Letter from St. Andrews: Driving Contest
Think you’re a good driver—of a car? The British License exam will test all of your road skills.
Letter from St. Andrews: Beware of the Blob
If you’re going to be playing in Scotland, it may help to familiarize yourself with on-course terms like ‘stonker,’ ‘Barney Rubble,’ and ‘jammy’
Letter from St. Andrews: Window into History
Born during one of the most difficult periods of the past century, the Masters has been a bellweather of our achievements and challenges for the last 75 years
Letter from St. Andrews: One-Line Wonders
Our columnist speaks his mind on the topics that have been occupying his brain
Letter from St. Andrews: The 10 Golden Fools
The article in the Fall issue on the 10 Golden Rules of Golf got me thinking—are those really the 10 most important things my golf life? Hardly. I have my own standards and they don’t have much to do with written regulations.
Letter from St. Andrews: Out of Left Field
Very seldom do I stray from my beloved St. Andrews nest to other parts of Scotland, but when I do, I invariably discover something interesting—or odd. Case in point, a recent lost weekend in the Highlands wherein I took a counterclockwise route that included stops at the Trump property near Aberdeen (a truly spectacular site, […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Blessings of Eighth Place
Two hundred yards or so behind the 18th green of the Old Course, on a broad street called the Scores, sits a sturdy stone townhouse with a brass plaque at its entrance. Inscribed on the plaque are the words “The Old Course Experience.” “Could this possibly be what it suggests?” I wondered on the day […]
Letter from St. Andrews: A Closed Open
I’m not sure why—maybe I haven’t fully and truly expatriated, or maybe it’s just that I’m a congenital jackass—but I get uncommon pleasure from tweaking my fellow St. Andreans with a question. When the 19th-hole conversation turns to the game’s majors, I ask, “So who do you like in the LCSE?” “What?” they say. “The […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Worst To Finish First
A year ago, when Phil Mickelson won the Masters, he lost something almost as significant—the title “best player never to win a major championship.” Lefty thereby joined the relieved ranks of David Duval (2001), Mark O’Meara (1998), Davis Love III (1997), Tom Kite (1992), Greg Norman (1986) and Ben Crenshaw (1984) in shedding an unofficial […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Shinnecockemamie
It’s a cold, grey day in the old grey town, so my thoughts stray happily across the Pond toward posh, breezy Southampton, N.Y., to the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club and the approaching 104th U.S. Open. And there’s a goofy smile on my face. To paraphrase our favorite son, Bobby Jones, you could take out of […]
