Let me introduce you to a gentleman named Nigel Denham, not perhaps the most famous golfer of all time, but nonetheless a better-than-decent player who competed in the 1974 English Amateur Strokeplay Championship at Moortown Golf Club in Leeds, a bustling city in northern England. Near the conclusion of his round, Denham struck his approach shot to the eighteenth green, only to watch in amazement as his ball went over the green, landed on a path in front of the clubhouse, clambered up some steps, entered an open door, and pinballed to its final resting spot in the bar, which, at the time, was populated with several members who had been enjoying a full afternoon of refreshment and banter.
As Leeds can be a somewhat muddy place, even in a biblical drought, golfers at Moortown must change their shoes before entering certain parts of the clubhouse, including the bar. So Denham dutifully removed his golf shoes and entered the fray to assess the situation. The clubhouse was not out of bounds. Fortunately, Denham discovered that he had a clear shot to the green, albeit through a window, and simply followed the most important rule of all: play the ball as it lies. He had to move some furniture and ask the members to relocate their libations momentarily. Denham selected a club from his bag, opened the window, and hit a fine shot that ended up a mere twelve feet from the hole, much to the amazement of the members, who expressed their admiration for the achievement.
Similar situations are, of course, extremely rare. They are so rare that Denham’s initial plight and subsequent recovery created a great deal of headscratching among the people who interpret the rules of golf in the United Kingdom, specifically a group of rules experts in the clubhouse of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews, Scotland. Golf has a set of official rules that fit neatly into a small pocket-sized booklet appropriately titled The Rules of Golf. However, the accompanying tome, Decisions on the Rules of Golf, weighs 1.3 pounds and has 670 pages. This proves that while golf can sometimes seem like an easy game to understand, the written rules are usually mysterious, indecipherable, occluded, baffling, foggy, and bizarre.
Thankfully, and ironically, golf’s unwritten rules are easier to understand. Many people who take up golf leave the game shortly after their first forays because they feel intimidated, clumsy, and very much on the outside looking in, most often because their knowledge of basic etiquette is sparse, which is a pity. As Dana Rader, the founder of the Dana Rader Golf School in Charlotte, North Carolina, says, the goal of every golfer and everyone in golf should be to grow the game. So this book represents my way of making that happen by helping you feel at ease with the game, its people, and its surroundings so that you feel confident and comfortable wherever you happen to find yourself in the golf universe.
I hope, in fact, that you find yourself at one of the carefully chosen golf destinations detailed in this book. Here you will find inside information about places such as Pinehurst, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, and the superb Bandon Dunes on the wild Oregon coast. It is the duty and responsibility of every golfer to visit one of these shrines at least once in his or her life—anyone can play them, given the time and inclination. But this book also features numerous less-famous spots that should be on your radar soon, if not right away. Whether you are on the eighteenth tee at Pebble Beach or the first tee at Machrihanish in Scotland, the site of the top opening hole on the planet, you will, after reading and digesting this book, feel like you are part of the golfing world so that golf is what it should always be: civilized without being pompous, and hugely enjoyable without being technically demanding.
This book answers numerous golf questions and will help you navigate through the golf etiquette maze. If your boss invites you to play at his or her club, where should you change your shoes? If a client asks you to attend a golf tournament, what should you wear and how should your spouse dress? Is it appropriate, at said event, to yell “You da man!” when a professional is putting? What should you do if you are at a club and the person with whom you are playing asks you to concede a four-foot putt on the eighteenth green? Perhaps you are thinking about a golf trip to Scotland and don’t know where to start (or finish). Maybe you have been avoiding playing golf with someone important in your business life because you are worried about basic golf manners. Don’t worry. This book is here to help you find the great places to play and to help you enjoy them. It’s also here to help you feel at ease whether you are standing on the first tee at Pine Valley, usually considered the world’s top golf course, or visiting the Masters for the first time.
Golf is not an easy game. All the top golfers (Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Danny Noonan, Arnold Palmer, etc.) have had one thing in common: the pulsating and almost obsessive desire to improve and turn a 67 into a 66 or 65. It’s impossible to conquer golf, yet the truly intelligent golfer understands that it is possible to enjoy the game, given the right expectations, approach, and attitude. The intelligent golfer understands that golf is much more than the number of shots taken over eighteen holes or the result of the match.
The intelligent golfer seeks the finest places to play. The intelligent golfer understands the game’s etiquette but is not despotic about the unwritten rules. The intelligent golfer relishes meeting new golfers and making even more golfing friends. The intelligent golfer plans ahead and researches the next golf destination on the agenda but is always willing and able to take an “emergency” golf trip. The intelligent golfer may not have the time or natural ability to become good enough to compete in amateur or professional tournaments but takes enough quality instruction to be competent enough to play anywhere. The intelligent golfer enjoys golf destinations where golf is more important than creed, color, gender, or political affiliation. The intelligent golfer feels comfortable anywhere in golf and always helps newcomers to the game feel the same way. The intelligent golfer knows at least three (clean) golf jokes and a few of the key lines from Caddyshack. The intelligent golfer has read at least one book about golf history and knows that it was Gene Sarazen who hit “the shot heard around the world” on his way to winning the Masters in 1935. And, perhaps most important, the intelligent golfer knows how to react and the requisite course of action should his or her approach shot to the eighteenth green end up in the member’s bar.
My express wish is that The Intelligent Golfer gets you more excited about golf and more fired up to visit its top destinations than ever before. Golf is, and always should be, an adventure. My complementary wish is that the book helps you feel comfortable with the game, even if you are playing the fifteenth hole on the Old Course at St. Andrews, the wind is blowing at forty miles per hour, and the sharp rain is coming in horizontally. Armed with the knowledge in this book, you will at least know about a couple of spots in the town where you will find appropriate shelter and ample refreshment to aid your recovery from exposure to the sometimes cruel Scottish elements. And you will also know that, as an intelligent golfer, you always buy the first round if you win the match.