The Dewsweepers: Seasons of Golf and Friendship
I’ve certainly read James Dodson’s magazine pieces often enough over the years to know that he’s an accomplished golf columnist. We’re both members of the Golf Writers Association, and the competition he faced in winning that organization’s annual writing award is pretty fierce.
On the other hand, I hadn’t read Final Rounds, his acclaimed book about golf and life with his terminally ill father. People I trust have recommended it, but I hadn’t yet managed to fit it into my reading schedule.
Writing a column calls for a somewhat different set of skills than writing a book. Not everyone can make the transition successfully.
Dodson largely succeeds.
The book’s title derives from a group of Syracuse golfers who entice Dodson to join them on their early-morning weekend golf ritual from his home in Maine. Dodson’s original purpose in coming to upstate New York was to give a speech, and one of the group managed to finagle him to extend his stay. They develop a fine friendship, centered upon playing golf, ragging on each other, and otherwise acting more like boys than men.
As with many men in early middle age, however, Dodson faces a range of challenges to his usual hectic lifestyle as a golf journalist. Life has a way of doing that to a guy in his mid-40s, even if he would rather focus on restoring his handicap to its former glory.
His mother is showing signs of extreme forgetfulness and other problems that befall the elderly. She mourns the loss of her husband, and her difficulties in managing her affairs leads to her placement in an assisted living facility.
His brother, with whom he shares responsibility for his mother’s care, is himself getting married. There are troubling signs on that horizon.
His son, for whom his former wife has primary custody, is showing a newfound interest in golf. Dodson wants to see if he can nurture his golfing talent without smothering the boy.
One unexpected feature of visiting Syracuse restores another dimension to Dodson’s life—romance. After a funny dating misstep with a best-selling author, he meets a New Yorker for whom he has an immediate affinity. He recounts their courtship here, which is enhanced by her sudden absorption in learning to play golf. The path to marriage, however, is complicated by custody problems from her bitter divorce.
Throughout all the domestic drama, of course, there also remains the ongoing problem of earning a living. To Dodson, however, it seems that his inability to play golf at his formerly high skill level is having a greater impact on his overall demeanor than anything else. Even if he can’t golf as well as he used to, Dodson also needs to re-learn how to enjoy the game.
The book focuses on the search for restoration of his appreciation for the sport, while also handling the intrusions of real life. While describing an entire year filled with all these elements of family, friends, and business affairs, Dodson struggles to find his way.
It’s a worthy effort. Just the same, it’s hard to believe that the story will resonate as broadly as his golf columns or his collaborative efforts with the likes of Arnold Palmer, profiled here in a moving passage involving the King’s beloved wife, Winnie.
In addition, golfers under the age of 35 will not necessarily identify with the kinds of mid-life problems Dodson describes.
The real appeal of this book will be to those golfers finding themselves at a similar stage as Dodson. Few middle-aged middle-handicappers will appreciate Dodson’s frustration at watching his handicap climb up from a sparkling 2.
Nonetheless, many will identify with his depiction of the bonds of friendship, the switching of roles with one’s parents as they age, the hopes for one’s children as they take their own faltering steps toward athletic accomplishment, and the minefield of emotions from the wreckage of failed marriages.
I have some friends who might do themselves some good by reading this book.
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Review Date: May 5, 2002