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

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Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster

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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.3520684129
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2006-05-30
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Studio: Simon & Schuster

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Editorial Reviews:

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."

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: Shallow and disappointing
Comment: I purchased this book on a recommendation while ordering "Tommy's Honor" through Amazon. If "Tommy's Honor" was a stroll around the Old Course, "Two Years" was a heavy laden trudge thru a muddy field.

My daughter spent four years studying at St Andrews and that provided a good excuse to visit. Beyond the golf, I enjoyed late night walks aroud the town, visits to the pubs and swimming in the rich local history. My daughter graduated in 2005 and we spent most of the summer in the flat she had shared with her roommates. Its very probable that I passed the author on the street.

This book includes tedious packing lists and innocous names but outside his own flat, the R & A, and the Old Course disappointing little about the town itself or surrounding Fife. The author peppered his writing with often sophomoric remarks that were meant to humor but I found entirely flat.

I very much wanted to enjoy this book but was greatly disappointed.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Two Years in St. Andrews
Comment: George Peper has captured, for all of us stateside hackers, the essence of what golf retirement dreams are made...living on the Old Course at St. Andrews and being enfolded into the Scottish golfing community. This book is a delightful read that I have passed around my golfing group with unanimous praise, and envy. With a lifetime of connections from his days as editor of GOLF DIGEST, Peper takes you from the inner sanctum of the R&A, hob nobbing with the guardians of the game, to the rowdy clubhouses and pubs with his many colorful golfing groups, squaring their bets over more than a few pints. The author's gift is his ability to recount all these experiences with a wonderful humor and evenhandedness, even at his own expense. Many golf readers may long for a Shavius Irons experience in life, but, in retirement, I want to move into Peper's neighborhood.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Enjoyable read, however ...
Comment: I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It is well written and offers many insights into the world of golf.... which can be both good and bad. As for his writing style, humor, and penchant for witty observations, I give Mr. Peper 5 stars. However, by the end of the book I was annoyed by the author's thinly veiled anti-American tone. Given the opportunity our nation has afforded him (what golfer would not want to live overlooking The Old Course?), it was disappointing to read his dismissal of American life and of a polarized American society. Ironic, since Mr. Peper does offer us some background about why the Scots are polarized by golfing clubs, land-use issues, aristocracy, and their English counterparts. Perhaps he misses golf's biggest lesson: that mankind's nature is immutable and inevitable no matter which course we play. Otherwise, it is a fine book.

Customer Rating:

Summary: If you love Golf you'll love this Book.
Comment: This has to be one of the "Gems" of Golf Travel books.

From start of finish I found this book well written, humorous, sophisticated and wonderfully self-effacing. I would like to meet George Peper; I'm sure we would get along very well. Maybe a game on the Old Course would do the trick.

This is a fabulously entertaining tale of George and his wife's move to St. Andrews from an important position in the U.S.A., namely editor of Golf Digest. The story begins with the acquisition of an apartment overlooking the hallowed turf of the 18th Green of the Old Course at St.Andrews, the home of Golf.

George has the extremely good fortune of being a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and sets about using this privilege to good effect. Not only does he become a popular and successful member, he also achieves a long held ambition; playing a round on the Old Course in Par.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have been inspired by his "two years of golf" and long to follow his example by playing the Old Course, at least once.

His fondness for the people of St. Andrews and Scotland in general comes through with a warmth and genuinely felt emotion.

I can not imagine anyone finding this book disappointing. To me it has been a wonderful windfall.

Customer Rating:

Summary: I felt as if I were there
Comment: Someday before I turn 50 (I just turned 40), I plan to visit Scotland and St. Andrew's. But I already feel as if I have been there once after reading Mr. Peper's book.

Mr. Peper really captures the spirit of the town. It's so much different from the hustle and bustle of American life and the digital age in general. He breaks the book into small mostly unrelated "chapters" which highlight part of the town, the course, family, etc.

Thanks, George! Your book was an enjoyable read cover-to-cover.

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