Up and Down

October 18, 2021
Olympian and Masters Tournament–winning golfer Watson chronicles his experiences with anxiety, feelings of inadequacy, and the compulsion to succeed in this chatty and openhearted account that he emphasizes from the outset is “not a typical golf book.” Instead, Watson works through pivotal points of his unconventional path to going pro, including “triumphs and humiliations” beginning with struggles he encountered as a child prodigy living in the small town of Bagdad, Fla.; learning from mistakes to become a team player; and the impact of his father’s terminal throat cancer diagnosis. It was his father—who waited at Watson’s training and early games with beer and cigarette in hand—who taught him to “be a leader and not a follower,” but intrusive negative thoughts, panic attacks, and a fear of crowds almost derailed Watson’s career. Eventually he was drawn into a closer relationship to God (after he “fell down on... knees” to ask for help), and discovered tactics to regain control of his negative thoughts by focusing on the joy of playing, and spending more time with his wife and their two adopted children. Lighter notes include a stint as an underwear model and fun times with buddies filming viral “Golf Boys” boy band–style videos for charity. For the faithful who are also golf fans, this gabby, frank account about becoming the best version of one’s self, in sports and life, is a hole in one.