Last Comic Hacking: The Hacker’s Guide to Golf

A funny, new book about golf by Arvada resident Bob Meddles

Jon Rizzi | Colorado AvidGolfer

Both ursine and erudite, Arvada resident Bob Meddles is also pretty damn funny. His award-winning comedy annually lands him 150 shows across the country, including regular performances at West Woods Golf Club, where he is serving his second term as president of the men’s club.

“Zero,” he says, isn’t his handicap but the amount of golf material he currently includes in his act. But that hasn’t kept the one-time newspaper editor from writing The Hacker’s Guide to Golf, one of the funnier golf books in recent memory. “I truly am a hacker,” he says by way of explaining his 16.6 index, “but that doesn’t take away from the charm of the game.”

Dividing the book into 18 essays, Meddles breezes through humorous takes on lessons, equipment, putting, and sandbaggers (“Becoming one will allow you to cull your Christmas card list more quickly than if you were to become an Amway agent.”). Like Dave Barry, his literary inspiration, Meddles sashays through the minefield of predictability to which golf humor so easily lends itself. He confesses to stepping out on his longtime pitching wedge companion, and takes on the “naturalness” of the golf swing. “It was developed by shepherds in Scotland,” he writes, “and you can imagine what kind of unnatural things lonely shepherds are capable of.”

Subtitled “Stories of Golf and the People who Play it…Badly,” The Hacker’s Guide to Golf ($15) is the debut book by Meddles, who first performed comedy in 2006 at Denver’s now-defunct Kazmos (“I think the ceiling was held up by cigarette smoke,” he quips). He likens performing standup to playing golf. “It’s all up to you,” he says. “It’s you and the mic; it’s you and the course.” And, Meddles says, a course judges you in the same way an audience does. “If a path doesn’t present itself,” he says with a laugh, “then get out your machete and keep hacking.”

bobmeddles.com

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Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com. Jon Rizzi is the founding editor and co-owner of this regional golf-related media company producing magazines, web content, tournaments, events and the Golf Passport.