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Walking with Jack: A Father's Journey to Become His Son's Caddie
A long-standing promise from a father to his five-year-old son . . . A poignant diary that chronicles the journey
When Don Snyder was teaching the game of golf to his young son, Jack, they made a if one day Jack became good enough to play on a pro golf tour, Don would walk beside him as his caddie. Years later, Jack had developed into a standout college golfer, and Don, at the age of fifty-eight, left the comfort of his Maine home and moved to St. Andrews, Scotland, to learn from the best caddies in the world. He worked loops on famed courses like the Old Course and Kingsbarns, fought his way onto the rotation as a full-time caddie, and recorded the fascinating stories of golfers from every station in life. All the while, he lived like a monk and sent his earnings back home.
A world away, Jack endured his own arduous trials, rising through the ranks and battling within the college golf system. At times, the question for the teenage athlete wasn’t how to continue . . . but whether to continue at all. Finally, Don and Jack approached the moment when they would reunite—and not only tackle an extraordinarily high level of golf competition but also confront the challenges of a father-son relationship that had inevitably changed since the days when their journey began.
Walking with Jack is a truly compelling golf story and a one-of-a-kind narrative that makes you appreciate the lengths to which a father will go to support his son.
When Don Snyder was teaching the game of golf to his young son, Jack, they made a if one day Jack became good enough to play on a pro golf tour, Don would walk beside him as his caddie. Years later, Jack had developed into a standout college golfer, and Don, at the age of fifty-eight, left the comfort of his Maine home and moved to St. Andrews, Scotland, to learn from the best caddies in the world. He worked loops on famed courses like the Old Course and Kingsbarns, fought his way onto the rotation as a full-time caddie, and recorded the fascinating stories of golfers from every station in life. All the while, he lived like a monk and sent his earnings back home.
A world away, Jack endured his own arduous trials, rising through the ranks and battling within the college golf system. At times, the question for the teenage athlete wasn’t how to continue . . . but whether to continue at all. Finally, Don and Jack approached the moment when they would reunite—and not only tackle an extraordinarily high level of golf competition but also confront the challenges of a father-son relationship that had inevitably changed since the days when their journey began.
Walking with Jack is a truly compelling golf story and a one-of-a-kind narrative that makes you appreciate the lengths to which a father will go to support his son.
- GenresMemoirSportsNonfiction
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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94 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 22, 2013
A sweet, moving tale of a father's love for his son - and his desire to form a new bond with him.
“There is something sacred and magical that passes between father and son on the golf course, especially if that transmission takes place over time and distance, on good days and those best forgotten. Bringing a son to the poetry of the game–with its growing pains and stubborn values–is a tricky enterprise few fathers manage to accomplish without lasting wounds. Veteran writer Don Snyder and his son Jack make this intimate coming-of-age journey for both father and son one to cherish. Go walking with Jack and his old man and you'll find your own life, and love of the game, immeasurably enriched.”
James Dodson, author of Final Rounds
"Every father hopes he will someday find a way to truly bond with a son. Many of us do it through sports--whether it is playing catch in the backyard, glorying in the successes and wallowing in the failures of a favorite team together or finding a way to compete with one another at some level of a chosen game. Don Snyder found his bond with his son through golf, and he lovingly describes that bond and their relationship and shared love of a sport through Walking with Jack."
John Feinstein, author of A Good Walk Spoiled
"I don't know if you're going to play better golf after reading Walking with Jack—and there's a good chance you will—but I do know that you're going to want to call your son at the end, wherever he may be, just to say hello. Just because you can. You're also going to see more things, think more thoughts, and have a richer experience when you walk those next 18 holes. This is a terrific book, destined for that small shelf of great golf writing."
Leigh Montville, author of Ted Williams and The Big Bam
“There is something sacred and magical that passes between father and son on the golf course, especially if that transmission takes place over time and distance, on good days and those best forgotten. Bringing a son to the poetry of the game–with its growing pains and stubborn values–is a tricky enterprise few fathers manage to accomplish without lasting wounds. Veteran writer Don Snyder and his son Jack make this intimate coming-of-age journey for both father and son one to cherish. Go walking with Jack and his old man and you'll find your own life, and love of the game, immeasurably enriched.”
James Dodson, author of Final Rounds
"Every father hopes he will someday find a way to truly bond with a son. Many of us do it through sports--whether it is playing catch in the backyard, glorying in the successes and wallowing in the failures of a favorite team together or finding a way to compete with one another at some level of a chosen game. Don Snyder found his bond with his son through golf, and he lovingly describes that bond and their relationship and shared love of a sport through Walking with Jack."
John Feinstein, author of A Good Walk Spoiled
"I don't know if you're going to play better golf after reading Walking with Jack—and there's a good chance you will—but I do know that you're going to want to call your son at the end, wherever he may be, just to say hello. Just because you can. You're also going to see more things, think more thoughts, and have a richer experience when you walk those next 18 holes. This is a terrific book, destined for that small shelf of great golf writing."
Leigh Montville, author of Ted Williams and The Big Bam
June 11, 2013
Even for a dedicated golf nut this book is a little over the top. The golf is interesting, the mostly dysfunctional family dynamics not so much. Dad has a lot to say, alot on his mind and doesn't really make it worth our reading while. There are some interesting tales of being a caddie in Scotland but you wonder how in hell can this guy leave his wife and family back home to rough it as a 50 year old toting bags so he will be qualified enough to handle his son's bag if he gets good enough to give it a go in professional golf? Really? Snyder has written several other books, this one just misses the target.
October 3, 2013
Some interesting caddie stories from Scotland, crushed by an over-the-top narcissism that would make Norman Mailer blush.
January 7, 2014
This book is more depressing than my worst round of golf. The writer is skilled but the psychology of what is going on is so dysfunctional it is difficult to endure.
July 29, 2018
- great story about my friend Jack, a fantastic golfer and great friend
October 23, 2014
“Walking with Jack” is a sentimental memoir of a father and son sharing the dream of being in professional golf; father, Don, and son, Jack, walking the lush fairways of celebrated golf courses together; Don lugging the bag and Jack hitting the soaring shots that produce huge checks. There’s more to it than that, of course.
Don is an emotional man with memories of loving children that he always knew would grow up and out of his life. Jack is a golf prodigy who has always excelled. He is determined to play Division 1 golf, get his PGA card, and join the professional tour. Don goes to great lengths to become a caddy and join his son in his quest. Don expects the adventure to allow him to complete his life in close proximity to his son, keeping the childhood ties fresh, and witnessing the making of a boy into a man.
The making of a caddy sees Don in Scotland, at the Old Course and Kingsbarns, in the company of men from 10 to 40 years younger, braving the icy rain and gale-force winds of two winters, walking over 2,000 miles with heavy bags and sore knees, and living a pauper as he struggles to gain the immense amount of knowledge to become a professional caddy.
While Don is laboring, Jack enters college, makes the golf team, gets thrown off the golf team for poor grades, throws his hands up in defeat, and stabs his father in the heart with his failure.
Eventually Jack improves his golf game enough to earn his PGA card, joins a Texas-based pro tour, where Don, now about 60 years old, joins him as his caddy. That’s as much as I’ll tell you.
Don Snyder is an excellent writer, having “struggled,” as he puts it, for years. In some ways his obvious love for his wife and children is tender and touching. In others it tends towards mawkishness with touches of obsessiveness. His excessive philosophizing, a weakness he continually vows to correct, grows tiresome to both Jack and the reader. I had continuous urges to tell him to back off and let Jack handle it.
As a golfer with a son and grandsons who are obsessed with golf, I know much of Don’s frustration. My boys went through hopefulness, then anger, then disappointment, then the resignation that accepts the game as merely a magnificent way to have fun together. This great book captures that insightful journey.
July 2, 2013
I am not a father, nor have I ever played golf. Despite having no obvious connection to "Walking with Jack," I found this book to be engaging (including the passages of meticulously detailed golf shots... reminiscent of Moby Dick's cetology passages), and inspirational. I purchased this book for my husband (who also does not play golf) on Father's Day because I had heard Don Snyder speak compellingly about the special role of sports in brokering the conversations between sons and fathers... and also because the author hails from my home state of Maine. Almost as soon as he unwrapped the book, I stole it and read it straight through. There is something so universal about this tale of chasing a shared dream, and attempting to find the separation in the intricately woven fabric which binds us to our children, that I was completely un-bothered by it being a story for "fathers." In a sense, the philosophical lessons contained in DS's life story as revealed in these beautifully written pages, are for ALL parents. Somehow, DS has found the parental holy grail - joy in sharing the chasing of his child's dreams, and absorbing the pains while remaining refractory to disappointment.
"Lucky that man whose children make his happiness in life and not his grief, the anguished disappointment of his hopes." -Euripedes
"Lucky that man whose children make his happiness in life and not his grief, the anguished disappointment of his hopes." -Euripedes
August 16, 2014
The truth about this book is it was truly from the heart, which kills me to say that I just didn't get it. The relationship between him and his son is unusual, and as a reader it felt pretty clear to me that the Author was borderline forcing his son into playing pro Golf.
This man leaves his wife and other children to learn to be a caddie half way across the world 'Just in case' his son goes pro. The son busy with University, acting less than enthusiastic about his dads venture. It feels so clear as an audience that Don is desperate for his son to life Dons dream, and not one that is unique and crafted by his own desires.
The whole situation was a bizarre to me, but aside from my close mindedness the stories as slow moving and much more exciting I am sure to the Author then the reader...Which it shouldn't be..The author not only failed to connect but he also failed to relate to the audience. Not knowing much about golf I had hoped to be engaged in a Father-Son love story but I didn't get that. Don was so self absorbed, I think that he mistook the book he was writing for a mirror...or a love song writtin for himself.
This man leaves his wife and other children to learn to be a caddie half way across the world 'Just in case' his son goes pro. The son busy with University, acting less than enthusiastic about his dads venture. It feels so clear as an audience that Don is desperate for his son to life Dons dream, and not one that is unique and crafted by his own desires.
The whole situation was a bizarre to me, but aside from my close mindedness the stories as slow moving and much more exciting I am sure to the Author then the reader...Which it shouldn't be..The author not only failed to connect but he also failed to relate to the audience. Not knowing much about golf I had hoped to be engaged in a Father-Son love story but I didn't get that. Don was so self absorbed, I think that he mistook the book he was writing for a mirror...or a love song writtin for himself.
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December 22, 2025I have thought for many years that pur lives come down to a collection of moments. After all our planning and trying, there are only a handful of moments that really matter. Some of these moments tell us what we might have been, others what we might still become.
Lying in bed, wating for Jack to return, I recalled the nightly "knee football" games we used to play before his bedtime when he was little. He was still wearing the pajamas with feet, and I could almost hear the little scuffing sound they made on the floors. If you get that in your life-a little boy in your arms laughing as you tackle him to the floor, and then begging you to do it again, and then pleading with you to lie beside him in his bed until he falls asleep-you don’t have the right to ask for anything more. Even if you end up alone in the end, you've lived. You've really lived in this world, and you have no right to ask for more.
**journal conversations, they will mean everything
**where do I want to grow old, doing what, with who?
I closed my eyes for a moment, and before I opened them, I heard an ambulance racing by on the freeway. I turned and watched the flashing lights. The real world. Someone's life being ripped apart. I walked on, but when I was climbing the stairs to the second floor, my mind was going all the way back to the days Collen was pregnant with our first child. It struck me that when we start out and are waiting for our children to be born, all we ask is please, God, just give us a healthy baby, with all the parts in working order. And then later, when they begin to grow up and start to leave the house, we just prey the siren in the dead of night will not be for us. But then, as the years pass, we raise the ante. We start asking our children to work hard, to get into colleges, and to make their lives amount to something in the end, the only only thing that will matter is that we treated our time together as a gift.
"What was the best thing when you look back over your whole life"
I didn't have to think about my answer. "Babies" I said. "Without a doubt. Having babies and little children around. You don’t want to miss out on that."
"Babies are expensive," he said.
"No They're not. Don’t be afraid of that. Have as many babies as you can. Babies press right up against the miracle of this world. You look right in their eyes and you see-everything is possible."
Lying in bed, wating for Jack to return, I recalled the nightly "knee football" games we used to play before his bedtime when he was little. He was still wearing the pajamas with feet, and I could almost hear the little scuffing sound they made on the floors. If you get that in your life-a little boy in your arms laughing as you tackle him to the floor, and then begging you to do it again, and then pleading with you to lie beside him in his bed until he falls asleep-you don’t have the right to ask for anything more. Even if you end up alone in the end, you've lived. You've really lived in this world, and you have no right to ask for more.
**journal conversations, they will mean everything
**where do I want to grow old, doing what, with who?
I closed my eyes for a moment, and before I opened them, I heard an ambulance racing by on the freeway. I turned and watched the flashing lights. The real world. Someone's life being ripped apart. I walked on, but when I was climbing the stairs to the second floor, my mind was going all the way back to the days Collen was pregnant with our first child. It struck me that when we start out and are waiting for our children to be born, all we ask is please, God, just give us a healthy baby, with all the parts in working order. And then later, when they begin to grow up and start to leave the house, we just prey the siren in the dead of night will not be for us. But then, as the years pass, we raise the ante. We start asking our children to work hard, to get into colleges, and to make their lives amount to something in the end, the only only thing that will matter is that we treated our time together as a gift.
"What was the best thing when you look back over your whole life"
I didn't have to think about my answer. "Babies" I said. "Without a doubt. Having babies and little children around. You don’t want to miss out on that."
"Babies are expensive," he said.
"No They're not. Don’t be afraid of that. Have as many babies as you can. Babies press right up against the miracle of this world. You look right in their eyes and you see-everything is possible."
June 2, 2021
Non-fiction - Don Snyder is a writer. His son is a talented golfer with hopes of playing on an American college team and then becoming a golf pro. Snyder promises his son he will be his caddie when this happens. Dad goes over to Scotland for six months to learn how to be a caddie in the birthplace of place. Some people might get bored by the descriptions of each tournament hole but I enjoyed it. It is a stark reminder of the incredibly fine line between being on the tour and working for Sherwin-Williams. It is a touching story of a man's love for his son and their mutual love of golf.
No pharmacy references
Canadian references - author uses a Blackberry; family vacations in New Brunswick and plays the Algonquin course.
No pharmacy references
Canadian references - author uses a Blackberry; family vacations in New Brunswick and plays the Algonquin course.
August 10, 2020
Fore..!!!
I come from a family of golfers and so I can really appreciate it. However, I also chose it for the father and son relationship. It was a beautiful story of a father trying to keep and build his relationship with his adult son . He has to learn to accept what his son wants for his life; not what he wants for his son's life.
I come from a family of golfers and so I can really appreciate it. However, I also chose it for the father and son relationship. It was a beautiful story of a father trying to keep and build his relationship with his adult son . He has to learn to accept what his son wants for his life; not what he wants for his son's life.
July 9, 2025
As a father of a young a young man who will soon be headed to college, this book was pretty moving. An added bonus was that I had no idea when I chose the book that I actually knew Jack when he was a student at Scarborough High School!! He was a larger than life character and it was so fun to read about his journey with his dad. Great read about a sport I love!!
May 18, 2013
I loved the way this author wrote - his descriptions of both people and places were vivid and you could easily visualize the events and places he wrote about. I could see the snow he was shoveling. I skimmed much of the book that focused on golf, however, since I'm not a golfer and do not truly understand its great appeal. I received this book directly from Random House.
April 15, 2014
I enjoyed Snyder's description of his time caddying in Scotland, but found the second half of the book painful as I watched a father try to live his dreams through his son through far too many hole-by-hole descriptions of missed shots and putts. If I did not love golf I cannot imagine enjoying this book.
March 15, 2015
Very poignant and moving "journey" for a father chasing his dream, not really knowing his son's dream had evolved. The section of the book where Don travels to Scotland to learn to be a caddie was the most compelling for me. The life lessons in this book are valuable to golfers, non-golfers, parents and their children.
September 5, 2013
Very touching memoir, with a lot of insightful observations on the relationships between sons and fathers. Made me think closely about the relationship that I want to have with my son, both now and in the future.
May 31, 2014
Nice inspiring story of a father wanting to be the caddy for his son when his son plays on the PGA tour. Lost a little steam for me in the second half as the stories the author shares from Scotland as he learns to caddy properly are the best parts of the book.
December 6, 2015
Starts really slowly, but gets legs and is a very nice story. A great inside look into caddying (and golf in Scotland) for a non golfer that enjoys watching the game.
August 28, 2016
This book is a wonderful story and full of description of Scottish golf courses. It is a fun read, but you need to understand golf!
June 3, 2025
Very entertaining read. Have to be a golf fan to read but the story is more than golf. Highly recommend
July 23, 2013
What a great read very moving to hear the dedication of a father to his son!
November 19, 2013
Most EXCELLENT!!!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews