Rainmaker

Superagent Hughes Norton and the Money Grab Explosion of Golf from Tiger to LIV and Beyond

By: Hughes Norton, George Peper

Narrated by: Hughes Norton

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

From his work with Tiger Woods and Greg Norman to his thoughts on golf’s current money-grab era, golf superagent Hughes Norton presents a rollicking tell-all that “takes you inside the room with some of golf’s biggest personalities for some never-before-heard stories” (Chris Solomon, host of No Laying Up).

When twenty-one-year-old Tiger Woods stunned the world by winning The Masters by a mind-blowing twelve strokes, the first thing he did was embrace the three most important people in his life: his father, his mother, and Hughes Norton.

At the peak of his career, agent Norton earned a million-dollar salary, flew to all corners of the world in first class, and enjoyed a lifestyle nearly as lavish as his A-list clients. That dizzying success, however, came at a high price. The seventy-hour work weeks, constant travel, and intense pressure—both from his players and their corporate partners—took Norton away from his family and ultimately led to divorce. At the same time, to protect his players and his career, he found himself making ethical and moral choices he would later regret. Soon, he realized he had made as many enemies as friends.

Now, in Rainmaker, Norton offers “the most amazing ‘behind the curtain’ view ever written about the world of sports management” (Jim Nantz, CBS Sports). With exclusive insights, he discusses what it was like being Tiger’s first agent, his time representing the narcissistic Greg Norman, and shining a bright light on his sudden—and controversial—ouster as the head of IMG’s Golf Division—a juggernaut he helped build. This is an engaging and unforgettable memoir that explores golf as never before.

Norton represented all the big names in golf

Hughes Norton was a sports agent. For years he headed up the golf division at Mark McCormack’s company, IMG. McCormack started the company in the 1960s. His first three clients were Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. At the time they were the top 3 players in the world. Norton began with the company in the early days and would remain with them until the mid 1990s. In that time he would go from representing Palmer to Greg Norman to Tiger Woods as well as most of the game’s other top stars.

This is a very interesting book if you are into golf or money. It has inside information about the good and the bad of all the players. It’s widely reported that Tiger is a great player but not that good of a person. From this book it sounds like Norman falls into the same category. It is obvious that Norton can’t stand Norman as a person. One thing that was very interesting, but concerning at the same time was the amount of financial details he tells about each player. As a lawyer, I’m used to not revealing that to anyone about my clients. Norton is not a lawyer and evidently felt no obligation to keep such things confidential. On a few things Norton is not very self aware and makes himself sound worse than he intends, even though it is supposed to be a warts and all book. Overall, I’d highly recommend it to golfers.

Excellent read

Both a great golf story but also of someone who was a grinder in their field showing the ups and downs of a career in a sport that has evolved so much in some ways, but also in many, have stayed the same for decades

Details

The details were very interesting and included many aspects of sports agency of which I was not aware.

Norton!

A transparent, behind-the-scenes insight into the world of the business of professional golf. Norton presents an intricate portrayal of the mechanisms and duality of being an agent at the highest level. His story is one of hubris and humility. Highly recommend.

What a story!!!

This was an absolute pleasure to listen to, I'm a huge fan of golf and listening to how it all is and how it works on a professional level is fascinating. I would recommend this book to anyone.