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 to 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 press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as 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.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

With so much time on my hands in the pandemic, plus the worst forest fire season in Oregon’s history, I have forced my thoughts to go to this:

THE APPEAL OF TWO GOLF COURSES IN SCOTLAND — ROYAL DORNOCH AND THE OLD COURSE IN ST. ANDREWS

I have had the privilege of playing both courses on trips to Scotland, the homeland of my wife’s parents.

What gives added focus to these memories for me is that, on two occasions, golf writers stayed in the cities hosting the two courses and filed great stories of their time in each location.

Here is more information on the two courses and my visits.

ROYAL DORNOCH:  Golf writer, Lorne Rubenstein, who lives in Toronto, Canada, and owns a winter home in Jupiter, Florida, made arrangements to stay in the town of Dornoch, with his wife, for four months several years ago.

They found a flat above a bookstore in the little town, which meant they both had a place to stay as “residents”, as well as access to a trove of great books.  Plus, Lorne was only about a block from Royal Dornoch, which remains one of my favorite places to play in the world.  It was Rubenstein’s, as well.  He wrote brilliant chapters about his forays on the course, including the sound of his footfalls on the hard ground.  Essentially, he could venture on the course whenever he wanted to do so.

The club has two 18-hole courses:  The Championship Course and the Struie Course.  The older Championship Course is a links-style venue located on the Dornoch Firth, which can be seen from about half the holes on the course.

Royal Dornoch has never hosted any of the modern professional tournaments, but it was ranked #3 on the 2007 Golf Digest list of Top 100 International (outside U.S.) courses. David Brice, of Golf International, called it the “king of Scottish links courses.” 

Tom Watson is an honorary member, and has been quoted as saying of Royal Dornoch:  “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had on a golf course.”

Back to the golf writer, Rubenstein.  He did all of us a favor when he wrote, “A Season in Dornoch,” a book that captured the four months he spent there playing golf and getting to know the friendly Scottish townsfolk.

A great read!

THE OLD COURSE IN ST. ANDREWS:  The course is considered the oldest in the world and is commonly known as “The Home of Golf.”

It is a public course designed over common land in St. Andrews that is held in trust by The St Andrews Links Trust under an act of Parliament.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews sits adjacent to the first tee.  The Old Course is one of seven courses in an around St. Andrews that are part of the Trust.  Go there and you can play them all…if you can get a tee time.

The Old Course is considered the “home of golf” because the sport was first played on the Links at St Andrews in the early 15th century.  Golf was becoming increasingly popular in Scotland until James II of Scotland banned the game in 1457 because he felt that young men were playing too much golf instead of practicing archery.

The ban was upheld by James III and remained in force until 1502, when James IV became a golfer himself and, therefore, removed the ban.

Much of this became clearer to me through the work of another golf writer, George Peper, who made his living for many years as the editor of Golf Magazine.  During that time, he and his wife bought a flat near the 18^th hole on the Old Course and rented it out over the years to college students.

Then, when it came time to retire, Peper and his wife decided to move full-time to the flat in St. Andrews.

He chronicled all of this in another great book, “Two Years in St. Andrews:  At Home on the 18^th Hole,” which competes with “A Season in Dornoch” for a sought-after spot as my favorite golf book.

Peper tells a very funny story about what it was like to stand on the 1^st tee at the Old Course, which sits hard by the Royal & Ancient Clubhouse where members stand barely 20 feet away to watch everyone hit their tee ball.

Here is what he wrote:

“No matter who you are, to stand for the first time on the 1^st tee of the Old Course is to experience the greatest natural laxative in golf. So intimidating is the opening that Dwight Eisenhower, a five-star general who once held the fate of the free world in his hands, couldn’t handle the pressure. He slinked to the second hole.

“There you are, barely a dozen steps from the front porch of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, the full weight of its four-storied grayness upon you. Thirty-two clubhouse windows face that tee, and you can feel eyes piercing from everyone one of them, especially from the Big Room – front and center on the ground floor – where the blue-blazered members sip their gin and tonics and peer imperiously through graduated bi-focals.

“You feel their eyes, lasered into your temples. You feel the eyes of every golfer in your group, every golfer waiting to play, every lurking caddy, raking greenkeeper, and passing motorist, every shopkeeper, dog walker, street cleaner, beachcomber, and windsurfer, every gull, snipe, and pigeon, every fisherman on every trawler in the North Sea. Most of all you feel the eyes of Old Tom Morris and Harry Vardon, of Henry Cotton and Bobby Jones – of every great player, live or dead, who has ever walked these fabled links. And you don’t want to disappoint them.”

A couple years ago, Peper and his wife returned to the U.S. where he now edits Links Magazine.

All in all, fond thoughts about golf suffice for me these days when a combination of the Covid-19 virus and the worst forest fires in Oregon’s history make it difficult to enjoy the sport I love. 

The thoughts take second place to actually playing, but there is nothing wrong with being second.