Two Years in St. Andrews: At Home on the 18th Hole

Two Years in St. Andrews: At Home on the 18th Hole
by George Peper

Two Years in St. Andrews: At Home on the 18th Hole
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Book Summary Information

Author: George Peper
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2006-05-30
ISBN: 0743262824
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Book Reviews of Two Years in St. Andrews: At Home on the 18th Hole

Book Review: Loved every sentence - thanks, George!
Summary: 5 Stars

I've taken two trips to St. Andrews and can definitely relate to George's Peper's outstanding take on the place. I treasured every sentence of these 299 pages. He's really nailed the spirit of St. Andrews, both the setting and its people. I'm not a mad, keen golfer, and my wife - like Peper's - is disinterested in the sport itself. But - like me - she loves the atmosphere of the place. One of the greatest things in the world is to sit on the steps in front of the 18th green and watch group and group tumble home with big, goofy grins on their faces. It's a fabulous way to spend an early evening.

Peper's character really shows through here. When you read his bio on the backflap, it's only then that you get a sense of the depth of his accomplishments in golf and journalism. The book taken at face value gives you the impression that he sort of tumbled into some of these accomplishments (hello, R&A Competition Committee!) by being at the right place at the right time. While I'm sure luck played a small part, there's also the matter of talent and hard work. First, the guy can flat-out write. He's funny, engaging and perceptive. Second, the guy works hard. At one point, he lets on regarding the assignments he's juggling. He's definitely not slacking over there!

The two other characters worth mentioning:

- Mr. Peper's neighbor Gordon Murray. There's that expression "it's not what you know, it's who you know"...Gordon seems the living embodiment of that and of what Pepard calls "Gordon's three degrees of separation" (none of that six degrees stuff applies here).

- Millie Peper. This Westie charmer is surely the cutest thing on four legs to hit the Old Course in some time.

Summary of Two Years in St. Andrews: At Home on the 18th Hole

The 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."

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