A Golfer's Education - Hardcover

Kilfara, Darren

3.64

14 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1565123018 ISBN 13: 9781565123014

Publisher: Algonquin Books, 2001

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Darren Kilfara's scheme to study abroad at St. Andrews University in Scotland-allegedly, to write a thesis on the history of golf-was foolproof. He would enroll at the school, go to a couple of classes, earn a year's worth of university credit, and become eligible for a year-long student pass to the famed golf courses of St. Andrews, the birthplace of the game, for the low, low price of $150. A perfect plan, so of course it went awry.

A GOLFER'S EDUCATION is the true story of a young man, once a member of Harvard's golf team and a former writer for Golf Digest, who began his year in St. Andrews as an intense, uptight golfer willing to do anything to play a great course and ended it a changed and wiser man and a better golfer in ways immeasurable by a scorecard.

Part golf travelogue and part memoir, this engaging book chronicles Kilfara's year in Scotland playing the finest golf courses in the country, especially the enigmatic Old Course; learning that the Scots see golf as a reflection of their democratic ideals; discovering the subcultures of Scottish golf-drunken bohemian street golf, homeless golf fanatics, betting parlors, and poetic BBC golf commentators; falling in love with a Scottish woman; and finally overcoming his obsession for scores and handicaps and learning to love the simplicity of the game.

Kilfara draws on his substantial knowledge of golf and course architecture to create a perceptive, insightful guide to the great golf coursesof Scotland. But at the same time, he has created a timeless story of an irreverent young man coming of age in the birthplace of the sport.

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From the Inside Flap:

DARREN KILFARA HAD A SCHEME - to study abroad at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, allegedly to write a thesis on the history of golf. It was foolproof.

He would enroll at the school, attend a few classes, earn a year's worth of university credit, and thereby become eligible for a student pass to the golf courses of St. Andrews - including the Old course, arguably the most famous golf course in the world - for the low, low price of $150 for the year.

A perfect plan, so of course it went awry.

A Golfer's Education is the true story of a young man, once a member of Harvard's golf team and a former writer of Golf Digest, who began his year in St. Andrews as an intense, uptight golfer willing to do anything to play a great course and ended it a changed man and a better golfer in ways unmeasurable by a scorecard.

This charming and funny book chronicles Kilfara's year in Scotland playing the finest golf courses in the country; learning that the Scots see golf as a reflection of their democratic ideals; discovering the subcultures of Scottish golf (drunken bohemian street golf, homeless golf fanatics, betting parlors, and poetic BBC golf commentators); falling in love with a Scottish woman; and finally overcoming his obsession with scores and handicaps to love the simplicity of the game.

Kilfara possesses a substantial knowledge of the game and of golf course architecture and is a perceptive, insightful guide to the great golf courses of Scotland. At the same time, he has created a timeless story of an irreverent young man, realizing his dreams in the birth-place of his sport.

From the Back Cover:

A YANK ON THE LINKS

Advance Praise for A Golfer's Education:

"Darren Kilfara journeys to Scotland, makes an ace, breaks par on the Old Course, finds Heather off it, and lives out a golfing dream. For the rest of us, anyway, there's his enchanting book." (MICHAEL BAMBERGER author of To the Linksland)

"Kilfara spent four happy years at Harvard, learning the many useful things that Harvard has to offer. Then he went to St. Andrews and learned about life. A Golfer's Education is a graceful, insightful and often funny account of that journey." (DON WADE, author of Talking on Tour)

"He writes about golf passionately and perceptively; he captures the lure of the links vividly; and his analysis of his tendency to be a 'score-obsessed golfer' is as wise as it is painful.... A fine golf memoir." (Booklist)

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