I don’t play golf. However, that did not stop me laughing at Don Boehm’s collection of 100 stories about the game and its players. Don has traveled the nation playing golf in order to gather all of the stories in Right Distance. Wrong Direction. He has also participated in charitable activities that send mobile mammogram vans to cities and remote areas. These stories were collected by him to entertain. However, a portion of book sales will be donated to women who don’t have health insurance so they can receive an early diagnosis and then eradicate the disease.
Although cancer can be a serious matter, it is not something to laugh at. Right Distance, Wrong Direction’s title is enough to let you know that this book will have some humor. Boehm’s golf buddies were not shy about sharing stories of hilarious moments from their golf games with each other. Don heard from golfers at times that they couldn’t come up with a joke, but Boehm was still playing and, guess what? A funny story came out of it. All the stories would make America’s Funniest Home Videos look bad. They could even be Caddyshack III’s inspiration.
Although I did not understand all the terms of golf, these stories were easy to follow. While I was expecting to hear about bad shots and balls hitting odd spots, what I did not expect were golf clubs flying into the Pacific, bird stealing watches of golfers, bull elk attacking carts or alligators eating my golf balls. These are all true stories that I cannot tell you more about. However, I’ll quote one story from which I almost wept when I saw it.
Maggie said, “Okay,” as she got up to hit her shot. Upon her striking the ball, one of the men started yelling, “Roll, bitch, roll.” Then Maggie said, “I don’t know why, but for some reason, I dropped down onto the ground and started rolling!”
Maggie, her husband, and I were rolling from her telling of this story. According to her husband, she was wearing white pants and a sweater while rolling in freshly cut grass. As we laughed, Maggie ended with, “And that’s my story!”
When you’re done rolling on the ground with Maggie, go out and get a copy of this book. This book is perfect for reading while on the course, or whenever you just need to have a good time. Remember that all book sales are used to fight breast cancer.