18 in America - 9781451693645

A “winning” (Parade) and “well-conceived” (The New York Times) account of one teenager’s solo trek to play golf in each of the lower forty-eight states—“two parts coming-of-age story, one part golf travel adventure, and one part survival test” (Golfweek).

Hungry for adventure, seventeen-year-old Dylan Dethier deferred admission to Williams College, and, “like Jack Kerouac and Ken Kesey and a host of others before him, he packed his used car and his meager life savings, and set off to see and write about America” (ABC News/Yahoo). His goal: play a round of golf in each of the lower forty-eight states.

From a gritty municipal course in Flint, Michigan, to the emerald fairways of Pebble Beach to rubbing elbows with Phil Mickelson at Quail Hollow, Dylan explored the astonishing variety of the nation’s golf courses—and its people. Over one year, 35,000 miles, and countless nights alone in his dusty Subaru, Dylan showered at truck stops, slept with an ax under his seat, and lost his virginity, all the while playing “wherever the road took him, with golf as a vehicle for understanding America” (The New York Times). The result is “an enterprising and inspirational golf journey unlike any other” (Jim Nantz, CBS Sports).