The Reader's Shelf—A Hole in One: Great Golf Fiction

Edited by Nancy Pearl -- Library Journal, 8/15/2005

Truly avid golfers don't just play the game; they watch it, dream about it, and read about it. So here, in time for prime PGA tournaments, are novels that place readers at those events and inside the heads of the players.

As J. Michael Veron points out in The Caddie (St. Martin's. 2004. ISBN 0-312-32561-4. $23.95; pap. 2005. ISBN 0-312-32562-2. $13.95), "Serious golfers spend their entire lives searching for ways to control their fear," which is why so many golf novels are, like this one, splendid psychological studies. Bobby Reeves, a struggling golf pro jailed for stealing money from his only real friend, is bailed out by a mysterious man who acts as his caddie. As Bobby tours the great courses under the caddie's tutelage, he learns to trust himself to play the game. Readers will realize sooner than Bobby does that his caddie is the immortal Bobby Jones, come back to save a genuinely great golfer from self-destruction. Veron's novel is filled with golf lore and loving, detailed descriptions of the great courses.

William Hallberg's The Rub of the Green (o.p.) is the story of a professional golfer who puts everything into his game because he has a chance of mastering golf, as opposed to messy human relationships, where he is clueless. When he finally allows himself to care about someone, he assaults her attacker and goes to prison. His work assignment, redesigning a two-hole golf course for the prison, gives him time to think about what a golf course—and a human being—must do to satisfy the expectations that are placed on them. Nongolfers can appreciate this insightful novel, but golfers will love it.

No one has a better understanding of both the game and the players than Eddie Caminetti, the ambiguous hero of Troon McAllister's The Green (Main Street: Doubleday. 1999. ISBN 0-385-49460-2. pap. $13.95). Eddie is the surprise choice brought in to complete America's Ryder Cup team, a total unknown because Eddie, who makes his living by snookering golfers who underestimate him, prefers to remain out of the spotlight. Eddie's an honest con, who abides precisely by the terms of his agreements, but as the novel makes clear, anyone who tries to stiff him had better be very clear about what those exact terms are. In the sequel, The Foursome (Broadway. 2001. ISBN 0-7679-0572-5. pap. $13.95), we find Eddie running a private island resort where only very well-off players are invited to play. We slowly learn that the longtime golf buddies making up this particular foursome are schmucks who have built their lives and fortunes on big and small betrayals. When Eddie and his chosen team take them on, making a wee bet on the side, the quartet don't think out the strategy required by the bet's terms and proceed to self-destruct. A rematch eventually leads the four to reveal the ugly truths they know about each other. They lose their fortunes but gain their souls—as Eddie fully intended.

Longtime sports writer Dan Jenkins is better known for his football novels about Billy Clyde Puckett (Semi-Tough), but in Dead Solid Perfect (Main Street: Doubleday. 2000. ISBN 0-385-49885-3. pap. $13.95), he introduces us to Billy Clyde's uncle, Kenny Puckett, a golfer on the PGA tour. Like Billy Clyde, Kenny is raunchy, profane, sexist, politically incorrect—and drop-dead funny. After years of making an adequate living on the fringes of the tour, Kenny is suddenly at the top of the leader board at the Master's, fighting to hold the position against his more successful friend Donny, who's messing around with Kenny's wife. But Jenkins's books are never about plot; they're excuses for their heroes to muse, obscenely but astutely, about their lives, philosophies, and games. Kenny says, "I'm aware that golf is probably some kind of a mental disorder like gambling or women or politics," and the book proves how right he is.

Among the better golf-themed murder mysteries (and the even rarer books featuring women golfers) are Charlotte and Aaron Elkins's books about Lee Ofsted, a "rabbit" golfer on the women's pro tour. The series begins with A Wicked Slice (o.p.), in which Lee's drives suddenly start slicing at a tournament in Carmel, CA. Soon she finds the body of star player Kate O'Brien and realizes the murder weapon was her own #3 driver. Fortunately, the detective on the case, who is clueless about golf, believes in Lee's innocence. Even though he tries to keep her from sticking her nose into the investigation, he needs Lee's insider knowledge about the game and the players to solve the case before she, too, is murdered.

No column about golf fiction could omit Miracle on the 17th Green (Back Bay: Little, Brown. 1999. ISBN 0-316-69335-9. pap. $12.95), James Patterson and Peter de Jonge's fairy tale for middle-aged men. Its hero is 50-year-old Travis McKinley, who hates his life at work and is alienated from his family. Inspired by a miraculous shot on Christmas Day, Travis seizes the chance to fulfill a lifetime dream of playing in the Senior Open, discovering in the process who he is and what he truly values.