The Pro

This was my first outing with a Mike Shropshire book and while I don't think he rises to the Dan Jenkins catagory, this is a pretty funny and satirical look at the world of professional golf and more specifically the Senior Tour, or as someone dubbed it, Life's Greatest Mulligan.Del Bonnet is a club pro at one of the dingier country clubs in this great country. He had once been to The Show. But, after an automobile accident with a woman who was busy distracting him from the perils of the road he was laughed off the PGA Tour (he was arrested during the golf tournament on national TV) and relegated to the backwaters of golf, teaching the rest of us how to stop slicing the ball and how to get out of sand traps.However, there is a convergence of events that sets out to change his life. He turns 50 and a sales rep leaves a prototype driver for him to try out. It is labeled The Enola Gay. Bonnet gives the Enola Gay a secret workout and is astounded with the results. He confides his interest in the Senior Tour to his greenskeeper, Doublewide McBride and before you can say Dorothy Ridge, he volunteers to be Bonnet's caddie. After an experimental foray into a local Senior event, the Enola Gay performs like a champion, Bonnet supplies the rest and a plan is hatched to go to Q School and then on to the Senior Tour. Only one problem stands in his way. How to finance such a venture. That's where Dorothy Ridge comes in. A former Rockette, Dorothy was at one time the trophy wife of an captain of industry.By the time she has turned 70 the old gent is witless and foolish and Dorothy has been put in charge of his fortune. Bonnet approaches her with "an investment oppotunity", i.e. financing him for a year on the Senior Tour. During the investment discussion, a couple of bottles of wine (Pommard '61) are consumed and Bonnett discovers that Dottie still has a dancer's body and the sex drive of every guy's wet dreams. Dottie agrees to sign on if Del can survive Q School. She also comes up with a new name for the mystery driver. Big Luther. The subject arose when something else of Del's rose during the "interview."From there the book takes off on a satrical trip through the Senior Tour. Team Del (Del, Doublewide and Luther) are on the trip of their lives, but others are plotting to derail his career and Big Luther. It's very entertaining, but better told in the reading of it than being spelled out here.

after hearing me laugh out loud numerous times. This book is funny,funny.funny. If you think Dan Jenkins is good, just wait till you read this. The language is colorful, but thats what makes the characters work. I can't believe that this is Mike Shropshire's first fiction book-I hope he writes a lot more. You will like Del Bonnet so much, you'll be sorry the story ends. Who knows-maybe Mike will do a sequel about the 2nd year on the Senior tour,and I can laugh some more.

This is a fantastic, one-of-a-kind, super funny, golf tome of the first order. The dialogue is superb, the plot moves without hesitation, and there are twists at every dogleg. I kept waiting for the book to drag but it only got better with each page. I wish I could think of enough superlatives to describe what a fun read this was. It's a classic that stays in my collection and will be read anytime I want a good laugh.

The Pro is one of the funniest books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I could not put the book down!! Mike Shropshire is obviously a talented writer and I am looking forward to the publication of his next book.