Mott, Billy

PERSONAL:

Born in Pittsburgh, PA.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Los Angeles, CA.

CAREER:

Actor, golf caddy, and writer.

WRITINGS:

The Back Nine, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Billy Mott is an actor but prefers being out on the golf course. He works as a caddy as often as possible. Mott enjoys the sport so much that he wrote a novel centering on the game.

Mott's debut novel, The Back Nine, was published in 2007. Charlie MacLeod is a talented golfer until an injury prevents him from playing the game. He decides to remain close to the greens by taking a job as a caddy. There he befriends the other caddies and even starts playing again, taking bets with some of the golf club's wealthy and shady clients. Bill Ott in Booklist found that "the novel works because Mott gets the golf exactly right, from dialogue to swing details. He makes us care about Charlie." Kevin Nance reviewed the novel in the Chicago Sun-Times, stating: "Great literature it's not, but for all its rookie mistakes, The Back Nine is engrossing, emotional, and deeply, almost weirdly satisfying. It taps into the humblingly human—or maybe just male—craving for mastery and respect, without ever descending into the lower depths of kick-ass machismo. It also has the humanity and the wisdom to allow even its villains a modicum of psychological complexity and, in the process, their dignity." A contributor to Publishers Weekly concluded that The Back Nine "sinks a literary hole-in-one with this beautifully crafted debut."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 2007, Bill Ott, review of The Back Nine, p. 26.

Chicago Sun-Times April 8, 2007, Kevin Nance, review of The Back Nine.

Entertainment World, April 25, 2007, Walter Reichert, review of The Back Nine.

Forbes Life, March 12, 2007, Todd Pitock, review of The Back Nine, p. 53.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2006, review of The Back Nine, p. 1239.

Library Journal, December 1, 2006, Lawrence Rungren, review of The Back Nine, p. 113.

Los Angeles Magazine, March 1, 2007, Robert Ito, review of The Back Nine, p. 94.

Publishers Weekly, November 6, 2006, review of The Back Nine, p. 33.

ONLINE

Bookbag,http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/ (August 22, 2007), Sue Magee, review of The Back Nine.

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (August 22, 2007), Stuart Shiffman, review of The Back Nine.