Summer at Tangents - Golf Novel Review

Those who like a good read when relaxing off the course should check out Summer at Tangents, the latest novel by well known golf writer Roderick Easdale.

Easdale weaves a tale involving duplicity, kindness, confusion, generosity and friendship in this wryly affectionate tale of golf club life. A sports journalist and a present or past member of six golf clubs, Easdale is not shy of poking some gentle fun at a world he clearly knows well, but he also depicts the good about such institutions. The final chapter, especially, is a touching tribute to the role golf clubs can play in their wider society and in individual’s lives. Summer at Tangents is a brilliant comic novel but also, ultimately, a feel-good story.

The novel is set in Tangents, where the struggling club and a church threatened with closure sums up the village’s slow decline.

When the church is threatened with closure, golf club committeeman Willoughby Cornwallis sets out to save it. 

There follows some amusing exchanges that will resonate with many who are involved in golf club politics.

Willoughby exploits the fact that his golf club is bedevilled by a plethora of committees, chaired by people ill-equipped for their roles.

"A few years ago there were plans to prune the number of committees here," cut in the vicar before his good friend could list any more groups.

"What happened?"

"Oh, they formed a committee to look into the matter."

The novel is a vivid, affectionate character-driven satire on golf clubs and their community, written by an insider. Full of ancedotes that will sound very familiar to golfers across the UK, it certainly has a place in any golfer’s library.

Summer at Tangents is published by Brindle Books and you can buy it today from Amazon.