Just Hit The Damn Ball

Just Hit The Damn Ball offers a practical method for helping golfers at every level move beyond swing mechanics and develop their innate potential. Golf is a game of feel, yet we are obsessed with technical perfection. Every player needs solid fundamentals, however, the vast majority keep "spinning their wheels" when they focus on correcting the endless catalogue of technical errors. The secret to constant improvement is learning to ask how to re-create the good shots instead of obsessing over why you hit the poor ones.

In 1904 a famous and legendary physician named Sir William Osler counseled doctors to “Live a simple and temperate life, that you may give all your powers to your profession. Medicine is a jealous mistress; she will be satisfied with no less.” Unlike this famous advice, most physicians do not live a simple life. The demands by patients, hospitals, communities, political groups, and others for a doctor’s time can be extraordinary. As a young boy Dr. Osler’s mistress seduced me, and I have had a lifelong affair with her. The book’s title, Paging Dr. A, relates to the many ways I was summoned or contacted over the years. A phone ringing, or a pager beeping, or a nurse having a hunch about a patient, or a sheriff coming to my home in the middle of the night all requested my help. I learned that someone waving at me in a crowd, a pat on my back, or a note written on a scrap of paper could also be asking for my assistance with a medical problem or to give a presentation to educate others. With time and experience, I learned that a person’s appearance and body language often communicated a better medical history than the spoken word. This retrospective presents more true stories about my journey through fifty years of medicine. Some stories have extended notes inserted into the text to give the reader clarity about certain topics. Some stories contain “Food For Thought” topics. Like the stories in my other books, Reflections of a Country Doctor, The Next Prescription, and Side Effects, some are silly, some are sad, some will make you happy, and some might make you mad. I hope you enjoy this portion of my life’s journey in medicine.

Your official source for unofficial golf etiquette. Are you clueless about golf etiquette? Are you a beginning golfer? Have you been invited to play golf with the boss and you've never played? Are you tired of being the last one picked for a golf tournament? Are you simply a hopeless golfer? This book is for you! The Hopeless Golfer will take you from the parking lot to the 19th Hole and help you act "like you've been there before" ... even though your score will give you away...

Austin Sinclair and Jack Winston grew up together on the poor side of town-one quiet sober and tenacious; the other a reckless charmer always seeking a challenge. And they shared a love for tennis that forged an unlikely bond-and incited a fierce rivalry-between them. Then adult life took them in different directions. Now they are grown men - mature, accomplished and middle-aged. And a chance reunion in a crowded restaurant results in a friendly, fateful invitation to compete once again at Austin's exclusive tennis club. But from the first serve on an impeccable clay court to the final, breathless point of a truly unforgettable match, unresolved resentments and tensions will determine the pace of the play. For every lob and backhand, every point surrendered or won, brings with it serious questions about the past and the choices made. With each set comes potentially explosive revelations about love, money and the nature of competition.

When Thom finds a murdered body on the golf course, he can't rest until he solves the mystery of the heinous crime. And the cast of characters he meets along the way is anything but comforting. Thom hates standing just four-foot-seven (and a half!). After watching his mother bleed to death from a knife stuck through her heart, he runs away and lands in backwards backwoods Florida. There, he becomes an expert golfer. This is no small feat, and one he credits to his short game. Thom only golfs alone. It's where he escapes the scorn and ignorance of others. The course is Thom's World. Until, that is, he discovers a woman's bloody corpse on number two-stabbed through the heart. Then Thom's World becomes a black tunnel of terror and guilt. He can't even raise a club without collapsing in panic. Thom must solve the murder not only to escape suspicion, but especially to reclaim his glorious solitude. This, however, finally forces him to open up to others: like Dyleane, who sees Thom for what he is on the inside; Jade, the ample proprietor of a cafe and whorehouse; Father C, a chain-smoking priest with a pitiful toupee; and others still, who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.

Rev. Skipworth's courage, candor, and compassion jump from the pages of this compilation of his weekly newspaper columns, "Letters to the Editor," rebuttals from area ministers, and responses from readers written in the heart of Tennessee's Bible Belt. This book is a give and take between a progressive follower of Jesus and his often-irate readers/respondents, most of whom are biblical literalists and evangelical white Christians. With Skip, what you see or read is what you get. He not only tackles the hard issues, while wearing vulnerably, but also brilliantly translates and integrates his columns with the informed biblical and theological understanding of many of the most learned minds within progressive Christianity. While making their work understandable for his readers, friends and foes alike, he painstakingly applies their insights to the divisive theological and political issues liberal clergy and laity have tragically failed to address honestly with each other. Skip deserves our gratitude for this informed and courageous gift, and the whole church owes him our thoughtful and willing dialogue. Taken from the Foreword by Bishop Joseph Sprague.

"Well, son, I guess we have to go the to bank." That's what Leon Hess told me the day the Jets drafted me as the number-one player in the NFL draft. But that first day, the day of the draft, was one of the happiest days in my life, because I knew I was ready to make things happen in the league and help turn things around for the sorry-ass Jets. But what a nightmare! Week after week, loss after loss. The Jets went in with a loser reputation, and they were earning it all over again. We had no emotion, no energy, no hunger. The media tried to cover it all. Rich Kotite tried to explain the disasters away. But nobody outside the team knew the real truth of what really went on. This book is going to change all that.