Final Rounds (Yong Kim)

Final Rounds, James Dodson, Bantam, 274 pages

Summary
In Final Rounds, James Dodson reveals a book about the relationship between his father. They both had a passion for golf by talking about what is happening in the golf tour and also about their game. However, James Dodson discovers that his dad was suffering from a form of cancer. His father only had two months to live. James Dodson wanted to have a trip to the birthplace of golf, Europe. For many golfers, this would be the trip of the lifetime because courses that the Dodson’s go to are filled with lots of history. For example, in Royal Birkdale, the American golfer, Arnold Palmer came back to win the Open Championship. Their last golf course before going back was the historic golf course, the Carnoustie where Ben Hogan won the Open Championship in 1953. There are a lot of memories for Baxton Dodson in Europe because he had served in WWII in England. While he was at England, he visited and played a lot in the historic golf courses. As his father dies, James Dodson struggles and mourns over his father. But he realizes that even though he is a middle aged person, he still learned valuable lessons through him.

Audience:
The audience is intended for those who enjoy the game of golf. This book is a gripping, loving, and moving story. Although this book is about the game of golf, it is also a book that shows the relationship of a close father-son relationship.

Style
James Dodson’s style in this book was very descriptive because one of the golf courses that he describes is very detailed even the small things that people don’t pay attention to.

“Prestwick is a good illustration of how the game has outgrown many great golf courses. It’s short (6,740 yards), sweet, and eccentric. The first hole goes off hand by a busy commuter rail track. There are blind holes the likes of which no modern club membership would tolerate. Parking space is nil,”(151).

Passages:

“We talked about how mothers give us life and fathers help define us,”(252).
-This passage struck me because I heard this before from someone else to. I also agree with this passage because after the mother gives birth, the father’s role takes place by training us of defining who we are, what we are meant to be, and also the value of accepting life.

“My turn, I decided to putt rather than chip and smacked my ball hard enough to send it bouncing off,”(133).
This passage reminds me of when I go out to play golf, I do the same thing as Dodson because I always get the feeling of hitting it thin and so I go to the safest route by using the putter.

“On the plus side, Dad showed no indication of fatigue whatsoever. There was even a discernible lilt in his step,”(77).
This passage struck me because I couldn’t believe what this quote said because walking 18 holes when you have cancer and in your 80’s is a very hard thing to do. Also when I am playing golf, I see a lot of old people like in their 60’s riding a cart.

My relationship
After reading this book, I thought about a lot of things. This book not only told a great story of golf, it really persuaded me to really spend time with my dad by listening to his stories back in his day. I thought that James Dodson’s dad was really strong and a courageous man who knew that he had couple of month to live but he went on not being emotional and giving up. The book was truly compelling and very sad in many ways.