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Fore! The Best of Wodehouse on Golf by P. G. Wodehouse
An inspired collection that is sure to delight slicers and drivers and Wodehouse fans of all ages - even those who have never swung a mashie or basked in the ecstasy of a perfect putt.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
113 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
P.G. Wodehouse
1,704 books6,899 followersSir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.
An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.
Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).
An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.
Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 16, 2021
In a recent sale at Freeman's an auction house in Philadelphia, a magnificent collection of P.G. Wodehouse material went under the hammer. His monogrammed pocket watch fetched over $8000.What would the master have thought of such ridiculous collecting mania? I had to go back and re-read the exchange in Fore! between two ex-con rival millionaires, Bradbury and Bott, locked in a death struggle over the finest English butler on Long Island, Blizzard. The quid pro quo for the butler? "The authentic baffy used by Bobby Jones in his first important contest - the Infant's All-In Championship of Atlanta, Georgia, open to those of both sexes not yet having finished teething." Here's the auction link. Even if you're not a Wodehouse nut, you'll enjoy the wonderful covers:
https://www.freemansauction.com/news/...
https://www.freemansauction.com/news/...
May 17, 2008
So you misplaced your favorite mashie, broke your niblick over your knee in frustration over that
last bogey, and the dog chewed up your baffy in the conservatory? Fear not! Even though your membership to St. Andrews may have been lost in the mail, you can still play along on that hallowed ground through the stories in this fabulous collection of the best golf short stories ever written. “Chester Forgets Himself” will lift your spirits and encourage you the next time you follow the Wrecking-Crew on your favorite course; and “The Coming of Gowf”, possibly the most perfect short story about golf, ever, will encourage you to always “slow back and keep your e’e on the ba’!”, whether on the course or in life.
You don’t have to be a golfer (or related to one!) to enjoy this terrific collection.
last bogey, and the dog chewed up your baffy in the conservatory? Fear not! Even though your membership to St. Andrews may have been lost in the mail, you can still play along on that hallowed ground through the stories in this fabulous collection of the best golf short stories ever written. “Chester Forgets Himself” will lift your spirits and encourage you the next time you follow the Wrecking-Crew on your favorite course; and “The Coming of Gowf”, possibly the most perfect short story about golf, ever, will encourage you to always “slow back and keep your e’e on the ba’!”, whether on the course or in life.
You don’t have to be a golfer (or related to one!) to enjoy this terrific collection.
January 26, 2022
Fore! is a collection of dozen golf short stories, curated by D. R. Bensen, and billed as the “Best of Wodehouse on Golf.” If you have already read The Clicking of Cuthbert, The Heart of a Goof and Nothing Serious, you will find nothing new here. Included in this collection are The Coming of Gowf, where the game of golf gets formally introduced to mankind; The Heel of Achilles, where Vincent Jopp learns to play the game in the most matter of fact and hilarious way possible.
Fore! is surely a funny collection of golf stories, albeit, I would hesitate to bill it as Plum’s best work on golf.
Fore! is surely a funny collection of golf stories, albeit, I would hesitate to bill it as Plum’s best work on golf.
June 25, 2020
Wodehouse, P. G. Fore! The Best of Wodehouse on Golf. Mariner, 1999.
Next to Bertie Wooster and his man Jeeves, my favorite Wodehouse character is “the oldest member” featured in the stories here, most of which were written in the 1920s. He is an old codger who used to play golf but now just hangs out at the bar looking out on the ninth green. Like the ancient mariner, he grabs passersby and regales them with advice and tales, whether they want to hear them or not. His stories always involve golf and usually involve golfers with romantic difficulties, which golf either helps them solve or makes them worse. I don’t play golf, but Herbert Warren Wind, the longtime golf columnist for the New Yorker magazine loved him and has written a book about him. If you are as ignorant about the history of golf as I am, you may want to look at Wikipedia’s obsolete golf clubs page—yes, there really is one. You do need to know the difference between a mashie and a niblick. These stories inspired two thoughts: wouldn’t it be fun to see modern golfers playing a links course with 1920s equipment, and did Wodehouse intend the anatomical innuendo in his character’s name?
Next to Bertie Wooster and his man Jeeves, my favorite Wodehouse character is “the oldest member” featured in the stories here, most of which were written in the 1920s. He is an old codger who used to play golf but now just hangs out at the bar looking out on the ninth green. Like the ancient mariner, he grabs passersby and regales them with advice and tales, whether they want to hear them or not. His stories always involve golf and usually involve golfers with romantic difficulties, which golf either helps them solve or makes them worse. I don’t play golf, but Herbert Warren Wind, the longtime golf columnist for the New Yorker magazine loved him and has written a book about him. If you are as ignorant about the history of golf as I am, you may want to look at Wikipedia’s obsolete golf clubs page—yes, there really is one. You do need to know the difference between a mashie and a niblick. These stories inspired two thoughts: wouldn’t it be fun to see modern golfers playing a links course with 1920s equipment, and did Wodehouse intend the anatomical innuendo in his character’s name?
March 14, 2021
As an avid golfer, I appreciated the settings for the series of stories and the old terms and ideas surrounding the game. I was left a bit deflated however by the stories themselves. While they were clever and humorous, they were not as good as some of his other works. A word of caution - for those who rated this book at 5/5, be careful if you should read Joy in the Morning because you will simply die laughing. For me, that was a 5/5 book.
September 2, 2023
Always a pleasure
It's always a pleasure to read a story by P. G. Wodehouse. These stories all have to do with golf. I don't play and know next to nothing about golf, but that didn't spoil my delight.
It's always a pleasure to read a story by P. G. Wodehouse. These stories all have to do with golf. I don't play and know next to nothing about golf, but that didn't spoil my delight.
May 22, 2017
I love Wodehouse's humor and his books. This is so much fun.
Want to read
October 5, 2021My copy is a 1927 hardback with the original name of “Divots”, published by A. L. Burt Company.
November 6, 2022
An absolute delight. It's like Bertie and Jeeves hit the links, filled with those Wodehousian turns of phrase that induce the life-affirming chuckle.
March 6, 2023
These were dumb stories. Maybe if I was a golfer …
September 12, 2023
I love his work. It brings you back to a time when manners mattered. And the endings are never cynical. And if you are a golfer these stories make even more sense.
September 12, 2023
Very humorous especially if you like golf
February 6, 2024
Laugh-out-loud stories. Love P G Wodehouse!
March 10, 2024
4.5 stars. Some knee slapping tales on the links courtesy of the oldest member and his surprisingly spiffy memory
March 11, 2025
always great
Time can’t touch the writings of P.G. Wodehouse. Every book and story is hilarious! Thank goodness he was such a prolific writer!
Time can’t touch the writings of P.G. Wodehouse. Every book and story is hilarious! Thank goodness he was such a prolific writer!
July 9, 2025
Hilarious! Wodehouse never disappoints!
February 3, 2024
Some of these stories are humorous but overall it feels pretty pretentious.
May 15, 2008
Wodehouse at his best!!
May 27, 2008
This book got me fascinated in Golf -- and further peaked my interest in Wodehouse. I would love to own this book, for there are times I really find myself missing the Oldest Member...
July 23, 2009
Last story was by far the best. Lovesick men and the wise old clubhouse dweller.
Read
April 23, 2012Classic Wodehouse. His golf stories are written with just a little mire passion than the rest I believe.
June 20, 2013
Some of Wodehouse's best stories on golf. One of my absolute favorites!
October 10, 2015
What can one say? It's P.G. Wodehouse, arguably the best humor/satire writer of the last 100 years.
November 1, 2015
Keenly-observed and marvellous..
November 21, 2015
Great compilation of stories. Wodehouse never gets old!
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews