In order to avoid a rut, I wanted to find a book on a sport that isn't one of the four major North American games. Fortunately, the latest catalog for review copies from the University of Nebraska Press included two on golf that arrived earlier this month. Needing to diversify my reading for this month, I chose one of them and enjoyed it very much. Here is my review of "The Hole Truth"
Title/Author:
“The Hole Truth:
Determining the Greatest Players in Golf Using Sabermetrics” by Bill Felber
Tags:
Golf, history,
statistics
Publish date:
January 1, 2019
Length:
328 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars
(outstanding)
Review:
No matter the sport,
fans often will argue about who is the GOAT, or greatest of all time. When it
comes to golf, that has been difficult to measure – after all, how would Tiger
Woods fare with the mashers and other clubs used in the days of Harry Vardon? How would Patty Berg do against Anika
Sorenstam? Author Bill Felber has
attempted to answer this question using a common mathematical function and a
little extra work with advanced statistics in this very interesting book.
While the title touts
the use of “sabermetrics”, the tool used to measure golfing greats across the
entire history of professional golf is the standard deviation. Felber does explain this and other
statistical terms in the book and how it is similar to a popular new statistic
in baseball, wins above replacement or WAR. Even if a reader is not a mathematician,
he or she will enjoy reading about many of the sport’s legends and how that
golfer stacks up against others using the measure of standard deviation.
Fortunately, the
rankings are fairly simple and straightforward, as Felber explains in the
beginning of the book. Like the number
of strokes, the lower a golfer’s standard deviation from the average of the
field, the better the ranking. There is
a formula for number of strokes derived from the standard deviation if the
reader wants to compare strokes since that is how the score is kept. That is not necessary to enjoy this and
understand the accompanying charts for each golfer portrayed.
Felber covers all eras
of golf, both men and women and because the standard deviation is measured for
each golfer against his or her peers, a fair comparison can be made between
Kathy Whitworth and Bobby Jones, for just one example. There is a measure for
each golfer for their career and their peak, which is defined as the best five
year stretch. No spoilers here to reveal
who ranked at the top of those two categories, but like with any other list,
statistical or otherwise, it does produce some expected results, some surprises
and a huge source of information that can be used to settle debates.
Because the book is
formatted to give the reader a short description of each golfer’s career
success or failure in the major tournaments (noted at the beginning that the
statistics are limited to majors) it is easy to read and has plenty of
accompanying charts and statistics. It can easy be digested at one sitting or
used as a reference for quick information on a golfer. Golf fans will certainly want to add this one
to their bookshelves.
I wish to thank University
of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchanged for an honest
review.
Book Format Read:
Hardcover
Buying Links:
