A Gentleman's Game

by Tom Coyne

With a soaring, lyrical prose that grips you from the first page and never lets you go, first-time novelist Tom Coyne brings to life an unforgettable story of a young man and the game he loves that is like no other -- A Gentleman's Game. It is the summer of 1985, and on the shaded fairways and immaculate greens of exclusive Fox Chase Country Club in suburban Delaware, Timmy Price is a young man whose mastery of the game of golf inspires awe among the adult membership and envy among his peers. Under the tutelage of the enigmatic guru Foster Pearse, he is beginning to develop a complete game that will soon make him Junior Champion of the state and draw the attention of college recruiters. But when his self-made father forces Timmy to become a caddy at the club to teach him a lesson in humility, he is thrown into the hardscrabble world of the behind-the-scenes workers who make the game possible. The motley crew of loopers who inhabit the caddy hole introduce him to the other side of the game he loves. There is the braggart lothario Position A, who boasts of his sexual conquests of the member's wives; Jeffrey, the heroin-addicted misfit from West Philly; and above all there is Jamie Byrne, the secretive teenager from the wrong side of town who has lost his thumbs in a mysterious accident and quickly becomes Timmy's closest confidant. And when Jamie abruptly stops showing up at the caddy hole, it begins a series of events that will force Timmy to confront the dark secret that hides behind the community of Fox Chase. Lush with beautifully rendered scenes and unforgettable characters, A Gentleman's Game is more than a coming-of-age story. It is a story of fathers and sons, of class and the pressure to succeed in an era of envy, and of the timeless passion for a beguiling and bedeviling game.

Genres: Sports

264 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2001

Reviews

[John Bednarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know this book is 21 years old, but my interests in golf, caddies, country club snobbiness, class differences, public golf courses and the significant dichotomy between the two has always interested me and Tom Coyne’s debut novel is a well written, enjoyable presentation of the obvious class gap between country club golfers and the caddies who carry their bags. He presents the “hole” where the caddies are hidden from view with how far apart these two groups are separated from each other. Timmy, whose is a phenom golfer is relegated there by his country club father to learn some of life’s lessons. Timmy is dropped into the “hole” by his dad and comes out learning how much country clubbers really need to learn about “real” life and how differently the other half has to live, meeting “lifer” caddies and kids from the other side of the “tracks”, all literally living day to day on what they receive as pay and cash tips from the country clubbers, not all of whom are the “stereotypical” snobs people think play golf and dine and drink at their county club.
I have written a manuscript of a similar ilk, and learned much about dialogue, phrasing, and presenting the story from both sides.
Tom Coyne has become an excellent writer and creative writing professor whose debut novel is well worth the read for golfers, caddies, and even those who know nothing about the game of golf. I strongly recommend it to those who enjoy coming of age novels! Read it, and explain to me why this book received so few reviews, as well as why the average score for this book is 3.84!

[Chad Supp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read Tom Coyne's three books, two nonfiction and this one fiction, in reverse order of their publication. An interesting exercise, charting his development as a writer on a reverse timeline. As to be expected, he's sharper and leaner in the third book "A Course Called Ireland" than he is here, but you still get his rhythm and timing in this first one. It's very much a coming of age story, one where the protagonist is experiencing an old blue-blooded, chart-the-bond-holders-back-to-the-Mayflower, country club. He experiences it from the links as a player, and from behind-the-scenes as a caddie. There's a lot of golf here (the protagonist is a prodigy), which you expect with Coyne, and he delivers. There's a lot of other stuff here also, including an emotionally stunted family, a best friend from the wrong side of the tracks, and the varying degree of scandals that percolate through the club. It's the other stuff that isn't quite as sharp, or connected. But I liked it very much, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for good golf-themed fiction.

[Dan Coyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a very pleasant surprise. I’ve read Tom Coyne’s other books (A Course Called Ireland/Scotland/America) and I LOVED those. I also loved “a gentleman‘s game” but for entirely different reasons.
Without revealing any spoilers, this book takes a look at Golf and life from a very different perspective. This is a gritty book which deals with many realities of life. I would strongly recommend it to anybody who enjoys good fiction based on real, recognizable characters and storylines.
It is no soap opera or “real housewives of Delaware“.
I believe Tom Coyne is a keen observer of the human condition in which he finds himself and he captures & shares it fabulously in this book.

[John Munro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much juvenile swearing to make it worth the effort to finish the book

[Marcia Vaughn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

[Tracy Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read two other books by Tom Coyne and thought they were absolutely great golf reads: A Course Called Ireland, and Paper Tiger. So, I wanted to go back and read his first novel and the one that make him famous.
I have to say it is a distant third behind the other two. Maybe non-golfers will like it more and maybe it is a better literary effort, but I disliked it. It was very cynical and depressing. Perpetuated the perception that all country-club golfers are fat, drunk, loud rich jerks that only belong to the club for the prestige. I suppose this stereotype may have been the norm in the 50's or 60's, but my experience has been that most people that shell out the bucks to belong to a golf club do so because they love to play golf. I didn't find any of that here.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edward made me read this book. It's a good novel (of the soap opera variety) that sounds like a biography. It is a little unsettling to think about the sorrow behind the beautiful scenery of a country club golf course and how a lot of folks don't understand how much they damage their kids along the way.

[Andy Orr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and fun to imagine how it would be made into a movie. I read the IMDB synopsis and was surprised to learn that the plot has some fairly significant differences.

Going to read all of Tom Coyne's books from the first to the third (fourth one is on its way). Have started the second book -- highly recommended for golfers or those attempting something that doesn't quite seem possible.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book about growing up and learning about people through golf.