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.

As has been the case in the past, the idea for this blog arose when I read the most recent on-line issue of one of my favorite golf magazines, Links.

It asked a probing question for golfers:  If you could play only one course for the rest of your life, what would it be?

The article started this way:

“While many of us are stuck at home, we’ve had plenty of time to daydream about the places we’d like to travel and the golf courses we’d like to play once again, or for the first time.

“I’ve spent a lot of time (says the author, Al Lunsford) refreshing social media, too, and have seen an interesting topic being floated around—if you could only play one golf course for the rest of your life, what would you pick?”

For me, the answer is simple, though I would have to violate the standard by selecting two courses.  They would be my home course in Salem, Oregon, Illahe Hills Golf and Country Club, and a great course in the north of Scotland, Royal Dornoch.

If I was forced to pick one, it would be Illahe Hills.

Illahe, nearing its 60^th anniversary, offers a challenge for all levels of golfers, from children, to beginners, to high handicappers, to single digit players, to scratch golfers. 

The greens are known as among the best in the Northwest.  Plus, the bunkers were refurbished about three years ago and, with their white sand, still look good.  Trees line the course and several holes are affected by water hazards – oops, by water penalty areas to use terminology under the new rules of golf.

I have been a member at Illahe for more than 30 years and I never – NEVER – get tired of playing the course, which, at the tips stretches to 7,000 yards, though I don’t play that far back given my age.

As for Royal Dornoch, there are not better courses in Scotland, in my judgment.

Here is what the Royal Dornoch website says about the course:

“A proud member of Highland Golf Links a partnership which offers attractive packages for visitors to enjoy the finest links golf and luxury hotel accommodation while exploring a unique and beautiful part of Scotland.

“Royal Dornoch is spellbinding and many golfers from all over the world make the pilgrimage to this natural links at some point in their lives. It is often quoted as one of the must-play courses.

”It’s the timeless setting that makes Royal Dornoch such a pleasing place to play golf. It’s wild, isolated and, at the same time, absolutely beautiful; there’s the blaze of color in early summer when the gorse is in flower. The pure white sandy beach divides the links from the Dornoch Firth and it all feels very humbling.”

For me, the good news is that my wife and I have laid plans to head to Dornoch next spring for a one-month stay, which will allow me to play the course and others in the near region.  It is my attempt to live out my bucket list to live out a dream play – play the course many times in the spirit of what golf writer Lorne Rubenstein did a few years ago when he stayed for four months and wrote his great golf book, A Season in Dornoch.

Links Magazine polled some of its writers on the one-course-for-life question and here is what emerged:

• Jack Purcell (President/Publisher): Secession Golf Club—Beaufort, South Carolina
• George Peper (Editor): Old Course at St Andrews—St. Andrews, Scotland
• Jim Frank (Senior Editor): San Francisco Golf Club—San Francisco, California
• Al Lunsford (Digital Editor): Winter Park Golf Course—Winter Park, Florida
• Tim Carr (Art Director): Tashua Knolls, Trumbull, Connecticut
• Nick Edmund (Contributing Writer): Royal County Down—Newcastle, Northern Ireland
• Ryan Asselta (Contributing Writer): Pinehurst No. 2—Pinehurst, North Carolina
• Tony Dear (Contributing Writer): Gamble Sands—Brewster, Washington
• David DeSmith (Contributing Writer): Pebble Beach—Monterey, California
• Adam Stanley (Contributing Writer): Cabot Links—Inverness, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Erik Matuszewski (Contributing Writer): Cypress Point—Monterey, California

So, follow me and pick your own favorite course for the rest of your life.