Caddie tale proves an ace
by Tim Cronin
Staff writer

The difficult task of mixing fact and fiction in a novel often results in a contrived tale from start to finish. Author John Coyne’s effort in “The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan” comes off far better.

His tale, that of a young caddie who carries Ben Hogan’s bag one day at the unnamed but obvious Midlothian Country Club — where Coyne, having grown up on a farm across the street, caddied and served as caddie master in his youth — but then ends up on the bag of the assistant pro in the 1946 Chicago Open at the club, rings true, even though every bit of it is made up.

The tales of Hogan are accurate, it should be said. Coyne has done his research well, and clearly remembers with fondness Midlothian, where the real Chicago Open there (in 1948) was won by Bobby Locke by 16 strokes. There’s even a mention of St. Christopher’s, the Catholic church in the center of town.

In picking the subject for his eighth novel, Coyne was confronted with two tasks: creating a compelling narrative and getting the golf correct. He succeeds in both departments. Hogan, front and center in the story at first, recedes to the background as the plot thickens, and by the finish is more a symbol than anything else. But Hogan’s golf, as compared to the fictional assistant pro Matt Richardson, had to be remembered precisely for that portion of the story to work.

Coyne did that, and thus, the reader is drawn into the fanciful notion that Hogan, driving from tournament to tournament with wife, Valerie, turned into Midlothian’s driveway one Monday afternoon for an impromptu practice round, with the top caddie at the club, Jack Handley, happening to be lolling about as the Hawk’s car pulls in. The twists and turns of Handley’s experience, and of Richardson’s considerable interest in the daughter of the club president, go from there, for 271 lively pages.

“The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan,” published by Thomas Dunne Books, has a publication date of May 8 and a list price of $23.95, but can probably be found sooner and less expensively, both at bookstores and online.

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