Reviewed by Gal

The book "Out of the Rough" by Laura Baugh, is an autobiography. It describes her struggle with alcohol, and her eventual success overcoming it. The book is plainly written, easy to read. It graphically describes what she went through, showing the progression of her alcohol dependence and its consequences, to the point where she almost died a horrifying death at the age of 42 from a "bleed-out".

I think it is a particularly good book for women to read, since it is written from a woman's perspective.

The book would also probably be interesting to golfers, since there is quite a bit of golf talk in it (due to the fact she is a LPGA professional golfer).

I should also mention that there are a few paragraphs in reference to AA in the last chapter of the book. However, this is not a book "advocating" AA. The book is simply her story of what happened to her.

I think this book could be helpful for anyone dealing with an alcohol problem, because it describes the progression and consequences of alcohol dependence so well. To me, that was the strong point of the book.

The section in the book about her "bleed-out" was particularly eye-opening for me. I was shocked to realize that it was possible to actually die from drinking, especially for someone at such a relatively young age. I had imagined deaths due to drinking only occurred to those who were old or ill. Not to a healthy, athletic, person in their early 40's. And not to someone without warning -- to my understanding, she had no signs of any serious physical deterioration from her alcohol consumption before she suddenly had the bleed-out that nearly killed her. That frightened me -- really frightened me. That is part of the reason I say this book was a "wake-up" call for me.