Jay Flemma interviews author Tom Coyne- "A Course Called Ireland"

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Note the Cobbs Creek reference:

http://www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/book_review_interview_tom_coynes_a_course_called_ireland

[Bill_McBride]

Nice article, Jay.  Hope you are well.

[Anthony Gray]

  I have been on this site for 5 months. I miss ay Flemma.

  Anthony

[Mike_Cirba]

JF: And how about some of your favorite in the U.S.?

TC: I enjoy the golf course at Glenn Mills outside Philadelphia, a Bobby Weed design, really fun golf course across some wild terrain, and Cobbs Creek is an oft-maligned course in Philadelphia that was once a world-class PGA Tour-caliber track. It hasn't been in great shape for I don't know how many decades, and a friend was once mugged while playing it (finished his match and won one-up), but it has the bones of a classic East Coast turn-of-the-century track. Home to some of the first great black golf professionals as well, it's a historically significant place.

[mike_malone]

 I wish I had seen this topic before last night's book signing. I would have loved to have discussed Jay with Tom.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Anthony,
What do you miss more, his 65 word sentences or his ability to cram 45 adjectives into same. 

[RJ_Daley]

Has Coyne played the sand hills or Oregon coast? 

It seems that meeting the people along the journey is very important to the story.  I think he'd like the sand hills in that regard, if he spent some time there.  Of course, Nebraska-CO doesn't have nearly the number of interesting courses to hike to, and the distances are way wider... 

I think I'll have to spring for Mr. Coyne's book.  In looking at his book signing tour and 'pub crawl', the man certainly knows where the most likely place is to find his literate Irish brothers.  Nothing would beat the odysey of his epic Irish golf journey, but the pub crawl might be a good subsitute. 

[Tony_Muldoon]

Has anyone read the book yet? It seems like a fine idea and you have to admire his tenacity and energy in seeing it through.  But, I followed his contemporaneous blog for awhile and it seemed like he was getting a little tetchy and tired by the time he’d hit the north, and he still had along way to go.   I was thinking of starting a thread asking why Ireland had not produced  interesting golf books as (visitors to) Scotland has.  Is this as good as even A Season in Dornoch or To the Linksland?



I must say the interview causes me further doubts and Ill wait for a discount copy to become available.

JF: What do you stress most to your students about good writing and what distinguishes a merely pretty good writer from a truly great one?

TC: Specificity of detail is what I stress most to the students.

Then

TC: ...
The best course design in Ireland was the least course design in Ireland. Royal County Down was laid out in two days by Tom Morris, no bulldozers required.


It maybe a good story to hear in a bar but he does need to check more facts if he’s to avoid over generalising and sentimentalising this aspect of Irish history.   (See http://www.golfclubatlas.com/rcd1.html  for a more detailed account of RCD’s evolution).





Has anyone read An Emerald Odyssey by Paul Zingg?  It would be interesting to get another take on this. Published last year it seemed to get no publicity whatsoever.  It has a broad sweep from golfing gods in Ireland to Pat Ruddy and a chapter urging you to love the Irish rain, it deserves more attention.

[Rory Connaughton]

Tony:

  Its a fun and quick read.  As in Paper Tiger, Tom uses golf (and in this instance the journey itself) as a vehicle to explore other themes.  It is very definitely written from the perspective of the Irish American who wants to understand the Ireland underneath postcards and Riverdance. I will be very curious to hear the Irish perspective (I am trying to get my father, a Dub, to give it a go).  For Eddie Hackett fans, Tom is not shy about expressing his admiration and discussing how much the man meant to golf in Ireland.

[Rich Goodale]

Has anyone read the book yet? It seems like a fine idea and you have to admire his tenacity and energy in seeing it through.  But, I followed his contemporaneous blog for awhile and it seemed like he was getting a little tetchy and tired by the time he’d hit the north, and he still had along way to go.   I was thinking of starting a thread asking why Ireland had not produced  interesting golf books as (visitors to) Scotland has.  Is this as good as even A Season in Dornoch or To the Linksland?



I must say the interview causes me further doubts and Ill wait for a discount copy to become available.

JF: What do you stress most to your students about good writing and what distinguishes a merely pretty good writer from a truly great one?

TC: Specificity of detail is what I stress most to the students.

Then

TC: ...
The best course design in Ireland was the least course design in Ireland. Royal County Down was laid out in two days by Tom Morris, no bulldozers required.


It maybe a good story to hear in a bar but he does need to check more facts if he’s to avoid over generalising and sentimentalising this aspect of Irish history.   (See http://www.golfclubatlas.com/rcd1.html  for a more detailed account of RCD’s evolution).





Has anyone read An Emerald Odyssey by Paul Zingg?  It would be interesting to get another take on this. Published last year it seemed to get no publicity whatsoever.  It has a broad sweep from golfing gods in Ireland to Pat Ruddy and a chapter urging you to love the Irish rain, it deserves more attention.

Tony

He was sloppy too about Waterville and its "100 year history."  I did, however, read some of his stuff last year when chapters were posted on the internet, and his writing is above average for this sort of thing.

Rich