Four Iron In The Soul by Lawrence DoneganMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Top class book about the real life of a journeyman European tour pro, Ross Drummond, and his caddie-for-the-season Lawrence Donegan. The book rightly made both a little more famous (quite a lot in Donegan's case, it effectively launched his career). Drummond is a decent golfer bit not quite good enough to make it, although Donegan's account is coincidentally of Drummond's best season. Donegan – a Guardian columnist – wants to portray Drummond as a Don Quixote figure, tilting at impossible windmills while he Donegan wants to be his Pancho, his practical assistant. It doesn't quite work out like that.
What emerges is a picture of real hidden poverty alongside obscene wealth; caddies who rarely find decent places to sleep at night, who fight to get on of seven places in a minibus from Spain to Germany or whatever. It's a poignant read, it's enlightening, it's funny, and above all it's brilliantly written.
No golfer should ever be allowed to turn pro without having to read this book, then being obliged to answer questions based on it.
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