This is an intriguing autobiography by Joyce Wethered, the best English woman golfer and arguably the best woman golfer of all time. The chronicle of her life is fascinating and the self-probing of her psyche is one of the most revealing looks at any champion's thought process. The male and female participants in her tale, are for the most part all noted golfers and the book frequently offers anecdotes about and portraits of these personalities. While the historical facts and stories of her triumphs are engaging, Wethered also writes intelligently about the mechanics of the swing in the section Technical Golf, devoting one-third of the book to instruction. Finally, this is a worthwhile book about women’s golf in general, its origins, rise and ultimate acceptance on the world stage.

Something happened to 18-year old Miss Joyce Wethered on the way to Sheringham Golf Club in 1920. She left home a bottom-tier player on the Surrey County Team and returned the champion of all England. Not that she was without golfing promise, but Wethered had never even entered a championship before this occasion. She really went to the tournament to accompany her friend and golfing better, Molly Griffiths. Winning the event was the surprise of young Wethered's life. Moreover, she defeated the reigning champion, Cecil Leitch, in the final. To be honest, Wethered was always an excellent student of the game: "I have spent a considerable amount of time in wondering how other people play their strokes, with the idea of helping myself…many good players came to stay with us (and) new theories and experiments were constantly in the air." Playing often with her brother Roger and his Oxford friends was extremely helpful and honed her competitive spirit. "Those who do not have the competitive instinct in their blood are certainly saved much bother and anxiety…On the other hand there may be a danger of turning into a cabbage at the game, even to being incapable of making a good fight for a match." The group displayed an infectious spirit of golf inquiry, often discussing golf technique long into the night. Just prior to Sheringham, Wethered changed her swing plane from a naturally flat one to one more upright and it made all the difference.

Wethered's recounting of her rise and subsequent dominance of the game is at the same time polite and meaty. That she thrived on competition is clear from her intense description of the matches, yet her willingness to leave the world stage at her peak, as Bobby Jones would in 1930, can be puzzling. Wethered won five straight English Championships (1920-1924) and never participated in another. With a little help from fate, her interest in the Ladies British Amateur Championship lasted slightly longer. Wethered had also won that title in 1922, 1924 and 1925, always intending 1925 would be her final entry. She did in fact retire, only to be coaxed out of the shadows for one final encore in 1929.

Wethered's entry into the 1929 Ladies British Amateur Championship resulted in what has been often referred to as the greatest match in the history of women's golf, the tournament's finals match between Wethered and Glenna Collett*, reigning American Amateur Champion. The daily press reported, a bit too enthusiastically, that Wethered had come out of retirement to help repel the strong American contingent. "The fact that Glenna Collett and I actually met in the final lent some colour to the rumour, but I feel I should never be justified in entering for the sole purpose of hoping to prevent some other particular player from winning." Wethered simply loved the idea of playing at St. Andrews, had looked forward to it for some time, and felt relieved of "any responsibilities that might be thrust upon me" as she was no longer a regular player in competitions.

It is only fitting the Champion begins the tale: "The final round was a match of the most extraordinary vicissitudes. Never has a close game swung in such a pendulum fashion. Glenna's first nine holes of the match, which she did in 34, was the finest sequence of holes I have ever seen a lady play. By the ninth green I was faced with a deficit of five holes." Collett missed a good opportunity to go six up at the 12th, a point from which Wethered admitted losing the match would have been "almost a certainty." Wethered started playing much better golf and when they paused for lunch, had reduced her deficit to two down after the first 18 holes. Wethered's strength continued in the afternoon round and amazingly she stood four up at the ninth. Two quick threes by opponent Collett won two holes back and Wethered was now up only two with eight to play. The battle did not stop there, but just how Wethered succeeded in winning her last Championship can be savored best by reading her lengthy first-hand account.

Enhanced by sequential photographs and revealing studio shots, the central instruction section is slightly the largest of the three book divisions. Wethered begins with how to learn, systematically explains each club's proper use and includes such chapters as Playing in the Wind and The Mental View. Wethered also repeats many of the golfing maxims she believed necessary for success at golf. The final section, Other Golf, is eclectic with chapters on the progression of women's golf, an armchair tour of courses in Round Scotland, Great Britain vs. France and Great Britain vs. the United States in Two International Matches, and an in-depth look at one of England's famous, but often unheralded tournaments, the Worplesdon Mixed Foursomes. In The Children's Game, introduction to the art of golf is suggested around ages six to ten. Wethered promotes the use of undulating lawns mown like a green to interest youngsters, adding "If parents are not upset by the prospect of divots on the lawns, approaching to the green from other points might be well recommended." She delightfully recalls her own homemade garden course: "The first drive from a tee on a cinder path carrying over cabbages and other garden produce with a pergola as a final obstacle, could be relied upon, much to our delight, to cause consternation to the grown up visitors whom we induced to play round with us." Wethered also tackles the psychology of golf in Nerves and Notions. One final anecdote if anyone should doubt the author's experience in such matters. The lore is that during her final stroke for her first English Amateur win at Sheringham, an express train roared past on tracks immediately adjacent to the hole. Later she was asked whether the train had disturbed her at that critical juncture? "…whether, indeed, I was so oblivious of my surroundings that my oblivion became a glorious instance of concentration---and that is a question which for me is still wrapt (sic) in mystery." You just know she did not hear the train.

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