For Michael L.- I hope you're still reading!
by Billy Mott
From Booklist
The golf novel--typically a source of either slapstick or treacly inspiration--has finally come of age. This remarkably assured debut stands out from the pack because it takes the game seriously as a subject of literary fiction and then delivers a story that can carry its thematic weight and a character whose humanity is as palpable as his golf swing is smooth. Mott sets the action mainly in the caddyshack, but this isn't another of those one-dimensional riffs aimed at ridiculing fat-cat golfers. Mott's caddy hero, Charlie McCleod, once a golf phenom, was forced to quit the game after a freak injury. On the run from personal demons, he lands in San Francisco and impulsively hires on as a caddy at an exclusive club. Gradually drawn back into the game, Charlie soon finds himself involved in a big-money match with a legendary golf hustler. The setup suggests all sorts of melodramatic potholes--the Rocky cliche being only one of them--but Mott steers away from trouble as skillfully as Ben Hogan, Charlie's hero, could guide the flight of a one-iron. The novel works because Mott gets the golf exactly right, from dialogue to swing details. He makes us care about Charlie, not because he plays a particular game but because he shows us how playing that game can make you feel alive in a very special way. In The Hustler, Fast Eddie Felson explains how, when he is on a roll, the cue becomes an extension of his arm. A one-iron is Charlie's cue stick, and The Back Nine is golf's Hustler.Bill Ott
