Golf's Best Short Stories [Hardcover]

John Updike (Author), Don Marquis (Author), Paul D. Staudohar (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997

The 24 short stories in this collection glow with passion for the game of golf. For fans, this is the next best thing to stepping onto the green. Golf is the trigger for romance, comedy, heartbreaks, and high dramas; it is the backdrop for mystery, adventure chicanery, and farce. And the way they play the game reveals the men and women who people these pages as heroes, duffers, schemers, dupes, egomaniacs, starry-eyed lovers, murderers, and champs.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Is there a serious student of literature--or golf--who wouldn't give a stroke or two a side to be part of a Nassau that included, say, Don Marquis, Paul Gallico, P. G. Wodehouse, Ethan Canin, Ring Lardner, Stephen Leacock, Bernard Darwin, or John Updike? "People who care about golf," writes Paul Staudohar in his introduction to this marvelous and sometimes whimsical collection that packs all the above into its bag, "are typically well-educated men and women who appreciate things of quality in life, including good literature." The literature in Golf's Best Short Stories is indeed good: it contains 24 stories, dating from just before the turn of last century to just before the turn of this one, that explore some aspect of the mesmerizing hold golf has on its adherents. Updike's "Farrell's Caddie," perhaps the most anthologized of all golf stories, is the ace here, but there's not a bogey in the bunch. What serious golfer--or reader--could ask for more?

About the Author

Paul D Staudohar has edited all of the books in the Sports Best Short Stories series. He is a professor of business administration at California State University at Hayward. He lives in Lafayette, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556523211
• ISBN-13: 978-1556523212
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #856,116 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful collection for anyone who loves golf., July 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Golf's Best Short Stories (Hardcover)

This book has become one of my favorite golf books ever. It's for anyone who loves the game and it's lore. Some of these stories are hilarious, others are like a good mystery. Finally a classic golf book without a bit of instruction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally Great Collection!, January 23, 2007

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Golf's Best Short Stories (Sporting's Best Short Stories series) (Paperback)

Like great golf stories? About ball that goes where hitter wants? A club used by a champion that swings that way with whoever swings it? What Sherlock Holmes would do with a golf club in his hand?

This is but few of the absolutely wonderful short stories to do with golf, selected over years by authors from differing eras, but with all same theme: revolvement around getting the white pill in the hole.

Tough to select any favorites out of this excellent selection of 24, but "Golf is a Nice Friendly Game" is my selection. How can you miss with a tale wound around giving away one's whole wartime allocation of rubber for golf ball business based on wager of two old CEO duffers with their sponsored pros playing?

Must have for the avid golf reader! Pure enjoyment!