I’ve had my copy of “Experience Royal Dornoch” for a month now -- and have just finished it.
What’s the rush, eh? As I’m sure Rich would tell you (if not necessarily demonstrate), one does not chug a fine wine.
I know nothing about fine wines -- but I know a little something about fine books, and make no mistake: This is a fine book. If you have been to Dornoch, or intend to go there someday, you will be happy to have it in your library.
The graphic display of the individual holes -- collages blending four-color and black-and-white ground-level pictures with aerial photography, pencil drawings (?), partially and completely hand-tinted B&W pictures, and watercolors (or are those hand-tinted photos?) -- is, as I said privately to Rich (he quoted me, too!), almost psychedelic. I’m still not sure quite what I’m looking at! Not that I know anything about psychedelia, either, of course -- or about Cubism, for that matter, which the picture/collages sometimes suggest, to my unschooled eye. It’s quite unlike anything I’ve seen in a golf book.
I’m sure that, if there’s to be a series of these “Experience” books, the temptation will be to slavishly follow the “Experience Royal Dornoch” template. I hope that that temptation will be resisted, lest the series become formulaic.
(One small criticism: Some of the touch-up work is a little heavy-handed -- outlines of bunkers, flags and such.)
The writing is simple (high praise!), clear-eyed, occasionally (and intentionally!) humorous (e.g., the banks of the No. 2 green having once been “shaved as close as Kojak’s head”), and evocative -- even for me, who has never been to Dornoch, except in longing. I imagine, as I must, how much more evocative both the writing and the pictures are for those who’ve been privileged to play Royal Dornoch.
Some of the Rich-supplied (and occasionally Rich-starring) anecdotes are memorably good. Two examples
-- “The back tee [at No. 1] can be very intimidating, particularly in open competition. The local chemist once whiffed his drive but then struck the ball as he was trying to bring the club back to position. It rolled backwards down to the edge of the tennis court, where he hacked at it, finally passing the first tee with his 7th stroke. Later on, he fell into the quarry on the 16th and broke his arm, but still played on to post a score.”
-- At No. 4: “25 years ago there was a bunker 100 yards ahead of the tee. In his first medal round a new American member [Dan interjects: Any guesses who?] managed to thin his drive into that bunker. 12 shots later he completed the hole and with an 11 on the 7th managed to get out in 63. As he professed to be an 8 handicap player, his playing partner must have wondered about American handicaps. Thankfully for our American friend that bunker was filled in some 15-20 years ago.”
I have only one major criticism, and it’s a serious one that I hope will the publisher will hear:
Our friend Mr. Goodale should be credited on the cover (along with any authorial co-conspirators) as the author(s) of the book. It should be clear that HE’S the writer -- not just some guy who gets some credit on the Acknowledgments page. I found it odd and uncomfortable to be reading a book officially credited to “OptimizeGolf” (says so right on the Title Page: “Experience Royal Dornoch … by OptimizeGolf”), when it was very clearly written not by an organization, but by a human being. (At least one unattributed sentence begins with “I.”)
But that aside: Highly recommended.