Beyond the Fairway: Zen Lessons, Insights, and Inner Attitudes of Golf
Langue : anglais
Edité par Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc, 1995
- Livre broché
- Occasion

Vendeur : World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, Etats-UnisWorld of Books (was SecondSale)
Vendeur AbeBooks depuis 20 décembre 2007
Etat: Occasion - Satisfaisant
EUR 3,67
Quantité disponible : 2 disponibles
Ajouter au panierA propos de cet article
Golf involves far more than hitting a perfect approach to the green. Every shot is an invitation to self-discovery, transcendence, and adventure. That is the theme behind Jeff Wallach's unique approach to a game that, as any true golfer knows, is much more than a game - it's an experience often bordering on the mystical. Beyond the Fairway explores the joys and subtle mysteries of golf and provides a whole new perspective on the game as it transports you through some of the world's most challenging, legendary, and downright strange courses to test yourself against their mental, physical, and spiritual hazards. From a venue hacked into the foothills of the Himalayas with a python loose on the first tee; to the annual Midnight Sun Tournament on the evening of the summer solstice in Fairbanks, Alaska; to the ancient home of golf in Scotland, where stone walls mark old property lines and sheep graze the fairways; to the Lakeview Challenge, the most sadistic par-three in the world, here is the rarely glimpsed wild side of golf. Here too is an irreverent insider's look at some of the game's most sacred rites and sites. Through it all, Wallach weaves the metaphysical lessons that golf teaches about life, friendship, competition, and even the fragile bond between fathers and sons. Beyond the Fairway is not about reducing your handicap or improving your swing (though it may do both), but about enjoying every stroke of the journey on the way to the pin.…
N° de réf. du vendeur 00102763551
- Titre
- Beyond the Fairway: Zen Lessons, Insights, and Inner Attitudes of Golf
- Auteur
- Jeff Wallach
- Éditeur
- Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc
- Année de publication
- 1995
- État de l'article
- Good
- Reliure
- Paperback
- Langue
- anglais
- ISBN à 10 chiffres
- 0553373331
- ISBN à 13 chiffres
- 9780553373332
« Synopsis » peut appartenir à une autre édition de cet ouvrage.
Extrait. © Reproduit sur autorisation. Tous droits réservés.
Weil-Connected Golfing in Scotland
Before a person studies Zen, mountains are
mountains and waters are waters; after a first
glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no
longer mountains and waters are not waters; after
enlightenment, mountains are once again
mountains, and waters once again waters.
—Zen saying
A new member of the golf club was anxious to
learn about the course and said: “I have only
recently become a member. Will you be gracious
enough to show me the way to the first tee?”
The Head Pro said: “Do you hear the
murmuring of the stream?”
The new member said: “Yes, I do.”
The Head Pro said: “Here is the entrance.”
—Zen golf koan
PRESTWICK … ROYAL TROON … TURNBERRY … NORTH Berwick.
Carnoustie. Gullane. Royal Dornoch. Nairn.
The names of Scottish golf courses are like mantras to me now. They roll off my tongue with a cool liquidity, like clear water running over smooth stones. Sometimes I whisper these names aloud, and they transport me beyond the overstylized, ukramanicured, artificial fairways of American golf, connecting me to the pure spirit from which the game was first distilled.
Late one October, when northern climes were spinning toward winter but the afternoons were still golden with syrupy light, I spent eight sylvan days chasing an elusive golf dream across the dunes and fescue grasses, the heather and gorse of Scottish links courses, searching for connection, seeking out the lost and achingly beautiful heart of the game—in which I only half believed. For much of my life I’ve felt, intuitively, that golf could connect me to pure, clear streams of consciousness, but I’d never quite discovered how to enter the flow. One fall I set out for the headwaters of the game, to drink from that true source and discover what it could teach me.
My days went much like this: On a Friday morning, for example, I woke early in my suite at the Turnberry Hotel and looked out the window as light gathered over the Firth of Clyde and shadows retreated from the championship Ailsa course (which I’d played the previous day) stretching greenly beside the windy dunes below. The lighthouse perched on the cliffs beside the ninth hole shone like a white monolith in the rising sun, and beyond, the peaks of Arran sketched a blue line against the horizon.
Downstairs, in the dining room, I opened The International Herald Tribune across the starched table linen and ate a full Scottish breakfast accompanied by strong coffee thick with cream. Then I called for my car and, as frost melted off the surrounding countryside, drove north too fast along winding roads to the small town of Prestwick. The leaves on the trees were yellow and ragged against the bluing sky, and the fields were brown and gold, dusted with white. In the small towns through which I drove, children in blue uniforms walked to school along the narrow streets.
At the old stone clubhouse of the Prestwick Golf Club—home of the first Open Championship (which Americans call the British Open) in 1860—Secretary David Donaldson took me for more strong coffee in the private card room, where century-old portraits of captains and secretaries stared menacingly down from the walls and antique golf clubs and scorecards from famous matches were displayed in glass cases.
As we waited for the morning chill to burn off, Donaldson and I compared notes on various far-flung golfing destinations; he seemed to have played on every continent except Antarctica. An hour later, my host summoned two caddies and we headed out to play eighteen of the most diverse and unique golf holes gathered together on a single course anywhere—holes requiring long, blind shots over monstrous dunes and quarries of sand, laid out along ancient stone fences and speckled with bunkers so deep you’d need a Ph.D. in philosophy just to see bottom. And all of it threaded delicately by the murmuring, meandering waters of Pow Burn.
We played a friendly match as Donaldson told me stories and my caddy, Waldo, produced a few gems of commentary. After I hit a long drive off the fourth tee, he observed, “Some people don’t go that far on holiday.”
As Donaldson and I were struggling up the dune that gave the fifth hole, Himalaya, its name, I asked him who had designed this fabulous course.
“God,” he said without missing a beat, then added, “with a little help from Old Tom Morris.”
I won our match seven and six after carding three pars in a row to open the back nine, and my opponent observed with acerbic humor that I must be a very good eighteen handicap. When we’d completed the round, we changed into coats and ties back at the clubhouse and drank a cocktail in the Smoke Room; my pint of lager arrived in a silver cup from the 1929 club championship. Then we lunched at a long table laid with fine silver in the formal dining room. Following a plate of venison accompanied by a sturdy claret, which we enjoyed in the excellent company of several other club members, and having worked up a warm and comforting buzz, I changed back into my favorite wool sweater and went out for another eighteen holes on my own in the bracing wind, with the smoky scent of burning peat perfuming the air.
I concluded the round with a gaming birdie attempt—and a solid par—as the light flattened and a soothing lavender color spread across the sky. Following a hot pub dinner in town, I ended the day in a steaming bath in my suite back at the Turnberry Hotel, while below my window a ghostly figure in Scottish plaid played the bagpipes along the walkway and the last light disappeared over the distant firth.
In spite of the almost religious cachet that Scotland holds for so many golfers, I’d tried not to expect anything too dramatic from my trip. Having grown up playing so much American golf, I always wanted to believe that a deeper game lay beyond the manicured fairways I was accustomed to. But I was afraid to trust this notion: I hate to be disappointed.
Eight days and 234 holes of golf on eleven different Scottish courses torpedoed my fears and taught me more about the game than I could have learned playing in America for another century. For starters, I realized that accessing golf’s subtle inner core may require playing in swirling, howling salt air, lugging your own clubs up and down dunes for thirty-six holes, swinging helplessly at balls wedged in heather, tearing your clothes on gorse, freezing in cold ocean winds and occasional hail and sleet, and then giving yourself over to the reviving powers of a single-malt Highland whisky in the dark-paneled clubhouse bar overlooking a links where they’ve played golf for nearly five hundred years.
In America, we have so bastardized and diluted the game, manicured and modernized it, tidied it up and high-teched it, transformed it into an expensive, elitist hobby, and robbed it of so much of its purity and true character, it’s a wonder we can draw any emotion from golf at all. Yet, at some level, we must still sense its inherent potential: Why else would so many of us become addicted?
By traveling to Scotland, I also learned that at its very heart, golf is a game of connections—to the land, to history, to community, and ultimately to ourselves. The game has a power to unite players in a kind of overarching Oneness, but to feel these connections, we must return to golf’s roots and see where it was first played, and how, and maybe even why. In America we’ve severed the game’s most powerful connections, so we must return home, to Scotland, to discover them again.
« A propos de ce titre » peut appartenir à une autre édition de cet ouvrage.
World of Books (was SecondSale)
Montgomery, IL, Etats-Unis
Vendeur AbeBooks depuis 20 décembre 2007
Frais d'expédition à l'intérieur de ce pays : Etats-Unis
| Article | 4 à 12 jours ouvrés | 3 à 6 jours ouvrés |
|---|---|---|
| Premier article | EUR 0,00 | EUR 9,63 |
Modes de paiement
Description de la boutique
Founded in 2002, World of Books is a leading online destination for buying and selling both preloved and new books, committed to making sustainable reading accessible to all. With a mission to help people read more and waste less, World of Books offers a huge range of affordable, high-quality books — giving both new and preloved titles a second life. The company also operates World of Books – Sell Your Books, an easy-to-use platform that allows customers to trade in unwanted books for cash, helping to keep books in circulation while promoting sustainability. As a Certified B Corp, World of Books is driven by a vision to become the world’s largest and most sustainable dedicated online bookstore. The company measures its success through the positive environmental impact it creates, the value it provides to customers, and its ability to operate profitably while supporting its sustainable mission …
Profil professionnel du vendeur
SBYB, Inc.
900 Knell Rd
Montgomery, IL Etats-Unis 60538
Conditions de vente
We guarantee the condition of every book as it's described on the Abebooks web sites. If you're dissatisfied with your purchase (Incorrect Book/Not as Described/Damaged) or if the order hasn't arrived, you're eligible for a refund within 30 days of the estimated delivery date. If you've changed your mind about a book that you've ordered, please use the Ask bookseller a question link to contact us and we'll respond within 2 business days.
Droit de rétractation
Si vous êtes un consommateur, vous pouvez exercer votre droit de rétractation sur le contrat conformément à ce qui suit. Le mot « consommateur » désigne toute personne physique agissant à des fins qui n'entrent pas dans le cadre de son activité commerciale, artisanale ou professionnelle.
Informations concernant le droit de rétractation
Droit statutaire de rétractation
Vous avez le droit d'exercer votre droit de rétractation sur ce contrat dans les 14 jours sans donner de raison.
Le délai de rétractation expirera au bout de 14 jours à compter du jour où vous-même, ou un tiers autre que le transporteur et désigné par vous, prendrez physiquement possession de la dernière marchandise, du dernier lot ou de la dernière pièce.
Pour exercer votre droit de rétractation, remplissez électroniquement et envoyez une déclaration claire sur notre site Web, sous « Vos achats » dans « Votre compte ». Nous vous communiquerons sans délai un accusé de réception de cette rétractation sur un support durable (par exemple, par e-mail).
Pour respecter le délai de rétractation, il vous suffit d'envoyer votre message concernant l'exercice de votre droit de rétractation avant l'expiration du délai de rétractation.
Effets de la rétractation
Si vous exercez votre droit de rétractation sur ce contrat, nous vous rembourserons tous les paiements que vous avez effectués, y compris les frais de livraison (à l'exception des frais supplémentaires résultant du choix d'un mode de livraison autre que le type de livraison standard le moins cher que nous proposons).
Nous pouvons déduire du remboursement la perte de valeur de toute marchandise livrée, si la perte est le résultat d'une manipulation inutile de votre part.
Nous effectuerons le remboursement dans les meilleurs délais, et au plus tard 14 jours après le jour où nous aurons été informés de votre décision d'exercer votre droit de rétractation sur ce contrat.
Nous effectuerons le remboursement en utilisant le même moyen de paiement que celui que vous avez utilisé pour la transaction initiale, sauf si vous en avez expressément convenu autrement ; en tout état de cause, aucuns frais ne vous seront facturés à la suite d'un tel remboursement.
Nous pouvons suspendre le remboursement jusqu'à ce que nous ayons reçu les marchandises ou que vous ayez fourni la preuve que vous avez renvoyé les marchandises, en fonction de la première éventualité.
Vous devez renvoyer les marchandises ou les remettre à World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, Illinois, U.S.A., sans retard injustifié et, en tout état de cause, au plus tard 14 jours à compter du jour où vous nous avez communiqué votre décision de rétractation du présent contrat. Le délai est respecté si vous renvoyez les marchandises avant l'expiration du délai de 14 jours. Vous devrez prendre en charge les frais directs du renvoi des marchandises. Vous n'êtes responsable que de toute diminution de valeur des marchandises résultant d'une manipulation autre que celle nécessaire pour établir la nature, les caractéristiques et le fonctionnement des marchandises.
Exceptions au droit de rétractation
Le droit de rétractation ne s'applique pas à ce qui suit :
- Distribution de journaux, de revues ou de magazines, à l'exception des contrats d'abonnement ; et
- Fourniture d'un contenu numérique qui n'est pas fourni sur un support matériel (par exemple, sur un CD ou un DVD) si vous avez accepté, lors de votre commande, que nous puissions commencer à le livrer et que vous ne puissiez pas exercer votre droit de rétractation une fois la livraison commencée.
Conditions d'expédition
Shipping costs are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you to let you know extra shipping is required.