An American Caddie in St. Andrews: Growing Up, Girls and Looping on the Old Course
By: Oliver Horovitz
St Andrews, known around the world as ‘the home of golf’, is legendary, and its history and traditions are deeply embedded in the local community that has kept it going for centuries. The caddies on the Old Course are a font of knowledge and an institution in their own right.
Into this venerable institution steps Oliver Horovitz, a young American Harvard student – and keen golfer – on a gap year at the University of St Andrews. During this year, his most important discovery – by far – is that everyone at St Andrews plays golf – including very cute girls. When term ends, Ollie joins the St Andrews caddie trainee program and spends the summer awaking at 4.30am to line up at the caddie shack, looping two, sometimes three, rounds a day. After months of struggling to gain acceptance from the notoriously gruff, perpetually hungover veteran caddies, he finally earns his full caddie stripes.
Full of life and drama, this is a warm and insightful view of the vibrant characters who inhabit this world, along with all their idiosyncrasies; it is also a tale of growing up and finding one’s place in the world, against the brilliant green backdrop of the Old Course, and will appeal to golfers up and down the UK.
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A charming coming-of-age tale about golf and life – Horovitz is a gifted writer and an engaging storyteller – and he can read putts!
- Huey Lewis -
A must read
- PGA.com -
Anyone who likes golf and St. Andrews will savor this captivating book, but even nongolfers should enjoy Horovitz’s sweet memoir of golfing in the sport’s mecca
- Chicago Tribune -
This poignant, funny memoir by Oliver Horovitz, a Harvard student who finds his calling on the Scottish links, is an intriguing tour of life at the world’s most celebrated course
- Parade -
In this breezy memoir, the younger brother of a Beastie Boy spills insider tales about looping and living in St. Andrews … The characters bitter old caddies, the author’s university pals, and his eighty-three-year-old uncle are lovable. So, too, are Horovitz’s yarns, which feature late-night antics in the Old Toon and a round caddying for Seinfeld creator Larry David
- Golf -
Oliver Horovitz is a writer to watch. Even if you don’t play golf, you will enjoy the Ring Lardner style of Ollie’s An American Caddie in St. Andrews. The book has great characters and a wonderful sense of being a fish out of water
- Michael Douglas -
This is much more than a book about golf. Engaging, witty and wonderfully self-deprecating, Horovitz charts the journey from student life to responsible adulthood in a touching and heartwarming style. He captures the essence of St. Andrews, marrying the disparate worlds of university life with the caddy shack at golf’s most famous course. This story of growing up is told through the insightful observation of a rich range of characters. They get to the heart of what make St Andrews such a special place
- Iain Carter, golf correspondent, BBC 5 Live -
An entertaining and heartwarming story of summers walking the links, it really captures the allure of St Andrews, its characters, and the Old Course … An excellent read
- Ken Brown, five-time Ryder Cup player