PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

After reading the other day about an “Affordable Golf Course” idea from golf writer George Peper fI went back this week to read another golf tome from Peper – his book, Two Years in St. Andrews, At Home on the 18^th Hole.

A great and fun read.

Makes me want to go back to St. Andrews, the so-called “home of golf” to do what I have had the privilege of doing three times – playing some of the seven courses in the St. Andrews Links Trust, including, and especially, the iconic Old Course.

I won’t be proposing to live at St. Andrews as Peper and his wife did for several years, though, if I was going to live in Scotland for a time, I might choose the small town of Dornoch where sits my favorite course in the world, Royal Dornoch.

In St. Andrews, Peper and his wife found a new way of life – for life generally, as well as for golf.

Here are a couple of telling excerpts from his book, with my comments:

THE PEOPLE IN SCOTLAND: “I’d come to learn that St. Andrews was full of kind, thoughtful, caring folk. People who dropped by your home with flowers for no apparent reason, who invited you for drinks on the spur of the moment, who offered to pick up your cleaning or walk your dog or water your plants. And I also realized that these people lacked nothing in the way of intelligence; rather it was I who lacked a few things – things like patience, an active interest in others, and a willingness to make sacrifices. St. Andrews had begun to teach me lessons I would never have learned in New York.”

My wife parents, when they were in their youth, emigrated from Scotland. They met in the U.S. and were married here, producing three children, one of whom is my wife – and great, good fortune for me.

We have had the distinct privilege of traveling together to Scotland on five occasions and, yes, golf was involved – including at St. Andrews where, beyond golf, the Old Course is closed on Sundays and becomes a park for anyone who wants to go for a walk hard by the North Sea.

Speaking of the Scottish people, one of my distinct memories occurred when my wife and I were walking around a small Scottish town looking for the bed-and-breakfast where we would stay. We came upon a Scottish gentlemen out for his own walk.

As we passed, he did not acknowledge us, but we decided to stop and ask directions.

He responded – sure this is where you want to go, he said. But, then in what illustrated the selflessness of the Scottish people, he went on. Follow me, he said, and he led us three blocks away to our destination.

My wife told me that the Scottish people often come across as distant and aloof, but, if you need help, she told me, they’ll go out of their way to provide it.

In this case, I saw this kind of sacrifice personally, just as Peper often did at St. Andrews.

THE MEANING OF GOLF IN SCOTLAND: “Someday I hope to bring my grandchildren to Scotland – not to show them what golf is, but to show them what golf isn’t – that it isn’t $200 million resorts and $200,000 membership fees, that it isn’t six-hour rounds and three-day member-guests, that it isn’t motorized buggies, Cuban cigars, and cashmere head covers. It’s a game you play simply and honorably, without delay or complaint – where you respect your companions, respect the rules, and respect the ground you walk on. Where, on the 18^th green, you remove your cap and shake hands, maybe just little humbler and little wiser than when you began.”

I reflect on this Peper paragraph and know that I have experienced the sane incredible camaraderie of golf, both in this country and in Scotland.

The issue isn’t always what you scored in a round, though, as Americans, we (including me) pay more attention to that than do the Scots. The issue is the friendships you make and cement through golf.

Like Peper wrote, “remove your cap and shake hands, maybe just a little humbler and a little wiser than when you began.”

I get to experience this kind of golf here in the U.S., which means I have learned lessons by having the privilege of traveling to the “homeland of my wife.”

I want to go back.