Fore!: The Best of Wodehouse on Golf – A Beloved Satirist's Collection to Delight Golfers (P.G. Wodehouse Collection)

I do not play golf and do not always understand all the nuances and vocabulary, having never heard of a niblick or mashie (I looked them up, however). But these stories are very entertaining and humorous, laugh-out-loud funny, and one could nearly imagine them as being true rather than from the author's imagination. A thoroughly delightful read.

If you wanted to read all of Wodehouse's golf stories at once, you'd want the Golf Omnibus. If you'd rather not lug around a phone book-sized volume, however, you may prefer this moveable feast of a dozen prime Plum stories (a baker's dozen if you count the preface by D.R. Benson), the best of Wodehouse on the links. Unlike the pocket paperbacks of some Wodehouse editions, with print so small you nearly need a magnifying lens, this oversized "quality" paperback nearly qualifies as a "large print edition." So it's really the best of both worlds, requiring neither a microscope nor a forklift for enjoyment. Reading Plum on golf, however, is like playing a familiar course; the same stories are scattered throughout various editions. All of these stories have appeared elsewhere. Fore! opens with a very funny story that is quite unlike most of his golf tales, "The Coming of Gowf," which originally appeared in Golf Without Tears (1924), as did four other stories. That's the American title of a book that appeared in Britain as The Clicking of Cuthbert (1922). Five stories appeared in the American collection, Divots (1927), published in England as The Heart of a Goof (1926). The final tales are from Nothing Serious (1950/1951), published in both British and American editions. For golfers with a literary bent, here's the best imaginable introduction to P.G. Wodehouse, and old Wodehouse fans will be happy to walk around the course again.

while not as good as 'golf without tears', still a humourous view of the history of golf. good book from goos source.

Wodehouse golf stories are so cleverly crafted and amusingly written that anyone with an interest in the game should at least keep a copy in the bathroom for entertainment. I have given this and other Wodehouse golf collections to at least a half dozen people as gifts, and they have been universally appreciated. By the way, I was introduced to Wodehouse by an 80 year-old woman - a former teacher at a small college who loved tennis and Pavarotti and had never played golf.

Time can’t touch the writings of P.G. Wodehouse. Every book and story is hilarious! Thank goodness he was such a prolific writer!

Each story was humorous and well written. However, nearly evcery chapter's plot used the same template. Oldest guy in a golf club tells a story to someone who tries to escape his monologues. The story is about a tentative romance between a man and woman at least one of whom is a golfer. Golfing is woven into their fate. After a while this sameness becomes tedious, and one needs a break.

If you lived during and after Wodehouse's writing career, you are fortunate, indeed. Or, at least the potential for good fortune was there for you. For maximum beneficial effect, you must read his works. After the hard day's work is done, whether at school, factory, or office, everyone deserves a dose of PGW. However, use in moderation. Excess mirth, as might result from too much PGW in a short time interval, can put one right into a psychiatric institution. PGW's writings far surpass ANYTHING produced by today's crop of comedic practitioners. Any of the latter would need a map of the galaxy to come even close to the wit and charm of that gentle Englishman. Any book with words placed in the order prescribed by PGW is, by definition, an excellent book. Buy all such books, put them in a safe place; they are worth their weight in gold.

A must read for any golfer...

Very good

ウッドハウスはジーブズシリーズを読んでいましたが、ゴルフに関する作品も多いことを知り日本語訳されたものを探しましたが見つからず。仕方ないので原文を購入、これから時間をかけて読むところです。ウッドハウス作品なので読む前から5starsです

Not good value for money as book was cheaply printed and bound.

this is a great collection. However I have already read all the stories, except one. Wodhouse's stories are all very entertaining and this collection is no exception.

This isn't simply a collection of humorous stories about golf, it's more a parody of how Old Members of golf clubs behave. If they can grab your ear, they always have an interminable anecdote usually about people you neither know nor much about. After a while, like most club members, you're more eager to avoid the OM than engage in conversation.