Ian Baker-Finch: To Hell and Back
By (Author) Geoff Saunders
Hardie Grant Books
Hardie Grant Books
3rd June 2025
Australia
General
Non Fiction
Golf
Biography: arts and entertainment
Hardback
304
Width 153mm, Height 234mm
Ian Baker-Finch: To Hell and Back is the first and only biography of one of the best-known names in golfing circles. Charting Ian Baker-Finch's story from his early golfing career through to his later success in media, it has been written with Ian's full co-operation and explores the tragic circumstances behind the Australian golfer's loss of form.
When Ian Baker-Finch won the 1991 Open, he became a household name. Yet his world collapsed after a dramatic and inexplicable loss of form a few years later. For over 30 years the golfing world has wondered, 'What caused Ian Baker-Finch's crash' This book provides the answers. Faced with the tragically premature end of his playing career, Ian not only recovered but went from strength to strength: he has been a world-class sports commentator and analyst for CBS and other networks for over 25 years.
Ian Baker-Finch is known and admired across the golfing world, and his is a powerful story about a sportsman with the eyes of the world on him.
'We first played together back in the 1990s Finchy has always been open and honest and nothing but professional.' Tiger Woods
'The Ian Baker-Finch story was the saddest in golf, until his redemption in the game as a broadcaster.' Peter Thomson (five-time Open Champion) in 2015
'Ian would be the best bloke I ever caddied for. He was an absolute gentleman and a completely genuine character.' Steve Williams, golf's most successful caddie
Geoff Saunders is the author ofSir Bob Charles, a biography of the great New Zealand golfer. Having played golf at a high level himself, Geoff writes from a perspective inside the game. After leaving high school hebecame an eliteamateurand playedon the Australasian Tour for 10 years.He is a past winner of the Bledisloe Cup, awarded to the leading amateur in the New Zealand Open.He was on the Board of New Zealand Golf from 2006 to 2010 and chaired the Open Committee. Geoff was a lawyer for 40 years andfounded the specialist sports law firm Saunders Robinson Brown in Christchurch, New Zealand.He has been writing about golf for the last 10 years.