The Caddie Who Played with Hickory [Paperback]

John Coyne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2009

Before there were titanium woods and graphite shafts, golf clubs were made from the wood of hickory trees and had intriguing names like cleek, mashie and jigger. Golf was a game played not with high-tech equipment but with skill, finesse, and creativity. And the greatest hickory player of all time was Walter Hagen---until the day he met a teenage caddie at a country club outside Chicago.
     America’s first touring golf professional, Hagen made (and spent) more prize money than his friends Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey earned from baseball and boxing during the Golden Age of Sports. In this novel, set in the halcyon post-war Midwest of 1946, Hagen comes to historic Midlothian Country Club as the champion he is---but also as a man handicapped by a secret.
     Waiting for him are two caddies. Harrison Cornell—a onetime rich playboy from the Bahamas—has a past; the other---Tommy O’Shea, a farm boy who caddies at the country club---may have a future . . . but only if he can somehow beat Hagen on the links, in one last game played with hickory.
     Cornell is a mystery man who appears from nowhere and presents himself as a “looper,” a professional caddie. Soon everyone sees that he has a gift---within weeks he has improved the games of dozens of members. Only Tommy O’Shea, his eager pupil, knows Cornell’s real motive for coming to the club: his grudge against Walter Hagen, over something that happened during the Second World War in the lovely paradise known as the Bahamas.
     As the playboy and the farm boy become friends, Harrison teaches Tommy the secrets of playing golf with hickory, along with lessons in life and love. But the shadow of Hagen, and the upcoming match, fall across the Midwest summer, and as the competition nears, Tommy’s hopes for the future---and his love for a member’s daughter---are threatened when the truth about Harrison’s past is revealed. Not until the climax, played out in an exciting shot-for-shot match, will all the questions be answered and all the scores settled.
     As in his previous novel, The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan, author John Coyne has created a world rich in characters, action, and golf lore---this time including the fascinating history of hickory play. An entertaining, suspenseful read for anyone who loves the game, it is also a book that offers a pure dose of Midwestern soul, written by a new voice in golf literature who has firmly established himself as one of the leaders of the genre.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Coyne's engrossing hole-in-one (after The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan), it's the summer of 1946 and Tommy O'Shea, a top caddie at Midlothian Country Club, gets a fantastic chance to challenge golfing legend Walter Hagen in the last important golf match of his life. To do so, Tommy must be proficient in the usage of hickory golf clubs, the kind Hagen used to win his first U.S. Open in 1914. At stake is a $1,000 prize that could finance farmer's-son Tommy's college dreams. In walks Harrison Cornell, a WWII vet and former POW, who wants to caddie for Hagen. As it turns out, Harrison has a secret score to settle with Hagen dating back to 1941. As Tommy prepares to compete against Hagen—one of golf's first superstars—he learns much about golf and life from Harrison (Carry your own clubs. Be your own man), flirts with a club waitress and falls for Val, a member's daughter. Coyne's neat plotting and firm grip on even the most obscure corners of the sport make this the perfect treat for hackers and pros alike. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Praise for The Caddie Who Played with Hickory:

"A highly entertaining must-read for anyone interested in hickory golf or the history of the game. I loved it!"
-- Randy Jensen, 7-time National Hickory Golf Champion

“Coyne’s engrossing hole-in-one . . . [His] neat plotting and firm grip on even the most obscure corners of the sport make this the perfect treat for hackers and pros alike.”
--Publishers Weekly

"John Coyne knows his golf history, its characters and the game. He spins a story that includes a mysterious character, a hero, a romance, a semi-villain, and a classic golf match into a believable tale."
-- Dr. Gary Wiren, noted golf teacher, and former Director of Research and Learning for the PGA of America

“The legendary Walter Hagen, Chicago’s greatest amateur golfer, Chick Evans, hickory clubs and Chicago’s Midlothian Country Club are all featured in this tense story of championship golf and summer romance.  John Coyne spins a tale so involving, the reader is in enjoyable suspense about the outcome of every putt.”  
-- Jerry Dudek, Director of Development, Evans Scholars Foundation/Western Golf Association

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition edition (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312560915
• ISBN-13: 978-0312560911
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,592,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was 12 when I started to caddie at Midlothian Country Club, south of Chicago, Illinois. At 16 I was promoted to caddie master. Today I still consider that job the most demanding one I ever had. After graduating from Saint Louis University, I served with the first Peace Corps Volunteers in Ethiopia before becoming a novelist and college administrator. I've written over twenty books of fiction and nonfiction, and edited three books on golf instruction. However, this is my first novel about golf, my lifelong passion. If you want to know more about the book or myself, you can check out: www.TheCaddieWhoKnewBenHogan.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for golfers, May 29, 2008

By 

Shlomo Bachrach (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Caddie Who Played with Hickory (Hardcover)

I have never played a round of golf, barely followed the game before Tiger Woods. I even watch a little on TV these days, though I have been known to use the cliche that watching the grass grow was the most exciting part of golf on TV.

Coyne's first novel, The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan, was recommended to me. I liked it more than I expected. The story drew me in, but most surprising was getting a sense of what golfers are actually doing out there and why it hooks people. All I knew about Ben Hogan was that he was a golf giant from the past. It all came together in a very nice read. I gave the book as a gift to golfer friends, but also to a few nongolfers who I thought would enjoy an entertaining read.

Coyne's new book takes on a different golf hero, Walter Hagen, a known but less familiar name to me than Hogan. (Hagen? Hogan? Who's next?) The story is entertaining, the golf and Hagen lore are interesting even to a non-golfer. Best of all, Coyne has set up the tale to end in a dramatic, hole-by-hole final round of golf that gets all the characters on the course, just as he did in the caddie-Hogan book. A very entertaining read even for people like me who will probably never go beyond the bar at a golf club. But I watch golf on TV with different eyes these days.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coyne Sinks a Hole in One!, May 24, 2008

By 

Robert Mataya (Sedro Woolley, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Caddie Who Played with Hickory (Hardcover)

I've read just about all of everything there is in the golf fiction genera and there is some very entertaining and inspiring novels with some very good story lines in most of them. I await the next one published and usually get it within days of its release. I just finished "The Caddie Who Played with Hickory" and John Coyne has yet another hit on his capable hands.
After reading "The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan" I was excited to read his next novel as I enjoyed this one so very much! Well, the waiting game is always tough when you know his next "Caddie" novel will probably be even better. And you know what? It was! I just finished his latest golf classic, "The Caddie Who Played with Hickory" and I just wasn't able to put it down. Mixed with accurate history of the game and its players and a great story line about a young man who has a lifetime ahead of him. His experiences with golf and class lines and love and friendship and honor and all the things that shape out lives into what we turn into as adults is believable. It is set in a time that was not so crowded with television and computers and telephones and media pounding our minds to accept a version of the truth that really isn't.
We can all let go for awhile and enjoy a good book by Mr. Coyne. I reluctantly finished his book with a tear of happiness from all the nostalgia and the culmination of the characters and how they all managed to live out their lives in a richer way from knowing each other.
The golf aspect of this story was well written and will keep even the most avid of golfers entertained and on the edge of their seats. I believe that those of you who do not play this wonderful game will enjoy this excellent story as well because of the human drama of the journey from the innocence of youth to adulthood that develops throughout this enjoyable read. Don't hesitate. Read it, and you will agree that it is indeed a classic in the making.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Ace, May 14, 2008

By 

Denis Nolan (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Caddie Who Played with Hickory (Hardcover)

I have read a number of golfing books (friends don't know what else to buy me for my birthday), and some are pretty lame. I can honestly say I've only truly enjoyed two or three. This is one of them. Coyne weaves a delightful novel of life in the late forties, capturing the very distinctive separation between the wealthy and the working class, while adding mystery (not the murder type) and young love to a story about golf. It keeps you turning pages, and you come away with a good feeling -- even if you know nothing about the game! For those of you who do play, it is even more enticing, bringing Walter Hagan back to the club where he once won the U.S. Open with hickory clubs that he is playing once last time. A delightful read!