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: Head, Heart, Hands, Health

In the mind of any clear-thinking golf aficionado, surely there is no longer a question of whether Tiger Woods is the greatest player of all time. All you Jones Junkies, Hogan Huggers and Nicklaus Nuts can put your placards down, because your boys just aren’t part of the conversation anymore. And please don’t try to […]

Letter from St. Andrews: A Glimpse of Seven

I’m sitting in a little trailer, high atop a hill precisely two miles east of the center of St. Andrews. The trailer is unfurnished except for a simple table and three chairs occupied by me and two gentlemen with whom I’ve come to chat. Our conversation has barely begun when one gets a call on […]

Letter from St. Andrews: The Auld Grey Toon

Well, we’ve made it to the Auld Grey Toon, but not to our auld grey hoose. Renovation of our apartment—sorry, our “flat”—proceeds apace, which is to say thoroughly behind schedule and riotously over budget. As I write this, the place is uninhabitable—a grim, hollowed-out hovel from which you might expect a grizzled G.I. to emerge, […]

Letter from St. Andrews: Is Eight Enough?

Earlier this year, the St. Andrews Links Trust announced that its No. 7 course, currently under construction on a clifftop two miles southeast of town, would be named the Castle, in recognition of the fact that a medieval stronghold had occupied the approximate site of the intended 9th and 18th greens. The name was one […]