To the Linksland

Bamberger, Michael. To the Linkland: A Golfing Adventure. New York: Viking 1992. Print.

First Sentences:

I think the man liked my wife. He kept saying to her, "If you want to eat, eat now. No food till we get to Port Bou."


Description:

Linksland is the old Scottish word for the earth at the edge of the sea -- tumbling, duney, sandy, covered by beach grasses. When the light hits it, and the breeze sweeps over it, you get every shade of green and brown, and always, in the distance, is the water. The land was long considered worthless, except to the shepherds and their sheed and the rabbits, and to the early golfers.

For golf enthusiasts looking longingly at the fleeting summer, please check out Michael Bamberger's To the Linksland: A Golfing Adventure, It's a highly-satisfying peek into the inner workings of tournament golf, the players that strive weekly to make a cut, and the intangibles that make up a satisfactory golf swing. All this is played out on the grand and not so wonderful courses that compose the European Golf Tour.

In 1991, Michael Bamberger, a newspaper sportswriter, gave up his apartment, took a leave of absence from his job writing for Sports Illustrated, and, joined by his newlywed wife, set off to explore the wide world of golf as a caddy.

I wanted to lead the life of the professional amateur, the man who earns a living wage, and not more, for being around the thing that consumes him, the thing that fascinated him, the thing that he loves. 

Bamberger caddied in the national championships of Portugal, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, and, finally, Scotland, golf’s ancestral home. Once there, Bamberger fell under the spell of one of golf’s fabled  teachers and thinkers, John Stark, whose instruction was simply to "Hear the ball."

The book is divided into two sections modeled after a golf score card. In the first half, "Going Out," Bamberger documents his adventures caddying the European Tour for golfer Peter Teravainen, while in the second half, "Coming In," he describes his own play on famous and obscure golf courses in Scotland, always seeking to improve his game as well as explore the birthplaces of golf.

Scotland was the homeland: the place where the game took root centuries ago...the place where the game breathed free....Scotland was a place where the crunching sound of cleats against the brick floor of a clubhouse served as an invitation to play nine more, starting in the long, late dusk and holing final putts by the light of the moon.

Caddying for Teravainen, a journeyman golfer who survives tourney to tourney by making just enough money to keep going, Bamberger gives us a very personal look into Tour life through the eyes and actions of a man committed to golf. Despite being a very long ball striker, Teravainen had yet to win any tournament in his twelve years playing the European Tour. That did not phase him in the least

When you play as well as you can, and it's not enough, there's not much to be disappointed about. You've done all you can do. 

Peter chooses to ride the cheap, rickety caddy bus (the only player to do so) to each tour destination to save small amounts of money. His clothes are off-the-shelf, his game unpredictable, yet tantalizingly close to making him a top ten tour player. His outlook is almost always optimistic.

Story after story, beautifully written, follow as the pair experience the Tour and talk about players like Faldo, Ballesteros, Nicklaus, Player, Palmer, and Watson, along with fellow obscure competitors pursuing the same goals: play well, survive, go on to the next tournament.

In the second half of the book, Bamberger outlines, after foregoing caddying, his personal quest for improvement in his game.

It is the promise of improvement that makes golf captivating...In golf, in so many ways a bodiless game, the results are wholly tangible. How many whacks. Each player must decide for himself if he is improving....I wanted to search for the primal heart of golf.

Bamberger eventually meets John Stark, the legendary Scot golf pro who advises him to "hear the sound the shaft makes as it comes through the air, listen to how rhythmic and sweet that sound is." Stark encourages Bamberger to play on many of Scotland's courses, taking enough time "to discover some of our secrets." 

The author visits and plays courses with curiously named holes ("Bents," Whins," Blin' Dunt," Coffins," "Finnyfal," etc.) that make up St. Andrews, Cruden Bay, Gullane, and Mjachrihanish,. Everywhere, he tries to glean information about what is the most important advice his fellow players can offer.

But the highlight of the book is when Stark takes Bamberger to Auchnafree, "undiscovered, primal, pure," a six-hole course laid out by one man on his own property. Fairways are not mown or fertilized there, only kept "maintained" by sheep who also construct the bunkers as shelters from the cold. Stark plays the only two rounds there each year, And Bramberger is in awe during their round.

I had rekindled all the feelings of excitement for the game I had know as a school boy. All the clutter that impedes the game in the United States -- the golf carts, the expensiveness, the slowness, the social trappings -- vanished from mind and memory. Through Stark, I had discovered real golf, and I was a happy man.

A wondrously, uplifting, insightful, and deeply-felt book for golfers and those who just enjoy reading about people, places, and dreams.

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

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          (and an Intro to The First Sentence Reader) 

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Bamberger, Michael. The Ball in the Air.   

Author Bamberger profiles three non-professional golfers he meets, including a girl from Nepal who grew up living in a golf course equipment shed and learned to play using a tree branch). They talk about their love for the game and the challenges they have and will face to get onto a course.