Charlie McCleod, having fled disaster back East, finds himself in San Francisco. When he turns up at a golf club he is entranced again by the game that once defined him: in all its simplicity and frustration. And so he begins caddying, while wrestling with those things that had exiled him not only from the sport but from life itself.

In the profane, competitive world of the caddy shack, lost men jostle for position. The one thing they all revere is the player whose mastery defies comprehension - and in this role Charlie will either find a new start, or shatter his life once more.

The Back Nine is a story of love, challenge and redemption, from a golfing afficionado and talented new voice.

'Poised and cinematic . . . Anyone who has struck a perfect seven iron on a lazy summer afternoon, and got the inkling that in the thwack of ball against metal there is some kind of answer to the universe's big questions will identify with Charlie McLeod' The Times

'Golf fans will enjoy Billy Mott's The Back Nine . . . So good in parts that you will be tempted to put the book down and head straight for the first tee' Observer

Books by Billy Mott