St. Andrews SojournThe Old Course at St. Andrews is the great hallowed ground of golf, and it was there that George Peper was playing in 1983 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 18th hole. Two months later he and his wife, Libby, became the proud owners of 9A Gibson Place. The Old Course at St. Andrews is the great hallowed ground of golf, and it was there that George Peper was playing in 1983 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 18th hole. Two months later he and his wife, Libby, became the proud owners of 9A Gibson Place. Twenty years later, they moved in and settled in the “Auld Grey Toon,” in the land of golf, single malt scotch, haggis, bagpipes, and television licenses, where the neighbors had accents thicker than a North Sea fog. When he isn't attempting to break par on the Old Course, Peper immerses himself in the local golf culture: He learns the rituals for ordering a drink at the Royal & Ancient Golf Club (est. 1754), where he becomes the first American elected to the Club Committee; endures homesickness (in the form of “Pre-Masters Post-Partum Syndrome”); and meets intriguing locals such as his neighbor Gordon Murray, quite possibly the only caddie to store his caddie bib in the trunk of a Mercedes, and Wee Raymond Gatherum, a magnificent shotmaker whose diminutive stature belies his skills. Wry, warm, and witty, St. Andrews Sojourn will delight anyone who has played—or dreamed of playing—the Old Course. |
Contents
The Slice of My Life | 1 |
Transatlantic Landlord | 5 |
An End and a Beginning | 10 |
Dogged Pursuit | 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 | |
Common terms and phrases
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