The Houston Dynasty Book Review

The Houston Dynasty: Tales from College Golf’s Greatest Team
by Jim McLean
Grade: B
Teacher’s Comments: A breezy read. Often funny. An interesting window into a long-lost world.

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Between 1956 and 1985, the University of Houston under coach Dave Williams put together a remarkable run of sixteen national championships in thirty years

Fred Couples played for Houston. So did Jim Nantz. And Bruce Lietzke, Bill Rogers, Keith Fergus, John Mahaffey, Fuzzy Zoeller, Phil Rodgers.

In Tin Cup both Kevin Costner and Don Johnson’s characters had played at the University of Houston.

And, more relevant to this story, so too did Jim McLean, the noted golf instructor.

The Houston Dynasty: Tales from College Golf’s Greatest Team is McLean’s memoir of his years on the University of Houston golf team (1968 – 1973). In it, he explains how a kid from Washington State ended up in Houston; chronicles his efforts to make and stay in the team’s starting lineup; narrates memorable tournament rounds both by himself and teammates; depicts Coach William’s many eccentricities and highlights the sort of college hijinks that I could very much relate to (one story — about a player getting inside an industrial sized dorm dryer and spinning around was very much a thing at West Virginia University. I wrote a story on “Tumbling” for the WVU student newspaper).

The college experience McLean describes, though, is a bit of a lost world. Players shagged their own balls. Recruitment was conducted through the postal seevice. Players traveled to tournaments in the coach’s beat up green station wagon. The concrete block dorm was more military barracks than modern college athlete five star hotel. College women students were chosen as hostesses for players (more on that later).

And of course, there was no NIL. Players were poor.

McLean’s account of his experiences in that world is breezy and humorous. Told in short, often unconnected vignettes, it is the sort of book you can read for a bit, put down and then pick up later.

One thing I wished for was more on HOW Coach Williams won sixteen nattys in thirty years. What was his secret.

As near as I could glean from the book, Coach Williams, in McLean’s telling , was no Harvey Penick (coach at rival Texas from 1931 – 1963). Williams, according to McLean, wasn’t a swing coach. Indeed, Williams took the golf coach job because he was looking for a job coaching anything (coaching a sport — any sport — was his lifelong dream).

Instead, Williams seems to have won by instituting a Darwinian regime. There were FORTY players on the team vying for five playing spots. I don’t know how other golf teams did things at the time, but it seems to me that if you are cycling through two score top amateurs recruited from across the country in search of five, you’re likely to end up with a good team.

Speaking of cycling through: At one point Nick Faldo was one of those forty. He didn’t last long in Williams’ Thunderdome.

Williams was also a bit of a showman, elevating Houston’s profile with the “All American Intercollegiate” golf tournament, complete with bands, beauty contest winners and a city wide festival atmosphere. Opposing team captains “had the honor of choosing two beautiful female hosts for the week” in a weird draft in front of a huge crowd. The Golf Queen won a car.

I have a hard time imagining Williams’ methods working today. Golf rosters are limited to nine players per team. I am certain a “hostess draft” would not fly. There were a lot of other moments that had me thinking “this would never work today.”

Still, McLean’s playing memoir was a good read. If you’ve an interest in college golf, golf history or are just looking for a fun beach read, I recommend it.

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