Two Years in St. Andrews: At Home on the 18th Hole
FormerGolfmagazine editor Peper (Playing Partners: A Father, a Son, and Their Shared Passion for Golf) bought a townhouse beside the 18th hole of the Old Course in the Scottish village of St. Andrews and spent a few years living there and penning this pleasant homage to "golf's version of the Vatican." Peper soaks up the traditions, vistas and aura of the storied Royal and Ancient Golf Club, pokes gentle fun at the horrors of Scottish cuisine, reminisces about encounters with such celebrities as Jack Nicklaus and Sean Connery, and gives shot-by-shot recaps of some of his many confrontations with the Old Course (his goal was to shoot an under-par round). Peper writes with jaunty, understated good humor, lit with occasional flashes of exhilaration and despair depending on the vicissitudes of his game. The narrative calms down in accounts of his wife's remodeling of their townhouse or dull thumbnails of neighbors; often the book really feels like a story about a couple who retire to a golf course. But golf fans—devotées of one of life's most pedestrian thrills—will savor this walking-speed appreciation of their greatest shrine. Photos not seen byPW.(June)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.