• Shanks for Nothing

  • By: Rick Reilly
  • Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
  • Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (233 ratings)

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Shanks for Nothing  By  cover art

Shanks for Nothing

By: Rick Reilly
Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
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Publisher's summary

The hilarious sequel to Rick Reilly's beloved best-selling golf novel Missing Links.

Life is going pretty well for Raymond "Stick" Hart. He's happily married to the former Ponkaquogue Municipal Golf Club assistant pro, the beauteous Cajun firecracker Dannie, raising his rambunctious son, Charlie, and getting by writing smart-mouthed greeting cards for 50 bucks a pop. Best of all, nothing has changed at Ponky, the worst golf course in America. You still have to hook it past the toxic waste dump on No. 1 and under the billboard on No. 8, the fried-egg sandwiches are terrible but cheap, and his pal Two Down is always up for a sucker bet.

Then, one disaster of a day, Stick's world does a 10-car pile-up. The cheapskate bastard owner of Ponky announces he's retiring to a nudist camp in Florida and selling the club to the Mayflower Club next door, a bastion of blue-blood snobbery that plans to pave Ponky over. And life only goes downhill from there.

Luckily, Stick has a solution to all his problems. He'll qualify for the British Open.

©2006 Rick Reilly (P)2006 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"The best golf novel in decades." (Boston Herald)
"You don't need to know your bogeys from your birdies to find at least three laughs per page in this novel." (The New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about Shanks for Nothing

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Better than Caddyshack

Rick Reilly’s Shanks for Nothing is a fast paced, uproariously funny masterpiece that will crack the staunchest funny bone. And Stephen Hoye is the perfect narrator to bring the main characters to life (Stick, Two-Down, Dom, Resource, Blind Bob, Hoover, the Stain, and the rest of the “chops”) as they plot to keep the snobby Mayflower from taking over their precious but dilapidated Ponky municipal golf course.

The meandering vignettes that steer the chops through high stakes golf bets with Mob gamblers, a prison golf course where inmate Resource Jones plans and executes the perfect escape, only to be foiled by his own golf passions, and the overseas trip to qualify for the British Open where Stick meets Sponge, and the Royal and Ancient aristocrats.

If Bill Murray ever read this book he would undoubtedly make it into a movie. Murray would be great at playing Stick’s caddy.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I don't know from golf...

Okay, first of all, I have to admit that I will listen to ANYTHING that Stephen Hoye reads. He's got the brains, the accent, the voice. He doesn't mispronounce or misinterpret. If he got me to listen to this POS, that's proof enough. The book is mildly amusing, for someone who is a) female, and b) doesn't play golf. But Hoye makes it accessible and hilarious. Love that guy. Will I listen to the author's sequels? Not a chance.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I want to play at Ponky!

The story is excellent. Nonstop funny and touching at times. You will love the pack of crazy characters and their endless betting. The narration is outstanding, and really deepens the quality of this audio book,

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Listened 4 times now

So good!!! This was my fourth time reading it. You should definitely give it a read.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved every minute of it

This is my third book by Rick Reilly, I’m hoping for many more to follow

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So funny

I laughed so hard. Great book!! I highly recommend this great book! Thank you Rick!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A juvenile collection of cliches.

This reads like something a junior high school drop out might have written. A crude collection of old jokes that were told by drunk high handicap hackers. I hope Reilly can regain his composure and go back to some of his good writing.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great for golfers

very funny, make you smile. golfers will understand the funny stuff. great followup to Missing Links

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

just a really funny book about the game of golf

great characters were all know them all.
can see myself in all of the situations
shows how a golfers mind works, a strange place at the best of times

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The best!

This guy always gives you your money's worth. I wish he would write one of these every month.

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