Two Years in St. Andrews: At Home on the 18th HoleThe Old Course at St. Andrews is to golfers what St. Peter's is to Catholics or the Western Wall is to Jews: hallowed ground, the course every golfer longs to play -- and master. In 1983 George Peper was playing the Old Course when he hit a slice so hideous that he never found the ball. But in looking for it, he came across a For Sale sign on a stone town house alongside the famed eighteenth hole. Two months later he and his wife, Libby, became the proud owners of 9A Gibson Place. In 2003 Peper retired after twenty-five years as the editor in chief of Golf magazine. With the younger of their two sons off to college, the Pepers decided to sell their house in the United States and relocate temporarily to the town house in St. Andrews. And so they left for the land of golf -- and single malt scotch, haggis, bagpipes, television licenses, and accents thicker than a North Sea fog. While Libby struggled with renovating an apartment that for years had been rented to students at the local university, George began his quest to break par on the Old Course. Their new neighbors were friendly, helpful, charmingly eccentric, and always serious about golf. In no time George was welcomed into the local golf crowd, joining the likes of Gordon Murray, the man who knows everyone; Sir Michael Bonallack, Britain's premier amateur golfer of the last century; and Wee Raymond Gatherum, a magnificent shotmaker whose diminutive stature belies his skills. For anyone who has ever dreamed of playing the Old Course -- and what golfer hasn't? -- this book is the next best thing. And for those who have had that privilege, Two Years in St. Andrews will revive old memories and confirm Bobby Jones's tribute, "If I were to set down to play on one golf course for the remainder of my life, I should choose the Old Course at St. Andrews." |
Contents
1 | |
5 | |
10 | |
18 | |
Arrival | 22 |
Two Andrews | 26 |
Round One | 29 |
Molishing | 35 |
Happy Anniversary | 137 |
Other Courses Other Charms | 150 |
Rifts and Schisms | 161 |
A Matter of Trust | 168 |
Itwith Sir Michael | 176 |
Nice Measurements | 182 |
Victorias Vase | 186 |
On His Majestys Secret Service | 200 |
The Saint Hood | 41 |
Perfect Golf | 51 |
In at Last | 57 |
Gordon | 65 |
Show Me Your Papers | 74 |
Window Office | 79 |
The Club | 83 |
Tescoid Anthropology | 89 |
Wooing the Old Lady | 97 |
A Special Experience | 106 |
Pedophile | 110 |
Playing Backwards | 114 |
Having a Wee Flutter | 118 |
Ways to Get on the Old Course | 124 |
A Different World | 132 |
The Night I Kissed the Captains Balls | 204 |
The WedgeAway | 213 |
The Partisans | 217 |
Reunion | 224 |
Winter Wonderland | 229 |
Stalking Prince William | 239 |
Dazzled by a Puffin Crossing | 245 |
Two Trips Home | 253 |
Herbicide | 260 |
Summer Son | 266 |
50000 People in Our Backyard | 274 |
Home | 293 |
Acknowledgments | 301 |
303 | |
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Common terms and phrases
18th green 18th hole 1st tee American Ancient Golf Club Andrews Golf Club arrived asked bay window birdie bogeyed Bunker caddie Calcutta Cup Carnoustie couple David didn’t dinner door dozen drink drive Eden Estuary fairway feel feet fellow four friends front Gibson Place golf ball golf course golfers Gordon Murray guys half handicap he’d hundred Jack Jack Nicklaus Jubilee Kingsbarns knew Libby Links Pass Links Trust looked match Michael Michael Bonallack Millie months morning never Nicklaus o’clock Old Course Old Tom Morris one’s Open Championship percent PGA Tour player putt R&A members Royal & Ancient Ryder Cup score Scotland Scots Scott Scottish strokes sure Swilken tee shot there’s things Tiger took tournament town U.S. Open USGA walk we’d week wind yards