The Rub of the Green

by William Hallberg

Hailed by bestselling author Walker Percy as "brilliant and highly original," this funny, touching, and very moving novel by the author of The Soul of Golf chronicles one man's glorious victories and bitter defeats in the most challenging sport of life.

The son of a devoutly golf-hating dad, Ted Kendall comes to embrace the sport as a way to soothe his grief after his mother's death. Then his knack with a club lands him a scholarship to Ohio State--and soon he's driving and putting his way through the electrifying and glamorous world of the PGA tour.

The grass is greener and life is good until a love triangle on the links goes bad, and Ted trades his bag of irons for the iron bars of a jail in the deeper than Deep South. With two years to kill alongside a motley crew of fellow misfit inmates, Ted turns once more to the gospel of golf--and finds his own odd brand of salvation.

Genres: Fiction, Sports

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting and then bought copies for many of my friends.

[Clint Mills]

An enjoyable read

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books with an almost charming surreality. The chapters flip flop between the past and present tense of Ted Kendall, a young man trying to make it on the professional golf circuit, until he wound up in prison for assault. His past tense story explains his relationship to golf, and to Trayn (the man he assaulted), and Janice (Trayn's wife whom Ted loves), building up over years until the crisis which landed him in prison. The prison story is about his relationships with 3 of the inmates that develop when they are assigned to recover the prison golf course (2 holes) from kudzu and other ruin. In its moments of brilliance, the book is almost reminiscent of John Kennedy O'Toole. I don't know golf, but I'm sure those who do love its sensuous descriptions of the right feel of a club in the hands, of the excitement and challenge of a nefariously designed golf course, and the tension in the golfer's love for such an unforgiving game.

[Michael P. Fertig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book so many years ago, I can barely remember what it's about, but what I do remember is finishing it and being so angry that I had to stop reading it. Not because it didn't end well, it did. But because I enjoyed it so much I was upset at not having anything to enjoy. I need to pick that back up and read it again. I may hate it this time around.