Shanks for Nothing

By: Rick Reilly

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins

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)

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.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Not bad

Not as good as first book. The narration is good but again the first book was just better. He could capture that Boston voice. All and all a good follow up to one of the greatest books ever.

Chestnut Hills GC in Ravenna Oh.

So much like the golf course in this book. Couldn't imagine that this sequel could be as good as his first but was. Great golf book. I wouldn't recommend it to any non-golfers - but then I don't know any.

I love this book!

Long time part time golfer here and I absolutely loved this book. I don't know how it has avoided me all these years. I laughed so hard at times and listened to to it straight through in one shot. If you love golf and better if you hack around like most golfers do you will have so much fun. Let's make the move.

Great book. Make sure to read/listen to missing links first.

Very good book especially if you like golf and comedy is so you will like it

as good, if not better than Missing Links

very funny story. hearing all the voices brings a whole new dimension to the story. very well done.

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.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Laugh out loud funny!

What made the experience of listening to Shanks for Nothing the most enjoyable?

This is a sports book that transcends sports. It builds on relationships and uses Reilly's great point of view to get the poit accross.

I wish I could join Ponky.

IF you are an obsessive golfer this book is right up your fairway. The characters in Ponky are just what you would want in your local club. If you have a sense of humor you cannot but enjoy this book.

Hysterical

If you're a golfer at all and have a sense of humor, this book's perfect. I loved every second of it. The guy-talk is great, and the narrator is absolutely perfect. Each of his different voices makes me laugh every time.