The Caddie Who Played with Hickory
Book Review

The golf novel has taken many forms over the years, but finally it has fallen into a comfortable niche of a genre thanks to John Coyne, author of The Caddie Who Played With Hickory.

The story follows an 18-year-old caddy during his final summer at his country club.  The summer of 1946 is packed with excitement with the arrival of a strange new caddy hot from the Second World War and with the anticipation of Water Hagen’s visit to the club in August.

The most interesting part of this novel is the description of hickory clubs and how to play them.  A lost art, hickory clubs began to disappear around the 1920s as they were replaced with the easier manufactured steel-shafted clubs.  While slow to fall into a groove during the first half of the book, once Coyne gets going on the much-anticipated 18-hole match play round and is able to describe the difficulties and nuances of hickory clubs, the book picks up.

While trying to be a coming-of-age story, a discussion of the social classes of the time, and a love story all at once, this novel is really only one thing – an exciting golf book.  It’s worth the read for that if nothing else.