18 Golf Poems And a Recollection at the 19th Hole

   ~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Book Summary:  

Ronald Colby worked in the professional theater in New York as an actor, both on Broadway and Off- Broadway. He wrote many plays that saw New York productions, and as a director/playwright, “The Village Voice” declared him an “influential originator” of the Off-Off Broadway movement.
 
Colby also worked with such well-known directors as Francis Ford Coppola and was Executive Producer for The Outsiders and Mobile Masterpiece theatre productions including A Death in the Family.
 
Theater is one of Colby’s passions. His other passion is golf, which is expressed in his new book, 18 Golf Poems And a Recollection at the 19th Hole. Colby says he’s “written these poems primarily for golfers but also for non-players who need confirmation of the absurdities and complexities of the game.” He’s been playing golf since he was eleven, and like many, he became a devoted fan of the game.
 

In First Tee Jitters, he writes,

 

“Could it be, the view from player’s rounds completed

drinking and staring through clubhouse windows

that makes golfer on the first tee so anxious?”

 

In “Escape” he expresses emotions:

“Eviscerated by guilt and strife

he arrives and drives

his shots breaking boundaries, incurring penalties

creating snowmen sans snow.”

 

I Saw a Woman Swinging expresses his shock “at the power” of the female golfer.

 

In My Father’s Latenight Swing, Colby reminisces about his childhood, when,

 

“Near midnight,

I take a lonesome whisky to my chair

and nestling, remember as a child

how in the darkness of my room

I could hear my father’s swing.”

 

Relief is a contemplation about death:

 

Golf is a game

to be played

A poor metaphor for strife and life

We’re only ticking up digits

Numbers whose meaning will fade away

Unlike the Reaper

Who shall appear one day.

 

At the end of the day, it’s the Long Shadows cast across the course, where

 

“Palms reach yards to catch last rays, and the golfer, resigned to the days end…

Lifting his bag, golfer stares as

sun loses its grip on rays and slides from view

leaving nothing behind but an afterglow.”

 
Complete with photographs and an essay at the end of the book where Colby reflects upon the sport and its fans, 18 Golf Poems is the perfect Father’s Day gift for those who love the sport, and the perfect gift at any time for all golf aficionados.

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Book Details:

Book Title:  18 Golf Poems and A Recollection at the 19th Hole by Ronald Colby
Category:  Adult Non-Fiction,  54 pages
Genre:  Poetry
Publisher:  The Colby Company  
Release date:   2022
Content Rating:  G for everyone.

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Reviews for Ron Colby's novel, Night Driver, published by Rare Bird Literary, (January 2018):
 
“Colby has written a novel of relentless energy. While driving a cab at night, his main character hunts his wife’s killers through LA’s dark streets of dreams and nightmares. It’s tense, episodic, complete, and compelling. It’s quite a ride.” ― Francis Ford Coppola, director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now

"Colby’s well-paced first novel takes the reader on a winding, exhilarating ride through late-1970s Los Angeles." ― Publishers Weekly

“Big news: Ron Colby’s Night Driver is a contemporary noir novel that deserves a place next to Chandler, Connolly, and Wambaugh. The story of a man who drives a taxi through the night streets of Los Angeles searching for his wife’s killers makes an exciting, original and hard-to-put-down book. Colby knows his turf, his characters and he gets everything right.” ― Michael Elias, author of The Last Conquistador

The perfect Father’s Day gift for those who love the sport,
and the perfect gift at any time for all golf aficionados!

iRead Book Tours:  Check out the other blog tours.

June 1 – Cover Lover Book Review

June 2 – Locks, Hooks and Books

June 6 – Book Corner News and Reviews

June 7 – Seaside Book Nook – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway

June 8 – mamof9

June 9 – Reading Authors Network

June 13 – Gina Rae Mitchell

June 14 – fundinmental 

June 15 – Liese's Blog

June 16 – Stephanie Jane

Ronald Colby wrote many plays that saw New York productions, and as a director/playwright, “The Village Voice” declared him an “influential originator” of the Off-Off Broadway movement.

Early in his career, Francis Coppola recruited Colby into his fledgling company, and Colby moved quickly from casting and acting into the roles of production executive and producer. The films included, YOU’RE A BIG BOY NOW, FINIAN’S RAINBOW, THX-1138, THE RAIN PEOPLE, THE GODFATHER PART II, HAMMETT, and THE OUTSIDERS. His short film “The Longest Lens” won among other awards, a Cine Golden Eagle, and his documentary “Child Abuse and Neglect” won a U.S. Award of Excellence.

Ron went on to write screenplays for Universal Pictures, American Zoetrope, and in addition, worked on many films with such producers and directors as Milos Forman, Lorne Michaels, Ed Zwick, Wes Craven, etc. He was Executive Producer on the John Hughes films, SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL and SHE’S HAVING A BABY. In addition, he worked as a Production Executive on other films such as LISA, THE EXORCIST III, and ONE FROM THE HEART. The documentary he produced on the making of Coppola’s ONE FROM THE HEART, has been released on the newly issued DVD.

Ron also worked on many television movies as a producer including the highest-rated Hallmark Hall of Fame movie HARVEST OF FIRE, and Showtime’s LUSH LIFE. He has also been Second Unit Director on over a dozen films. He was the Producer of Esmeralda Santiago’s acclaimed memoir, ALMOST A WOMAN, also for Masterpiece Theatre, which won Peabody and Imagen Awards for best feature.

Over the past four years, he wrote and directed three feature documentaries. Completed in 2008 is, PIRATE FOR THE SEA, the film biography of Captain Paul Watson, the most controversial ocean environmentalist. 

Enter the Giveaway:

18 Golf Poems Book Tour Giveaway

Interview with the Author!: 

1.How did you do research for your book? 

This was an inadvertent bonus, as I have been playing golf for over five decades. This book is a collection of poems I wrote and photos I took over that journey.     

 

 

2.What made you write a book about golf? 

I always had a desire to create some projects set in the world of golf. It began in my freshman year of high school, I wrote an essay about how much I enjoyed playing a short public course alone before school in the quiet, watching, as morning dew trailed my ball across the green. I was encouraged by my teacher who complemented me on the essay as I had been a poor student and that encouragement was all-important. Since then, I have made several documentary films about golf as a central theme and wrote a screenplay adaptation of the cult classic novel, “Golf in the Kingdom”, which was optioned by, Clint Eastwood and Warner Brothers.   

 

3.There are many books out there about golf. What makes yours different? 

My book has photographs taken over decades, by friends, myself, likewise the poems all written by me were created as a testament to some personal golfing experience, often worked on in different locations such as Antarctica, Kauai, Scotland, off and on for months or years. 

 

 

4.Do you have another profession besides writing? 

I am a motion picture producer, documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, and novelist.

 

5.What is your next project?

Currently, I am completing , The Young Filmmakers, a memoir about fledging film directors during the violent Vietnam years of 1968-69.