On the eve of the Ryder Cup, the emerging chaos of which I’ve just flown out of in Chicago, I’d like to recommend some between-match reading – The Golf Omnibus, by P.G. Wodehouse (pronounced woodhouse). Wodehouse was an uncommon talent in creating hysterical stories between a score of brilliantly conceived recurring characters, all set within – as my father described it – a late Victorian era that never really existed. Crumbling manors kept standing by the iron will of stately, if not somewhat dusty, elephantine dowagers, trembling servants, and scheming match-makers roam the pages from Wodehouse’s fertile, comic brain. The epitome of his creations are, of course, Bertie Wooster and his man-servant Jeeves, headliners in a series of books as well as the acclaimed PBS series featuring Stephen Fry as Jeeves, the gentleman’s gentleman, and Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster (and, yes, more recently as House, M.D.).
However, for quick and clever belly laughs, Wodehouse’s golf stories are unequaled. Often set in the fictitious golf club at Wood Hills, under the watchful eye and wagging tongue of the Oldest Member, the witless are hooked, romances get shanked, and outrageous plots are driven straight into the rough. A fading, Victorian sense of propriety governs the proceedings, making the unlikely story lines even more uproarious. The shining example of Wodehouse’s brilliance on the links is The Clicking of Cuthbert, essential reading for anyone that has harbored illusions of golf greatness, or suffered the crime of unrequited love. Meaning all of us.
All these stories are collected in The Golf Omnibus, a timeless tome that would also make a great stocking stuffer for the aspiring golfer in your life. While you’re at it, order the complete Jeeves videos as well. The Wodehouse estate will thank you.
“I was never much of a golfer. Except for that glorious day at Aiken I was always one of the dregs, the sort of man whose tee shots, designed to go due north, invariably went nor-nor-east or in a westerly direction. But how I loved the game.”
– – P.G. Wodehouse (aged 92), in the preface of The Golf Omnibus
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