Dodson, James 1953-

PERSONAL: Born February 2, 1953; divorced; married second wife, wife's name Wendy Ann, 2001; children: (first marriage) Maggie, Jack. Education: East Carolina University, B.A., 1975; attended University of North Carolina—Greensboro.

ADDRESSES: Home—12 East Merrill Rd., Topsham, ME 04086. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Greensboro News and Record, Greensboro, NC, feature reporter, 1976-78; Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday Magazine, Atlanta, GA, senior writer, 1978-83; Yankee, Dublin, NH, senior writer, 1984-92; Expedia Travels golf editor, 2000-01. Also consultant for golf course design, Links at Highland Green, Topsham, ME; has appeared in numerous documentaries about golf.

AWARDS, HONORS: Landmark Award for Journalism Excellence, 1976; William Allen White Award for public affairs writing, University School of Journalism, 1994; Golf Writers of America, seven awards, 1994-2000; International Network of Golf, five awards, 1996-2002, including Golf Book of the Year, 1996, for Final Rounds: A Father, a Son, the Golf Journey of a Lifetime; named Golf Reporter of the Year, International Network of Golf, 1998; America's Top Nonfiction designation, Reader's Digest, 1998; Art of Golf Literary Prize, 2002; named Distinguished Alumni of the Year, East Carolina University, 2003.

WRITINGS:

Final Rounds: A Father, a Son, the Golf Journey of a Lifetime (memoir), Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Faithful Travelers: A Father, a Daughter, a Fly-Fishing Journey of the Heart (memoir), Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Arnold Palmer) A Golfer's Life, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 1999.

The Dewsweepers: Seasons of Golf and Friendship (memoir), Dutton (New York, NY), 2001.

The Road to Somewhere: Travels with a Young Boy through an Old World (memoir), Dutton (New York, NY), 2003.

Ben Hogan: An American Life, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including Travel & Leisure and Gentleman' Quarterly. Atlanta magazine, contributing editor, 1983-85; Golf, contributing editor, 1985-, and columnist; Departures, contributing editor, and golf columnist, 1990-99.

ADAPTATIONS: Final Rounds: A Father, a Son, the Golf Journey of a Lifetime was adapted as an audio-book, Dove Audio.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Beautiful Madness, a "portrait of America's obsession with gardening."

SIDELIGHTS: James Dodson has won several awards for his golf writing in both magazines and books. His memoir Final Rounds: A Father, a Son, the Golf Journey of a Lifetime follows Dodson's journey with his father, who in his eighties was dying of cancer, as they visited the major courses of Scotland and England. As Dodson notes, "a man is never finished being a son." A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that the book is about the mutual love the two men have for golf; because "the concluding chapters are powerful and deeply moving,… the book's appeal should extend beyond golf addicts."

Faithful Travelers: A Father, a Daughter, a Fly-Fishing Journey of the Heart tells of a trip Dodson took with his then seven-year-old daughter Maggie and his elderly dog Amos, at the time of his breakup with his first wife. Maggie's new-found joy of fly-fishing was the catalyst that took father and daughter from the East Coast to Yellowstone as they talked about the hard subjects, such as life and the divorce, and the lighter ones, like fishing. Dodson includes a character called Silent Sam, a composite of several of his real friends who were having mid-life meltdowns. What he discovered along the way is that fathers and daughters bond differently than do fathers and sons. J. Taylor Buckley wrote in USA Today that "inadequate fathers and inquisitive daughters will find soul mates—if not balm and answers—here. And anyone who enjoys probing life's complexities as they unfurl before a backdrop of back-roads America will find a lively adventure in this simple tale." Buckley called Dodson "articulate" in his chronicling, but added that typical of divorced dads, he "doesn't get it, and that's part of what makes Faithful Travelers so appealing. It's real and full to overflowing with life's puzzles."

Winnie Palmer, wife of golfer Arnold Palmer, was so impressed by Final Rounds that she approached Dodson about collaborating with her husband on an official autobiography. Palmer and Dodson did collaborate for A Golfer's Life, which follows Palmer's life from the time he picked up a golf club in Youngstown, Pennsylvania, where his father was a course superintendent and club pro. It highlights his victories, including the major championships, most of which he earned between 1958 and 1964, his friendship with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, his rivalry with Jack Nicklaus, his product endorsements, and more. Palmer's golden years came about as televisions became part of every home, and he popularized the sport during that time. A Publishers Weekly contributor felt that "while not quite a hole in one, this memoir shoots below—that is, better than—par."

A Business Week writer noted that the major events, like Palmer's come-from-behind win at the 1960 U.S. Open, are well-documented in A Golfer's Life. "The better sections of the book," the critic wrote, "offer glimpses of Palmer off the golf course." Dodson writes of Palmer's relationship with Mark McCormack. The two met on a practice green while McCormack was still in college, and when he graduated, he became a savvy business manager for a number of players, including Palmer, with whom he was so successful in sports marketing. Palmer tells the story of how he came up with his own icon, the multicolored golf umbrella. "Golf fans of a certain age will be thrilled to hear Arnie tell all the familiar stories one more time," wrote Bill Ott in Booklist.

The Dewsweepers: Seasons of Golf and Friendship is a memoir of a year-long vacation on the links. Dodson and a group of affluent friends traveled far and wide, from Cape Cod to France and England, to play, have fun, and improve their games. Dodson also writes about the sadness of his mother's illness and death, but also of positive things, like his happy and healthy children. "Mostly though," said a Kirkus Reviews critic, "it's about golf with his chums, the laughs, and the occasional lovely shot."

The Road to Somewhere: Travels with a Young Boy through an Old World is a memoir of the road trip Dodson took with his then ten-year-old son, Jack, shortly after he remarried in 2001. Their trip took them outside the United States to England, Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, and Greece, where his wife joined them, but, noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer, it is Jack, Dodson's "companion on the road, not the elaborate itinerary, that makes his book remarkable." Jack, or Nibs, as Dodson calls him, who is a fan of mythology, didn't see any dragons, but he did get to visit some of the Old World that inspired fairy tales during the eight-week, mostly unplanned trip. Booklist reviewer David Pitt wrote that "it is enchanting to watch man and boy learn from one another." There were several setbacks along the way, and the pair met with the less fortunate as they traveled. School Library Journal contributor Robert Saunderson noted that "father knew and son learned that amid the harsh realities, kind, thoughtful people lead fascinating lives quite different from their own."

Ben Hogan: An American Life is Dodson's biography of the golfing icon who won nine major titles between 1946 and 1953. Dodson had access to Hogan's papers, giving him the insight to write about not only Hogan's career, but also his personal life. Hogan's father committed suicide when he was nine, and a 1949 accident nearly killed Hogan and his wife when a bus plowed into their car on a foggy Texas road. The accident left Hogan, who threw himself from the driver's side across the seat to protect his wife, with permanent damage to his legs. Allen St. John wrote in the Washington Post Book World that "Dodson's exhaustively researched biography argues that much of Hogan's legendary aloofness was merely a manifestation of the almost otherworldly focus that made him a champion." Dodson recreates classic shots and the eighteenth hole at Merion, site of the 1950 U.S. Open, where Hogan made his comeback. St. John claimed that Dodson's prose "is as smooth as Hogan's swing." Booklist reviewer Gilbert Taylor wrote that "this is the first Hogan biography to do justice to an enigmatic and complex sports hero, and as such, it becomes the instant standard."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Dodson, James, Final Rounds: A Father, a Son, the Golf Journey of a Lifetime, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Dodson, James, Faithful Travelers: A Father, a Daughter, a Fly-Fishing Journey of the Heart, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Dodson, James, The Dewsweepers: Seasons of Golf and Friendship, Dutton (New York, NY), 2001.

Dodson, James, The Road to Somewhere: Travels with a Young Boy through an Old World, Dutton (New York, NY), 2003.

PERIODICALS

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 21, 1998, Don O'Briant, review of Faithful Travelers, p. D5.

Booklist, November 1, 1996, Bill Ott, review of Final Rounds, p. 473; May 1, 1998, Brian McCombie, review of Faithful Travelers, p. 1481; March 15, 1999, Bill Ott, review of A Golfer's Life, p. 1258; September 15, 2003, David Pitt, review of The Road to Somewhere: Travels with a Young Boy through an Old World, p. 202; June 1, 2004, Gilbert Taylor, review of Ben Hogan: An American Life, p. 1686.

Business Week, May 10, 1999, review of A Golfer's Life, p. 18.

Choice, December, 2004, S. Kelley, review of Ben Hogan, p. 698.

Forbes, July 27, 1998, Jessica Maxwell, review of Faithful Travelers, p. 244.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2001, review of The Dewsweepers, p. 1260; August 1, 2003, review of The Road to Somewhere, p. 1001.

Library Journal, June 1, 1999, Frederick Faust, review of A Golfer's Life, p. 126; August, 2003, Linda M. Kaufmann, review of The Road to Somewhere, p. 112.

New York Times Book Review, May 2, 1999, Michael Bamberger, review of A Golfer's Life, p. 17.

Publishers Weekly, July 29, 1996, review of Final Rounds, p. 79; March 30, 1998, review of Faithful Travelers, p. 56; March 29, 1999, review of A Golfer's Life, p. 76; July 14, 2003, review of The Road to Somewhere, p. 64; April 19, 2004, review of Ben Hogan, p. 54.

School Library Journal, March, 2004, Robert Saunderson, review of The Road to Somewhere, p. 252.

Spectator, December 18, 2004, Michael Beloff, review of Ben Hogan, p. 86.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), June 13, 2004, John F. Stacks, review of Ben Hogan, p. 1.

USA Today, May 28, 1998, J. Taylor Buckley, review of Faithful Travelers, p. D10.

Washington Post Book World, November 4, 2001, Colman McCarthy, review of The Dewsweepers, p. T9; June 6, 2004, Allen St. John, review of Ben Hogan, p. T8.