The Golf Book: Green Cathedral Dreams

This is a book about golf and in particular why the game of golf is so special. It is a book about why I love the game and why it has captured my passion and imagination. Golf is unlike most other sporting contests in that you play primarily against the course and to a lesser extent against your playing partners and other competing golfers. The lie of the land challenges you from the opening tee shot until the final putt drops. The golf ball is not moving around when you come to play your shot and so appears to benignly beckon you to strike it. The ground, however, may not be flat beneath your feet and uneven lies are common all over the course. The face of the club head and golf ball are relatively small surfaces, especially when you draw back the club head on a lengthy shaft until it is behind your head. Returning the face of the club head square to the back of the ball at speed is no easy task for the beginner at the game of golf. 

My intention in writing this book is to get inside some of the magical moments and some of the more humorous aspects of the game of golf. There is an undeniable communing with nature flavour underpinning the game of golf, where the field of play is so massive and majestic.

All successful subcultures have their own jargon, which is delightfully shared by its members. Golfers love to swap cliches whilst on the course, as a rich part of the golfing experience. A golf ball propelled onto the green by a well struck shot is said to be “on the dance floor”. A shot struck beyond the green has “airmailed’’ the green. An “ace” is a rare hole in one and this is an exclusive club within the game of golf for those golfers who have achieved this feat. Golfers wanting a ball to cease its journey across the green cry out “bite”. A putt successfully rolled into the hole is “drained”. Alternatively, that putt could “lip out” and fail to remain in the hole.

Golf is a test of character and your sporting mettle. A test of how you can stand up to scrutiny and the individual demands of a solo game like golf? I think this is a big part of the game’s appeal. Men and women enjoy the challenge of pitting themselves against the course. There is nowhere to hide during a competitive round, and you only have yourself to blame when you muck it up and fall short. The legendary Bobby Jones, in his early days, used to throw clubs and carry on out of frustration, until it was pointed out to him what a bad look poor sportsmanship was and how damaging it can be to your game. 

The mental game, the character required to play golf, and some of the history of the game's greatest are all a part of The Golf Book: Green Cathedral Dreams. 250 pages.