“At places like Rye and Borth, there’s a certain
defiance in the natural, authentic presentation
that seems to hum with the soul of the old game,
of its roots in Scotland, and it is this sort of
golf—played fast, without a scorecard—that
takes me to a place beyond the everyday,
beyond my default settings.”
“These living, breathing monuments to the
wonder of nature and the mysteries of life feel
more like temples than golf courses now; places to
breathe deeply and feel grounded in the wider
world. They seemed a year ago to be somehow
links to my past, promising more links to
another future, but, after all these miles and
minutes, after all those shanks and thins and
handshakes— after the strangest of my
forty-eight years to date —these old
courses are the strongest links
I have to the present.”