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Hailing The Franchise

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By BOB D'ANGELO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 23, 2008

"Love trumps journalism every time," golf writer Jack Brannon insists. "Anybody with sense knows that."

It makes sense to like a guy like Brannon, the wise-cracking, perceptive and earthy narrator in Dan Jenkins' latest novel, "The Franchise Babe." (Doubleday, $27.95). And why not? He writes the big story and gets the girl, too.

Jenkins has a gift for writing funny, twisted and sassy prose. A longtime writer for Sports Illustrated and a current columnist for Golf Digest, Jenkins' 1972 novel "Semi-Tough" remains a classic.

In "The Franchise Babe," Brannon, a golf writer at SM magazine, is tired of covering the PGA Tour and writing "Tiger, comma." He decides to follow the LPGA Tour's "new wave of Lolitas," and write about up-and-coming star Ginger Clayton, an 18-year-old prodigy with a game matched only by her looks.

Brannon, in his late 40s and a two-time loser at marriage, takes an even longer look at Thurlene Clayton, who is not a typical golf mom.

What follows is a romance novel sprinkled with intrigue, as somebody on the tour wants Ginger out of the competition - permanently.

Being a proper journalist, Brannon follows up on this surprising twist. "Your basic journalist comes in two categories," he confides to his audience. "There are the point-missers ... and there are - I think I can say this without sounding too boastful - the rest of us."

Jenkins' writing voice is pointed, and he easily creates believable dialogue for his varied characters - chattering teens, the golf moms, self-important tournament sponsors, arrogant millionaires and sleazy, number-crunching agents.

Jenkins creates the ideal public relations contact, which could explain why real-life golf writers tenaciously guard their beats. And he lampoons the middle-aged sportswriter, portraying Brannon as a bawdy, leering, smart-aleck kind of guy with writing talent and an eye for the big story.

The plot to harm Ginger Clayton is perhaps a little thin and the solution is maybe a little predictable, but Jenkins makes up for it with plenty of golf knowledge and excellent detail. At 224 pages, it's a fast, funny read.

CAN'T-MISS SITES: Josh Pahigan has come up with a nice travelogue for baseball fans: "101 Baseball Places To See Before You Strike Out." (The Lyons Press, $24.95).

Packed with photographs and plenty of information, Pahigan ranks sites from No. 1 (the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.) to No. 101 (Lenny Dykstra's Car Wash in Simi Valley, Calif.)

There are some great places in between: the "Field of Dreams" movie site in Dyersville, Iowa; the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago; and Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala.

Pahigan is respectful but not too reverent and takes the reader on a pleasant tour.

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