Golf Sports Fiction

Missing Links is the story of four middle-class buddies who live outside Boston and play golf together at Ponkaquogue Municipal Golf Links and Deli, not so fondly known as Ponky. An 18-hole garbage dump with hazards that include a concrete river surrounded by a chain-link fence and the pillars of the elevated train that runs through the course, it is reputed to be the worst golf course in America.

A Course Called Ireland is the story of a walking-averse golfer who treks his way around an entire country, spending 16 weeks playing every seaside hole in Ireland. Along the way, he searches out his family's roots, discovers that a once-poor country has been transformed by an economic boom, and finds that the only thing tougher to escape than Irish sand traps are Irish pubs.

An avid golfer with a demanding career in the greeting card business, Mike Keiser found a new calling on the authentic links courses of Scotland and Ireland. Seized by the beauty of the landscape and the holes running through it, he determined this was how golf was meant to be: inclusive, not private; played on foot, not riding a cart; the courses natural, neither lavish nor contrived. Vowing to transplant this experience to the States, Keiser entered the golf business and, ignoring the advice of experts, built a true links course in Oregon.

Hailed as a classic when it first appeared in 1972, Michael Murphy's novel combines an amiable Zen mysticism with what many consider the very mystical - and sometimes downright frustrating - sport of golf. At its center is the charming guru of the Scottish links, Shivas Irons, whose instruction is as pertinent in life as it is on the course. After a long wait, this shamanic golf pro reappeared for the follow-up novel, The Kingdom of Shivas Irons.

Confessions of a Golf Pro Round 2 takes up the story where book one ends as our hero leaves his private club to manage a daily fee course in Orlando, there he finds the course a total disaster, the employees mutinous and the competition fierce. No one would be dumb enough to buy a daily fee golf course in the land of the mouse, would they? Well, no one but an avid golfer who was also a doctor, a lawyer or airline pilot. Professions where they get to play god in everyday life and think that the superpowers they possess naturally transfer to running a golf course better than the last group, ...

Haunted by the loss of his father, David Miller steps onto a golf course in the middle of Iowa unaware his life is about to change forever. Because what happens on that sleepy Midwestern course is the unveiling of a God-given ability to hit a golf ball that few athletes have ever possessed. And as he begins falling in love with the game that at one time had separated him from his father, something far more important begins stirring deep inside Miller's soul, something that offers to change his life - and thousands more - forever.

Wells Whitaker was once golf’s hottest rising star, but lately, all he has to show for his “promising” career is a killer hangover, a collection of broken clubs, and one remaining supporter. No matter how bad he plays, the beautiful, sunny redhead is always on the sidelines. He curses, she cheers. He scowls, she smiles. But when Wells quits in a blaze of glory and his fangirl finally goes home, he knows he made the greatest mistake of his life.

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. Then, one disaster of a day, Stick's world does a 10-car pile-up. Luckily, Stick has a solution to all his problems. He'll qualify for the British Open.

Who gets the trophy for being dead? The novel that begins the narrative arc of the Hacker series. When a friend invites Hacker to a long weekend of fun at the Member-Guest tournament at a private country club outside Boston, he leaps at the chance. But the much-disliked club president is found hanged in the cart barn, and there are plenty of suspects. But as Hacker sifts through the evidence, it seems there is something deeper going on, and the Boston Mob might be involved!

The boy was born and raised on the Main Line, but he vanished on Philadelphia's mean streets, last seen in a downtown cheater's hotel. The boy's mother, Linda Coldren, is a golf superstar and Myron Bolitar's client. When he goes after the missing boy, presumed kidnapped, he crashes through a crowd of lowlifes, blue bloods, and liars on both sides of the social divide. Meanwhile, Linda's husband is trying to stage a comeback at the U.S. Open, only to be found dead in a sand trap.

Someone is taking dead aim at Augusta! Ahh...the Masters! Golf's most prestigious title. The harbinger of springtime. But this year, they find a body in a bunker on the 10th fairway at Augusta National and when Hacker and the rest of the golfing world arrive, there's a mad chase to find a drug cartel assassin who may or may not have a connection with the club. Talk about a drama filled back nine! This is a Masters unlike any other!

If it bleeds…it leads! Golf writer Hacker is now TV golf broadcaster Hacker with a sweet new gig on a national network. He has to learn the ins and outs of televising golf, and how to deal with the hyper-intense executive producer and director, Ben ‘the Assassin’ Oswald, as they get ready to broadcast the PGA Championship, staged at international developer Conrad Gold’s luxury club in upstate New York. And then the bodies begin to pile up. First is a fellow announcer on the crew, then the assistant to Oswald in the control room. So as Hacker trades quips in the booth with Billy Joe ...

Seventeen-year-old Frank Baker is a golfing sensation. He’s set to earn a full-ride scholarship to play at the university of his choice, but his single dad wants him to skip college and turn pro - golf has taken its toll on the family bank account, and his dad is eager to start cashing in on his son’s prowess. Frank knows he isn’t ready for life on the pro tour - regardless of the potential riches - so his swing coach enlists a professional golfer turned journalist to be Frank’s secret adviser.

In Golf’s Sacred Journey, the Sequel, the book that follows bestselling Golf’s Sacred Journey, professional golfer Luke Chisholm returns to his winsome and wise mentor, Johnny Crawford, for what he’s best at: advice. This time, Luke needs help of a different sort. He needs guidance on playing in the most difficult golf tournament in the world: the US Open. Victory is in sight.

The Kingdom of Shivas Irons is the enchanting story of Murphy's return to Scotland to investigate reports of further visitations by Shivas Irons and to answer questions about him and MacDuff that have haunted Murphy since his original trip to Burningbush some 31 years before. Murphy and his companion, Buck Hannigan, a skeptical physicist fascinated by Shivas's connections to metanormal events, embark on a magical quest for Irons and MacDuff - and their wisdom about golf and human potential.

There oughta be a rule against…murder! Change is in the air as the U.S. Open returns to bucolic Pebble Beach on the Monterey Peninsula. Newly married and just laid off, Hacker finds the celebrity owners of the Lodge at Pebble Beach fighting a corporate succession battle. And when a young assistant pro drives his cart off the cliff on the eighth hole, things start to get very serious. As usual, Hacker has to avoid danger, uncover the truth, and watch the U.S. Golf Association make the golf course as difficult as possible. Does that include making it deadly, too?

Dan Jenkins, sports novelist and writer for Golf Digest, continues the story of Bobby Joe Grooves in Slim and None.

The aging pro-golfer is now 44, and he just has to win a major this time around. Since the days when golfing was done with a shepherd's crook, only seven men have won a major after the age of 44. Bobby Joe figures his chances are slim and none.

Though nobody has ever identified a single secret - no universally accepted truth - to the sport, every real player searches for one. Travis McKinley is one such seeker. A former professional golfer who feels like he's an amateur at the rest of life, he makes a pilgrimage to the mythical greens at St. Andrews. On the course where golf was born, every link, hole, fairway - even the gorse - feels like sacred ground. Ground that can help an ordinary player, an ordinary man, achieve a higher plane.

In this book, Dr. Saul L. Miller, one of the world’s leading sports psychologists, describes eight of the most common problems limiting golfing performance and, in the process, gives listeners powerful, practical techniques to overcome these challenges. With his guidance, you’ll learn the performance mindset and emotional management to play with more impact, consistency, and pleasure. Bottom line, Winning Golf will significantly improve your golf game, and the very same techniques will enhance the quality of your life.

Golf is for rich, pretentious jerks who need something to do while they gossip. That’s always been my opinion. So when my best friend lands me an interview with Miles Day—the youngest golfer to ever win the Masters—I almost say no. But the six-figure salary attached to the position is too good to pass up. Miles gives me the job as his assistant with one caveat—don’t fall in love with him. Easy. So easy that I laugh in his face when he so much as suggests the possibility. Except… the more time I spend with Miles, the harder it is to resist his charming smile and glittering green eyes.