The Ball in the Air

By: Michael Bamberger

Narrated by: David Morse

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

After a lifetime of writing about the professional sport, Michael Bamberger, “the poet laureate of golf” (GOLF magazine), delivers an exhilarating love letter to the amateur game as it’s played—and lived—by the rest of us.

Over Michael Bamberger’s celebrated writing career, he has written a handful of books and hundreds of Sports Illustrated stories about professional golf and those who play it—that is, the .001 percent. Now, Bamberger trains his eye on the rest of us. In his most personal book yet, Bamberger takes the lid off a game that is both quasi-religious and a nonstop party, posing an age-old question that is answered over its pages: Why does the game cast such a spell on us?

Here is the story of modern golf that is not on TV. This is our story, we who pay to play, who can’t wait to get another crack at the game, even when golf doesn’t love us back. And just as every round is an adventure, every life in golf is, too. The golfers Michael Bamberger introduces will leave you inspired and moved. You’ll meet Sam Reeves, a golf-loving US Army soldier who becomes captivated by a fellow soldier, Cliff Harrington, a gifted Black golfer who’s cruelly robbed of the chance to show the world all he can do. You’ll meet Ryan French, who plays on a college golf team out of Animal House. You’ll get to know Pratima Sherpa, who grew up in a maintenance shed at the Royal Nepal Golf Club in Kathmandu and took up the game with a stick whittled by her father.

The Ball in the Air is reported with Bamberger’s you-are-there intimacy and captures the sweep of time. Pratima finds her way from Nepal to a university golf team in Southern California. Ryan and his father caddie in minor-league events while sleeping in tents, a preamble to Ryan’s becoming the godfather of the popular Monday Qualifier Twitter feed. Sam Reeves, born in rural Georgia during the Depression, becomes a cotton king, the oldest amateur to make the cut at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and the ultimate man for all seasons.

And there are Bamberger sightings, too, as he finds his own path in the game. You’ll make joyful side trips with the author, who’s spent more than forty years exploring golfers and golf, a way of life that captivates him down to his bones. You’ll visit the golf course at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and compete with Bamberger and other purists at the National Hickory Championship in rural Pennsylvania. At St. Andrews, you’ll get up close and personal with Lee Trevino, one of the few professionals in these pages, because Trevino, when you really get to the core of the man, is one of us. He can’t get enough of it.

The Ball in the Air is Bamberger’s valentine to golf. The modern world, obsessed with fame and fortune, has infiltrated professional golf—but it hasn’t infiltrated golf. Bamberger is here to highlight the distinction and to celebrate the game and all who play it.

©2023 Michael Bamberger. All rights reserved. (P)2023 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

A definitive top 10

Wasn’t sure what to expect from this audio, but once I started I couldn’t stop. At times I forgot this was an audio, more like a conversation. Story line was well put together and worked great. I will buy the book for my collection

You don’t have to be a golfer to sink into this book

Michael writes with heart about a game that has captured so many. The friendships, unexpected places the game has taken players, and the love and frustration of the game. David Morse’s narration draws you in like your spending a day together sharing stories. I know I’ll listen again.

A Game for All, A Book for All

This is an excellent book about golf and life. The subjects and stories were compelling and relatable in so many ways. The author and narrator both did a masterful job. I would highly recommend this birdie/eagle of a book.

Love of the game

Loved the stories of exceptional folks, stories of recovery and redemption. Deep relationships created simply by hitting the ball in the air!!

Real Golf

Great storytelling about how golf brings people together regardless of their background. Enjoyed it greatly.

Intimacy

As if you were there. Simply mesmerizing! Finished listening in three days. Thank you Michael, well written!

If you love golf, this book is an eagle

The Ball in the Air, by Michael Bamberger, is about three amateur golfers and the joy, community, and sometimes redemption they found through golf. Warm and uplifting, the book is an intensely personal biography of these three golfers. It is also, in part, the author’s memoir and a love letter to golf.

Another great one from Bamberger

Several stories, including autobiographical, are interwoven in a well paced narrative with the usual writing panache that MB is known for. The reader of the audiobook dramatizes the stories with accents and auditory cues to make it lively. He also mimics the authors voice well. Highly recommended for your Christmas gifting.

Just not what i expected

It isnt a bad book at all. But I thought the book club picked a loveletter to the game. Maybe I was looking for Michael and Shivas. Couldnt find them.

It's just okay, and that's being kind

This is a collection of 3-4 short biographies that are told in scattershot fashion. 5-6 minutes on one, then jump to another one for a few minutes, then back to the first, then several minutes on the 3rd one, etc. The Ryan French (MondayQ) story is interesting, although by the end I was having to fast forward through the others.

One of the stories is about a girl from India. I was shocked that the narrator, when quoting members of her family, did so in a terrible Indian accent. Came off as racist to me, and I normally wouldn't care about that. After that, I was fast-forwarding the non-Ryan stories, so not sure if he tried any accents when quoting the black golfer's family.

Ryan comes off worse than you'd expect. Got the book because I was surprised to hear Ryan had mental health issues and considered suicide, thought it might be interesting. It turns out that he'd just partied and lived a fast lifestyle through his twenties, lost his marriage and had a rough night in a Vegas hotel room. Thankfully, he had a good support system, and with that support, he made it through fine.

My favorite part of Ryan's story was when he drank, strip-clubbed, and gambled his way through his college golf career, and when he was done, his parents tattled on the coach to the university. You know, just so "no other students will have to go through that". I guess he's different now and learned his lessons, so it's all good.

The other stories didn't grab my attention at all. They seemed like attempts to highlight racism, sexism, eliteism, etc.

I actually had high hopes for this book, and I feel tricked. Thankful for Audible's return policy.