Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography… by Alan Shipnuck

[iacas]

This topic exists to discuss the Phil biography by Alan Shipnuck.

I'll get my copy tomorrow, but I won't have a chance to read it until later in the week at the earliest.

Also, we can include discussion of the Bob Harig book (Tiger & Phil: Golf's Most Fascinating Rivalry) and the upcoming Billy Walters book.

[Chris Brooks]

Just got the eBook and will start reading today or tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

[TourSpoon]

He was on the Golf Channel last night and they certainly teased it for quite a while. 

[Bucki1968]

I'm about half way through it (audio book). So far it's mostly the stuff I've heard the author talk about on pod casts. A few new things but not much. I'm wondering if after listening to him on all the pods and interviews, if I didn't hear the entire book?

[Bucki1968]

Update. I'm through the whole book and have concluded that you can listen to author on podcasts/interviews and get just about everything out of those. There are a few other things (Bones reasons for actually "firing" Phil instead of a "mutual parting of ways") but for the most part you don't need to buy the book. If you are really interested in hearing about Phil's younger years, you will want to buy the book. Most of that information I feel like I've heard before. It is pretty entertaining. 

[GolfLug]

19 minutes ago, Bucki1968 said:

Update. I'm through the whole book and have concluded that you can listen to author on podcasts/interviews and get just about everything out of those. There are a few other things (Bones reasons for actually "firing" Phil instead of a "mutual parting of ways") but for the most part you don't need to buy the book. If you are really interested in hearing about Phil's younger years, you will want to buy the book. Most of that information I feel like I've heard before. 

Thanks. Yeah, it sounded like he was giving away a lot of the book on the NLU podcast, but of course insisted that the juiciest morsels are only in the book. 

23 minutes ago, Bucki1968 said:

It is pretty entertaining. 

I might still get the book. Audible, most prolly. Phil is a wild study in character contrast. 

[iacas]

59 minutes ago, Bucki1968 said:

Bones reasons for actually "firing" Phil instead of a "mutual parting of ways"

That was covered on podcasts, too.

Phil owed him nearly $1M in back pay (mostly from FedExCup bonuses, etc.) and Phil didn't pay him for years and years. And still hasn't fully paid.

[Darkfrog]

1 hour ago, GolfLug said:

Audible, most prolly. Phil is a wild study in character contrast. 

I've listened to Shipnuck's interviews on most of the golf podcasts so I feel like I know a bunch of the stories, but I have 2 unused audible credits so I am going to do the same and start listening today.

[Bucki1968]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

That was covered on podcasts, too.

Phil owed him nearly $1M in back pay (mostly from FedExCup bonuses, etc.) and Phil didn't pay him for years and years. And still hasn't fully paid.

Apparently, Bones was also upset that he never got any of the flags from a major win (or any other). And when he did finally, Phil signed his name huge all over the flags so it kind of ruined them. 🤣

[boogielicious]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

That was covered on podcasts, too.

Phil owed him nearly $1M in back pay (mostly from FedExCup bonuses, etc.) and Phil didn't pay him for years and years. And still hasn't fully paid.

Wow! He should get barred from the Tour just for that.

[Darkfrog]

56 minutes ago, Bucki1968 said:

Phil signed his name huge all over the flags so it kind of ruined them. 🤣

After everything I've heard about Phil lately, this seems very "Phil-like".

[Chris Brooks]

Mostly due to Shipnuck’s own commentary I’ve heard on podcasts (he’s trying to sell more books after all), I too thought there’d be more reveals. I’m about halfway through and enjoying it for what it is. I definitely wasn’t as tuned into pro golf in the early 90s as I am now, and it is easy to forget just how much of a sensation Phil was pre-Tiger. I’m especially enjoying finding old footage of him, like this:

 

[Bucki1968]

18 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

After everything I've heard about Phil lately, this seems very "Phil-like".

It's funny. You read one part of the book and think "wow, what a great guy" and the next paragraph you think "wow, what a dick".

[TourSpoon]

I have a feeling the real bombshells are yet to come. There is nothing so devastating in that book that you withdraw from the PGA when you are the defending champion.  There is more to this story with plenty of rumors swirling around PGA Tour players (past and present). 

[Darkfrog]

I've been listening to the audiobook (caveat, only through chapter 4). Aside from some of the biographical details of Phil's early life, all the really interesting stuff isn't new to me because I already heard it in the various podcast interviews. Alan Shipnuck is also a boring narrator IMO, which makes listening a bit of a drudge.

[iacas]

4 hours ago, TourSpoon said:

I have a feeling the real bombshells are yet to come.

There are a bunch out there, but…

4 hours ago, TourSpoon said:

There is nothing so devastating in that book that you withdraw from the PGA when you are the defending champion.

He still helped create a competing golf Tour (or paid for lawyers to draft some stuff up) that's funded by Saudi Arabia's PIF.

I don't think the book is why he didn't defend his title.

[TourSpoon]

18 hours ago, iacas said:

I don't think the book is why he didn't defend his title.

Exactly, there is more to this story. Stay tuned. 

 

[jmanbooyaa]

Phil. His days in LIV. Coming soon