My Life in and out of the Rough is exactly what you would expect from a John Daly autobiography. Its a stark depiction of his life, that can be summed up as follows: alcohol, women, gambling, golf. While John Daly won’t be winning a Pulitzer Prize anytime soon, this book is still highly entertaining. The tag line “The Truth Behind All That Bull**** You Think You Know About Me” is highly appropriate.

Daly makes no bones about the fact that he struggles with addiction problems. He openly admits this in the book and addresses how he tries to deal with these issues. That is part of the reason that this book is great, because unlike many other celebrities who either try to hide their problems or just ignore them, Daly comes right out with them. It makes him feel like more of a normal person, as opposed to a wealthy and famous one. But despite his problems, Big John Daly never tries to make us feel bad for him. He owns up to his actions, and that is refreshing to see.

Daly also tries to clear up many issues for us, and he succeeds in that regard. He tells anecdotes from his life that give us a glimpse into who he really is. He tells the reader of the years he was on anti-depressants which, just made him more depressed. We begin to understand why John Daly acted the way that he did. He doesn’t use this as an excuse for tearing up hotel rooms, and drinking his liver away, he just points out the effects that he was feeling as a result of the drugs. He addresses his love life in great detail. Daly explains how he has managed to go through so many wives, and what a result of that is. We get in good detail the personal life of Daly, and how that has affected his career.

Certainly not lost in this story is the golf career of Daly. He tells many tales of his golf achievements. He speaks of specific moments from specific tournaments, and how he became who he is in the golf world. Ranging from his improbable entry and then victory in the 1991 PGA Championship all the way to events on the Sunshine Tour in South Africa. He details Pro-Ams as well as regular tournaments. He tells of majors, and charity events, of wins and losses. This book really is a complete look at the life of John Daly.

This is an interesting book for a few reasons. First, the way that it is written is a little different than normal. Secondly, Daly doesn’t try to make you feel sorry for him, or try to pull any other type of emotion, he just tells it the way that it is. I would recommend this book for anyone looking to learn a little bit more about the life of John Daly, or even those just looking to get good entertainment. Readers can get a lot of information out of this book that they wouldn’t have known before, turns out Vijay isn’t a complete a-hole to everyone, and that Tiger is just as intense as he seems on TV. These are just a few of the insights that Daly provides us.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5