Golf Sports Fiction

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.

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.

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.

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.

It was supposed to be a night of fake names, half-truths, and anonymous sex. Keith Burns, star defenseman for the Portland Storm, was just looking for a way to pass the time. Brianna Hayden wanted to find herself after health issues changed everything. Anonymity is the name of their game; the rules were laid down at the outset. A chance encounter brings them back together long after the game should have ended, shattering their initial rules.

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.

Winter left Orchid City six years ago with a broken heart and never once looked back. She put it all in the past and was living the life she always dreamed she'd have. Yet, she was still haunted by those stormy blue eyes. When her parents leave their estate in Winter's name, she has no choice but to return home. And she finds herself face to face with the very person who broke her heart many years ago.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jack “Dagger” Moore is the only golfer to ever make 18 birdies in a round of golf. But after a lackluster career as a professional golfer, 50-year-old Jack is down on his luck. A series of remarkable events reunites Jack with his childhood golf coach, Billy Coker, whose timeless wisdom reinvigorates Jack’s game. Then, Billy convinces Jack to take one last shot at glory and enter the US Open.

Seven years ago, my soulmate got married—to someone else. Fraser Farmer broke me, made me incapable of loving again. Seven years later, he's back, whispering, "I love you." He's gorgeous, magnetic, successful, and an athlete at the peak of his game. But behind his picture-perfect life and family lies a precarious path of deceit and anguish and a vicious sports agent on the warpath to destroy him. He's a prisoner in his own life, held captive. He still belongs to someone else. Can I help set him free? Can he be the one to uncage and heal my dying heart?

The Golf Mystic is an allegorical presentation of everyday life through golf perspectives. It is a story, an instruction audiobook, and an inspirational philosophy for golf and life. Written in conversational style, it is the story of a wayward golf pro (Geoff) who realizes he is failing in the most important parts of his life. His golf career is in disarray and his fiancée, Claire, has recently left him. Geoff is about ready to give up on the game when he encounters an obscure iconoclastic golfer and teacher in the person of Joe Burlington.

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.

Blessed with good looks and elite talent, Lincoln Ross is destined for greatness. He has all the tools to be the next Tiger but just can't get out of his own way. The lure of a beautiful girl and the taste of a cold drink is often too much temptation for the young man.

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.