If anything can go wrong with a golf shot, it will. Every golfer and every close relative of a golfer knows this only too well. What they may not have realised is that this is, in fact, the general statement of Murphy's Law as it applies to golf, a universal governing principle of the fairways.
The malevolent workings of Murphy's Law are evident in all fields of human endeavour, but on the golf course they achieve a peculiar viciousness and malice. For centuries golfers of all ages, shapes, sexes, and abilities have suffered in bewildered helplessness at the whim of an apparently arbitrary but obviously unfair fate. Until now, no-one has applied the rigorous scientific analysis necessary to identify the underlying laws governing the world of golf, and to reveal the malignant workings of this fate as variations of Murphy's Law.
A golfing duffer of unimpeachable standing, a scientist of impeccable reputation, a humorist of great popularlity, Mervyn J. Huston was perfectly suited to undertake this task. He has made a major contribution to golfing science in elaborating the laws, corollaries, axioms, and ancillary statements that explain, among many other phenomena:
*the perversity of golf balls;
*the inutility of practice swings;
*the factors that facilitate getting into the rough while at the same time obstructing getting out of it;
*the futility of methods of modifying the flight of the ball after it has been struck.
The development of Huston's mathematical formula for calculating the attraction of golf balls for sand traps and water hazards should, alone, guarantee his place in the annals of golfing achievement (although he says he would prefer a round of 72). With fearless abandon and great personal honesty, Huston also tackles subjects like: what goes through a golfer's mind when he addresses the ball; the effects of slow play by those ahead of you; yips, shanks, gimmes, and Mulligans; the role of profanity; the chicanery of golfing accountancy; the dishonesty of goods sportsmanship; what really goes on at the 19th hole.
In Golf and Murphy's Law you will recognize your friends, relatives, and maybe even yourself if you are a golfer and not last year's winner of the U.S. Open. Even if you are not a golfer, you will appreciate this irrepressible example of the human spirit's response to intolerable stress.