Product Description

The funniest and most popular sportswriter in America abandons his desk at Sports Illustrated to caddy for some of the world’s most famous golfers, and some celebrity duffers, recounting it all in this hilarious and revealing look at the world of golf.

Who knows a golfer best? Who’s with them every minute of every round, hears their muttering, knows whether they cheat? Their caddies, of course. So sportswriter Rick Reilly figured that he could learn a lot about the players and their games by caddying, even though he had absolutely no idea how to do it. Amazingly, some of the best golfers in the world—including Jack Nicklaus, David Duval, Tom Lehman, John Daly, Casey
Martin, and Jill McGill—agreed to let Reilly carry their bags at actual PGA and LPGA Tour events. To round out his portrait of the golfing life, Reilly also caddied at the Masters, persuaded Deepak Chopra and Donald Trump to use him as a caddy, accompanied high-rolling golf hustlers in Las Vegas around the course, and carried the bag for a blind golfer.

In Who’s Your Caddy?, Reilly chronicles his experiences in the same inimitable style that makes his back-page column for Sports Illustrated a must-read for more than twenty million people every week. From his laugh-out-loud portrait of Deepak Chopra decomposing on the green, to his portraits of good ol’ boys who bet $100,000 a round, to his hilarious descriptions of his own ineptitude as a caddy, to his insights into what
makes the greats of golf so great, Reilly combines a wicked wit with an expert’s eye in a most original and entertaining look at golf.

Who’s Your Caddy? is the next best thing to a great round of golf. It is sure to delight low-handicappers, high-handicappers, and everyone in between.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76259 in Books
• Brand: Booklegger
• Published on: 2004-05-04
• Released on: 2004-05-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .74" h x 5.25" w x 8.00" l, .41 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 261 pages

Features

• General Interest
• Paper Back

Amazon.com Review
To really know someone, as the saying goes, you must walk a mile in their shoes. But to really understand a golfer, you've got to work as their caddy. Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly managed to get some very intriguing golfers to let him lug their bag and write what he learned both about the game and the folks who play it. Going hole to hole with them let Reilly know a different side of veterans such as John Daly, David Duval, Tom Lehman, and Jack Nicklaus. But Reilly also went beyond the pros to caddy for Deepak Chopra, Donald Trump, professional gambler Dewey Tomko, and Bob Newhart. In some cases, the portraits that emerge fall directly in line with the popular image but at other times it's just the opposite. Daly is sober but has shifted his addiction to massive amounts of Diet Coke, candy, and marriages; Duval is intensely driven during rounds but surprisingly laid back and friendly off the course; Chopra's inner peace is locked in a mortal battle with the inherent frustrations of golf; and Trump manages to be both an egomaniac and a pretty nice fellow. And although he's on assignment to profile his temporary employers, Reilly emerges as an entertaining figure in his own right as he commits numerous faux pas, breaks taboos, infuriates multiple golfers and caddies, accidentally dumps all of Nicklaus's clubs onto the turf in the middle of a round, and discovers that caddying is tougher than it looks. Reilly walks a nice line with the tone of Who's Your Caddy?: it's reverent to the game without becoming a misty-eyed poetic ode, and it's laugh-out-loud funny without being nasty or low brow. And while golf fans will certainly appreciate it, Who's Your Caddy? is an impressive book for fans of biography in general. --John Moe

From Publishers Weekly
Hilarious misadventures, catty gossip and downright embarrassing facts are only part of the appeal of this deftly written journal by Sports Illustrated writer Reilly (Missing Links). Caddying for a golf pro just might be every amateur golfer's dream. Reilly managed to talk 11 players, media personalities and one infamous gambler into letting him follow them inside the ropes, even though he had no experience as a caddy and showed that fact so many times that John Daly nicknamed him "Dumbshit." Consider spilling Jack Nicklaus's clubs out onto the wet ground, just as he asks you for a new ball. Or leaving David Duval's golf clubs in the locker room overnight (the ones he won the British Open with) and not being able to find them the next morning. Self-help guru Deepak Chopra recently took up the game and proved that although he may be able to control the aging process, hitting driver is beyond his mystical powers. Reilly gets serious while carrying Casey Martin's bag, the pro golfer who sued the PGA Tour for the right to ride a golf cart during tournaments (Martin suffers from a rare leg disorder that makes every step excruciatingly painful). Billionaire Donald Trump, comedian Bob Newhart, beautiful LPGA pro Jill McGill, Tom Lehman (there's a "Jimmy Stewart decency about him"), legendary gambler Dewey Tomko and blind golfer Bob Andrews round out the field and provide Reilly ample inspiration for a truly funny, don't-miss read.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Sports Illustrated columnist Reilly takes a page out of George Plimpton's book by going inside the ropes on the PGA Tour--not as a player, as Plimpton did briefly in the '60s (The Bogey Man), but as a caddy for some of golf's biggest names (Nicklaus, Duval, and Daly). Most of Reilly's "loops" (golf lingo for caddying) took place during practice rounds or Pro-Ams, but he did hoist the bags of Tom Lehman during an early round of an official tournament and of Tommy Aaron during the Masters. The result is both insightful and funny (Reilly made every mistake a caddy can make, from dropping clubs to instilling negative thoughts in his player's tender psyche). Along the way, Reilly gives golf fans a revealing look at the human side of tour players--not just their odd acts of kindness but, in the case of John Daly, a glimpse of what Reilly calls Long John's supersized penis! Reilly also looped for a few celebrities, including guru Deepak Chopra, whose on-course deportment is not nearly as tranquil as his image would suggest. Golf fans won't want to miss this one. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Very Funny Book!
I found this book to be a quick read (took me a weekend to read 250+ pages) and very enjoyable. I give it four stars on account of the people that Reilly interviewed while he walked the loop with them. My personal favorite was just how much of a redneck John Daly was. I cannot begin to explain some of this man's humor in life unless you read this book. After reading this book, you also realize just how nice Tom Lehman and Casey Martin are, and just how full of themselves Jack Nickalus and Donald Trump are. I found most the humor to be very good, but it just lacked the hook to really pull me in. There were some good moments though, including Reilly's constant problems with the golf bag and how easily he pisses golfers off. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick laugh and one who wants to get an insight on walking with some of the pros on the PGA, but I also found that this book wouldn't win the "Most Humorous Book of the Year" award. A good read for most, especially fans of SI and Reilly's work.

Better Than the Back Page of Sports Illustrated
First, a disclaimer. I think Rick Reilly is one of the most creative and entertaining sportswriters out there. I thought it before picking up this book, and my impression has been confirmed.

I've read interviews about dozens of "golfers." Reilly's genius is his ability to turn those "golfers" into "people." In these short vignettes, Reilly not only gives you some insight into what makes people like John Daly and David Duval tick, but he does it an entertaining, mapcap manner.

There are sometimes when Reilly gets a bit over the top, such as when he uses expression like "eat hot titanium," but I can overlook these exaggerations when they serve to move the stories along. I know that I'll pick this book up time and again for light, fun reading.

Hilarious look at golf that even non-golfers will love
C. What do Donald Trump, Jack Nicklaus, Deepak Chopra, and Bob
Newhart have in common? They've all utilized the caddying services
of Rick Reilly, a senior writer for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and author
of the hilarious WHO'S YOUR CADDY?

Reilly set out to find out about what makes golfers tick . . . to do
so, he offered to caddy for them for free . . . although Tiger Woods
turned down his offer (repeatedly), some of the best pros in the world agreed to let him carry their bags--including David Duval,
Tom Lehman and John Daly . . . others did as well, and all their
tales are covered in this book that is a MUST for any golfer
to read.

And even though I haven't played the game since I was a teenager,
I loved this book and would recommend it to non-golfers as
well . . . it is funny, in many spots, but also quite moving when
describing the uphill battle faced by Casey Martin when he had
to get the Supreme Court to rule that he should be allowed to
play with a cart.

I was also touched by the story of Bob Martin, one of the top
blind golfers in the world.

There were several memorable passages; among them:
* The bag was simple and blue, with no sponsor on it, and heavier than
Meatloaf. What's this guy got in there, anvils? I remembered the time
British golf writer Bill Elliot spent a day caddying for Faldo for a story.
Elliott struggled under its weight all day, until he discovered, afterward,
that Faldo had snuck a brick and three dozen extra balls into the bottom
of the bag for a laugh. There is nobody that will crack you up like
that madcap Nick Faldo.

* A local TV crew comes up to us on the second fairway. The reporter
asks, "What's the secret to hitting it so far?"

"Well," says [John] Daly, "you gotta have a lot of ex-wives. I just think of
them and hit it."

* The truth was, I'm sure it's not easy playing with somebody grilling
you between every shot. "Nah," he [Jack Nicklaus] said. "Remember,
I played with Trevino. In fact, one time, we met on the first tee and
I said, 'Lee, I don't want to talk today.' And Lee said, 'You don't have to talk,
Jack. You only have to listen.' "