To the Linksland

Michael Bamberger dropped out of the workaday world and entered the world of golf for a year. He became a caddie, following the championships from the US to Europe, ending in Scotland, where he began a search for primal golf. This is the memoir of his golfing pilgrimage.

---

Golf buff Michael Bamberger took the plunge. He dropped out of the workaday world, and into the world of golf. He gave up his apartment, took leave from his job and, with his newlywed wife, embarked on a unique golfing adventure: from the United States to Scotland by way of the European golf tour, breeding ground for the game's most exciting players. To get close to the players, the writer became a caddie, and before the year was out, he had caddied in the national championships of Portugal, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Ireland and finally Scotland, ancestral home of golf. In Scotland the author began a search for primal golf, a search that took him to a secret course, built by a shepherd and maintained by his sheep, miles from civilisation. This is the memoir of Bamberger's golfing pilgrimage. In joining the author on his journey, we ride an all-night caddie bus on the back roads of Spain and Portugal, play golf courses in Paris, Florence, Madrid, MonteCarlo and all through Scotland. We are shown the sleeping gems of Scottish golf. We meet Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosman's father, Arnold Palmer's British caddie, and the ghost of Old Tom Morris. We visit the home of Captain P.W.T.
(Paddy) Hanmer, retired secretary of Muirfield, a man who made American corporate chieftains shake in their loafers.