P.G. Wodehouse · 1926
The Heart of a Goof
Wodehouse’s second collection of golf stories, published in Britain in 1926 and in the United States the following year as Divots. Our text is the American edition.
The Oldest Member returns to buttonhole a fresh generation of young golfers, this time with nine stories of love and humiliation on the links. The title story explains what a “goof” is: a golfer who has allowed the game to eat into their soul. Later stories follow Jane Packard, William Bates and the insufferable poet Rodney Spelvin through a three-sided romance played out over several years and several hundred holes.
Don’t miss the preface, in which Wodehouse answers critics of his first golf book, or the last line of the book, which is as good an ending as any collection of stories has ever had.
This text is in the public domain in the United States and is reproduced as first published. It reflects the language and attitudes of its time.
Contents
Essays on this book
- The LibraryThe first tee is a promise of a better day.A century on, P.G. Wodehouse’s golf stories still read like dispatches from your own clubhouse — and they begin with a young man trying to give his clubs away.
- The LibraryA Golfer’s BookshelfFive classic golf books, free to read in full in the GolfProse Library — and where to begin with each.
- The Good LifeThe Magic of Plus FoursCan a pair of trousers make you a better golfer? P.G. Wodehouse thought it worth a story, and the question has never quite gone away. On dressing for the game.
- The LibraryRodney Spelvin and the Perils of PoetryAcross three stories in The Heart of a Goof, Wodehouse’s most insufferable poet pursues Jane Packard, torments William Bates, and runs into the one force more powerful than verse.
- The Good LifeIn Praise of the CaddieSilent counsellor, blunt critic, keeper of the club’s best stories. Harry Vardon had firm views on what makes a good caddie, and most of them still hold.