019s tune of the same name. Taylor is familiar with the oeuvre\u2014he wrote Joplin\u2019s \u201cTry (Just a Little Bit Harder).\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s all a fun, genial package. If you can manage a chorus of \u201cDouble Bogey Time Again\u201d after your next six it just might take away the sting.<\/p>\n <<<>>><\/p>\n By the time this appears all ten episodes of \u201cStick\u201d will be bingeable on Apple TV+. (Don\u2019t have it? Go for one of those free trial weeks and you can plow through the entire series in no time. Well, about five hours.)<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth it, though it\u2019s also possible to say that \u201cStick\u201d breaks no new ground and is fairly predictable in some of its plot devices, like any number of feel-good sports shows. That said, it will make you feel good, if not quite \u201cTed Lasso\u201d good. If the story seems familiar, the actors are all in, and the comic writing, genuine sentiment and a bunch of unbelievable golf shots make for a satisfying round of shows.<\/p>\n Without giving too much away, Owen Wilson plays Pryce Cahill, a former Tour pro known as Stick, until he has a wild meltdown at a tournament due to a family tragedy. As the show opens he\u2019s facing a divorce, spinning his wheels as a teacher, and hustling mild stings in bars with the connivance of his former caddie, Mitts, played with a great curmudgeonliness by Marc Maron.<\/p>\n While giving a lesson Cahill hears someone clobbering golf shots and he finds Santi Wheeler (Peter Dager), a teen with incredible talent. Cahill concocts a plan to take Santi on the road with an eye toward the U.S. Amateur. But Santi, and even more so his mother, Elena (Mariana Trevi\u00f1o), are resistant, mindful of how Santi had given up the game in the wake of his father abandoning the family.<\/p>\n But on the road they go, and the adventures begin, as golf matches unfold, antagonisms arise, romances bloom, and cameos ensue from Tour pros like Keegan Bradley, Max Homa, Wyndham Clark, Colin Morikawa and even Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman.<\/p>\n An Oklahoma course makes a cameo at one tournament, too, except it\u2019s not in Oklahoma\u2014the entire series was filmed in Vancouver.<\/p>\n As my wife proved, you don\u2019t even really need to be a golf fan to enjoy \u201cStick\u201d since the play is almost incidental to the developing relationships. And when series ends with every possibility for a season two, you\u2019ll hope it winds up with a better chance than Stephen Colbert.<\/p>\n # # #<\/p>\n This piece first appeared in the Aug-Sept 2025 issue of <\/a><\/em>Golf Oklahoma<\/a> in slightly different form.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/a>Bronson has some amusing observations on two of golf\u2019s regularly scheduled horror shows, the yips and the shank. And on Chip Taylor\u2019s \u201cSon of a Golf Pro\u201d CD (from trainwreckrecords.com, $25), both get their own songs, \u201cThe Yips\u201d and \u201cShank City.\u201d And there are eight other cuts, all related to golf, including some instant treasures like \u201cDouble Bogey Time Again,\u201d \u201cThe Final Round,\u201d \u201cSmack That Ball\u201d or \u201cIn the Rough Again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>\n<\/a>Tom Bedell plays the piano but he wouldn\u2019t dare trying to cover \u201cShank City.\u201d Might be catching. <\/em><\/p>\n