Q&A With George Peper

George Peper and Malcolm Campbell have teamed with principal photographer Iain Lowe to produce True Links, a glorious take on links golf and the 200 or so truly authentic links. Instead of pandering to readers as most coffee table books tend to do, Peper and Campbell treat the reader intelligently by presenting a demanding list of requirements for a course to be considered an authentic links. In between Lowe's architecturally-informative images are wise words and a true education in links golf characteristics.

Peper was kind enough to answer a few questions about the book and life in St. Andrews, where the former Golf Magazine editor now resides.

 
Q: The title True Links suggests you are weeding out the faux links from the authentic links and you end the book with 246 courses you list as "authentic links." What inspired the idea and how did you go about doing this?

GP: About three years ago my co-author Malcolm Campbell, along with Brian Keating, the developer of Machrihanish Dunes, started something called The Links Association, whose mission is to promote, protect, and preserve links courses worldwide. At that time, they began to compile a list of genuine links. When I got wind of their project I suggested a book. Artisan liked the idea, and we were off.

Our first step was to agree on a definition—not of links per se but of linksland. As our basis we used the British Golf Museum’s definition which describes linksland as "a stretch of land near the coast on which the game is played, characterized by undulating terrain, often associated with dunes, infertile sandy soil, and indigenous grasses such as marram, sea lyme, and the fescues and bents which, when properly managed, produce the fine, textured, tight turf for which links are famed."

The maritime environment was important to us. Surely, there are many fine courses around the world that look and play like links, including some recent additions such as Sand Hills, Chambers Bay, and your own course at Rustic Canyon, but without the sea aspect you just can’t have the authentic experience of links golf.

That narrowed the field of candidates to about 500 courses, many of which were eliminated because of their playing conditions. Courses such as Pebble Beach, Old Head in Ireland, and Nefyn & District in Wales are not links, they’re clifftop courses, without the firm sand base a links course requires. Others were in tropical climates that couldn’t sustain the grasses necessary for fast-running conditions, at least not year round. Some, like Maidstone, had a few authentic links holes but not enough to characterize the course as a links. Others, like Scotscraig near St Andrews, had too many trees lining the fairways. Finally, there were a few courses, such as Le Touquet in France and Le Zoute in Belgium that had strayed from their original design and agronomy to the point that they could not longer be called links.

Working over the course of a year and with the help of a kitchen cabinet--about a dozen golf course architecture mavens around the world--Malcolm and I pared our list to a final count of 246, and with relatively little disagreement.

 
Q: You've been living in St. Andrews for some time now and based on the book, it appears you've fallen for several lesser known links. If you were an American planning a trip to the St. Andrews area, tell us what lesser-known links you'd suggest are essential stops.

GP: Actually, the only links I’ve truly fallen for is the new Castle Stuart course by Mark Parsinen and Gil Hanse. That is a must play, worth every minute of the three-hour drive from St Andrews to Inverness.

For the most part, however, the well-known links are well known for a reason—they’re the best courses. There aren’t too many hidden gems. One exception in the St Andrews area would be Lundin Links, Malcolm’s home course, where an insidious little burn adds to the fun. Another is Elie, a “gentleman’s course” that’s almost always in great condition and has a couple of spectacular holes along the water.

Between Malcolm and me, we’ve played just about all of the 84 links in Scotland, and if you want the truth, about 50 of them aren’t worth the trouble—they’re either very short or relatively undistinguished. But that doesn’t make them any less true links.

 
Q: Iain Lowe is the principal photographer for True Links and you two collaborated on his new book, Golf Links of Scotland. You've worked with a lot of photographers over the years, what is it that you like about his work?

GP: Iain is a St Andrean. He appreciates that links courses have many moods, and he knows how to capture them. His aerial photography is the best in the business (he began his career shooting from the skies with the RAF). And he really cares. He will go back to a site two or three times and wait several days to get the right shot. During the final production of Golf Links of Scotland he spent two weeks at a printing press in China, ensuring that the color reproduction was spot on.

 
Q: A lot of modern tour professionals don't like the idea of playing links golf for more than a week at a time for fear of messing up their swings. Now that you mostly only play links golf, what do you say to that mentality?

GP: The rank and file U.S. pros complain too much. If, at their level, they can’t adjust to links conditions for a week without losing their swings, let them take that week off. The great players have no problem. Look at Bernhard Langer this year—he won the British and US Senior Opens on back to back weeks at Carnoustie and Sahalee.  Can you think of two more dissimilar courses—not to mention 6000 miles apart!

That said, I’ll admit that my own game has undergone some major changes since I moved to St Andrews— especially because I play most of my golf on the Old Course. Where once I had a high fade, I now have a low draw. Where once I had a great short game, I now have the yips on chip and pitch shots. In fact, the only part of my game that has improved in the last few years is the ability to two-putt from 90 feet, an absolutely useless skill anywhere else in the world.


Q: You end the book with a chapter about the future of links and golf courses and some of your hope hinges on Donald Trump proving you can build a sustainable links. That doesn't sound good for the game, no?

GP: I’m not sure what you mean there. I do think Trump’s course is going to be spectacular. I’ve walked the land a couple of times, and there’s no question the dunes he has are the largest on any links in the world—by far. I also think he made the right choice of architect in Martin Hawtree, a low-key guy who will counterbalance The Donald’s glitz to produce a course that plays dramatically through those dunes without being overpowered by them. And in contrast to Trump’s other courses around the world, this one will be relatively low maintenance and sustainable. Whether or not he succeeds with his ambitious real estate plans, the course will live happily ever after. It may not turn out to be “the best course in the world” as Trump predicts, but I’m confident it will be an important addition to the Scottish golf landscape—and the world’s 247th true links.

 
Q: At this year's Open Championship you gave a wonderful speech at the Association of Golf Writers dinner in which you pretty much let the golf establishment know they wouldn't be missed if they disappeared from the scene. Have any sheep heads turned up in your bed? What kind of reaction did you get?

GP: Thanks. I guess you’re referring to my closing rant that, if professional golf were to vanish from the earth tomorrow, golfers around the world would observe a moment of silence and then go right on play--the pros are nice but not necessary.

The reaction that night and the rest of the week was terrific and all positive. Someone sitting at Graeme McDowell’s table told me he was smiling and nodding in agreement as I spoke, and when I sat down even Monty gave me a thumbs up. I’ve since learned that the one guy who wasn’t pleased was—no surprise—Tim Finchem. I guess if I were he I’d have had the same reaction. That said, I don’t anything from my mouth or pen will ever have much effect on the PGA Tour! 

Q&A With Daniel Wexler

Daniel Wexler has added another helpful volume to his collection of great reads on golf architecture: The American Private Golf Club Guide. It's a simple, clean, easy to access volume that has found its place on my reference shelf next to The Architects of Golf and The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses. Wexler profiles 1000 private U.S. courses of all shapes and sizes, offering the golfer a short write-up about its architectural merits along with historical anecdotes of note. He also includes other vitals like yardage, par, rating and website and/or club phone. And there's a twist to his rating system, which he answers in this short Q&A:

GS: This wasn't exactly a small undertaking, tell us how this book came about and how you researched the 1000 courses you selected?

DW: The book initially came about as sort of a novelty project, a volume I figured would fit a corner of the golf guidebook market that had previously been largely unexplored. Only after I got rolling did I realize that given the size and style of the course reviews (with their accent on architecture, history, etc.), this might turn into a much deeper book than initially planned. So far as research goes, I utilized an enormous range of sources beginning with my own travels, but also taking into account lots of information from various internet and literary sources, plus many people around the country whose golf opinions I trust. The goal of the book was to be candid without being opinionated – that is, to present each facility in an accurate architectural and historical context, utilizing my own opinion as little as possible.  

GS: Who is the book geared toward and how do you see it supplementing their golf experience?

DW: The traveling club golfer is the obvious starting point, but one of the things I like most about the book is that it should appeal to anyone with a serious interest in courses and course design. For the traveling golfer, its role in helping them decide where they may wish to play is clear enough. But for anyone else, it’s the only book ever published that profiles so many private facilities with any real degree of detail, providing candid portraits of far more than just the handful of great courses with which everyone is already familiar. Interestingly, the most frequent comment I’ve received regards the sort of historical material included, so I think it really does work on both levels.

GS: You give a star rating to each course called a Collectability Rating, something Tom Doak took issue with because he felt it somehow infringed on his rating system in his out of print Confidential Guide To Golf Courses. Tell us how yours is different.

DW: Tom’s system is representative of his opinion on the quality of each of the courses he’d visited, which I think, given his position in the game, is of considerable interest to people. My goal, as mentioned, was just the opposite: to remove my opinion to the greatest degree possible. Thus the Collectability Rating represents how prestigious or desirable a “get” each club might be to a player’s personal collection based upon its quality (as determined by numerous published rankings and commentaries), history, architectural significance and importance in its market. It’s an easy-to-understand five diamond scale which, so far, has been pretty well received.  

GS: You are working on follow up editions that cover public and resort courses? How are those coming along?

DW: The resort book is on schedule to be published by Thanksgiving, and covers pretty much every golfing resort in the U.S. and the Caribbean. The public course book should be out in the late spring of 2011 and will profile at least 1,000 top non-resort public access facilities nationwide.

GS: You self-published through Amazon, how did that work out compared to working with a traditional publisher?

DW: So far very well. In order to make this sort of endeavor work, a writer needs to be able to perform all the tasks normally done by a publisher, particularly editing, layout and marketing. If you’re able to do this to a reasonable degree, then self publishing is wonderful because you control every aspect of the process. No fighting with editors over stupid changes, no waiting for the book to be published, no questions over royalties. All in all, a very welcomed change. As far as Amazon goes, it’s actually done through their CreateSpace subsidiary and to date they’ve been great. They’re well organized, the process is relatively simple and so far they’ve done everything they’ve promised.

Q&A With Dan Jenkins, Vol. 3

Tuesday marks the paperback release of Jenkins At The Majors, a compilation of Dan's favorite write-ups from golf's majors. As he did the last two years (here and here), Jenkins answered the questions via email on the eve of 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

GS: I know you've been distracted by the looming World Cup, but we are returning to Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open. What do you like most about the place?

DJ: Club 19 in the Lodge is what I used to like best. After that, it's 7, 8,  9, and 10. Great stretch of holes. Right up there with Amen Corner. 8 and 9 are particularly immortal. Did I once name that stretch Abalone Corner? 


GS: Pebble has produced a Hall of Fame winner every time it's hosted a major, does this mean we're due for a drone?

DJ: Pebble is probably due for a drone. Every great course gets one; sometimes more. Oakmont has it's Sam Parks Jr., Oakland Hills has its Steve Jones, Olympic has its Jack Fleck, and Baltusrol has its, well, Baltusrol.


GS: Who do you think will end up with more post-car accident major wins, Hogan or Woods?

DJ: Hogan won six majors after his accident. If Tiger Woods tops that, the good news is, I'll be dead and won't see it.


GS: You wrote that Tiger could "come back and even win again, if he man's up, but if he does he will only be a hero to the 'you-da-man' and 'get-in-the-hole' crowd. And I can't imagine him coming back as a 'humbled man.'"  How do you view his comeback thus far?

DJ: So far, his comeback is a total failure. And compared to Hogan's, it's laughable. Ben tied for the LA Open 11 months after he almost got killed, won the Greenbriar in May and the Open in June. All Tiger has done is hold a staged press conference in front of employees and hired weepers.


GS:  Phil Mickelson now has more green jackets than your man Hogan. What say you Ancient Twitterer?

DJ: Phil may have three Augustas to Hogan's two, but Ben geared his game toward U. S. Opens, of which he has five, counting the one in wartime, while Phil has a record 5 runnersup, cornering the market on silver. But I like Phil and root for him. He's good with us print guys. And he likes me. I like people who like me.


GS: So in the era of layoffs, downsizing, shrinking expense accounts and the overall demise of print, how's Jim Tom Pinch getting by?

DJ: Jim Tom is glad he lived and worked in a better world. And he has little sympathy for dying newspapers. They started digging their own graves by being spineless and politically correct.

Final word. Sorry Jenkins at the Majors is coming out in paperback before I had a chance to include Tiger's press conference for the hired weepers.

"A few sole practitioners also pursue the art."

John Paul Newport on golf poetry's possible resurgence, and it's not called Twitter.

A few sole practitioners also pursue the art. Recently I received a self-published collection titled "The Kiss That Cured My Slice" by John Ducker. The title poem describes a round with a beautiful women, never to be seen again, who inspires him to shoot his best-ever score. In another poem the poet tees it up with Madonna, Michael Jackson and Prince, whose ball on the greens never misses the cup and is nicknamed Purple Drain.

But surely the most avid contemporary practitioner is Leon White, a retired MIT professor and health-insurance executive from Massachusetts. He culls old magazines and books for interesting poems, and adds a few he writes himself, for weekly posts on his blog at www.golfpoet.com. Recently he's been experimenting with repurposing golf poem lines as 140-character Tweets, which he calls Twines. An example: "Had Tiger come clean before being hounded, Could he have escaped without being pounded?" So maybe there's hope for golf poetry yet.

Jenkins Tribute

The USGA hosted a salute to Dan Jenkins on the eve of his 200th major. Well attended, festive and fun (uh, were SI guys barred?), they handed out his latest book and DJ bobbleheads courtesy of Golf Digest.

Jerry Tarde saluted Dan and only slipped in twice that we were in the presence of a future Hall of Famer. Of course, what they're waiting for, no one knows!

David Fay thanked Dan for his service and shrewdly pointed out that this is Dan's 201st major, if you count the 1942 Hale America Open. You may recall Dan has lobbied for that 1942 playing of the Open to count, not because his boy Hogan won but because it was the rebranded U.S. Open in a war year.

Dan finally took the microphone atop the interview room podium, and proceeded to take us through his round in tour drone fashion. "Hit in the left rough on one." Press room joke. Had to be there.

My favorite was a Dave Marr story. Dave was asked what were the top three things Bruce Crampton did wrong. "He was born. He came to America. He stayed in America."

Q&A With Dan Jenkins, Vol. 2

Today marks the release of Jenkins At The Majors, a collection of Dan's best write-ups from those four events not called The Players. You may recall that Jenkins answered questions last year upon the release of The Franchise Babe, and he kindly talks to us about his second golf anthology. The book includes an Introduction to the essays and a commentary on golf journalism, along with an Epilogue where Dan lists his "all-time golf team, driver through the putter and the interview room."

GS: So you've got a new book out of your major championship essays. Is this all of them or a selection of favorites as picked out by you or some really bright book editor?

DJ: My original title of the new book was "Deadline at the Majors." I still like this better than "Jenkins at the Majors." Nevertheless...I chose 94 pieces from newspapers and magazines as being representative of the 198 majors I've covered since 1951. From Hogan to Tiger, as it happens, or from the Fort Worth Press to Golf Digest, with the Dallas Times Herald and Sports Illustrated in between.

All of the pieces had to be shortened, of course, and some of them I've tweaked, and there is a bit of fresh material included, but basically it's stuff I wrote on deadline. I hope it presents a pretty good picture of pro golf as it unfolded before my very eyes over nearly 60 years.


GS: Some writers would rather go see a Celine Dion concert than revisit their past rants. How do you handle reading your old stuff?

DJ: I don't enjoy looking back at my old stuff, other than to enjoy the historical value of it. Sometimes I'm amazed at how less than regurgitating it was, and quite often I'm left to wonder who that stranger was that sneaked into my office and wrote that embarrassing tirade.


GS: The Players Championship is this week. You lived down there for a while. Do you miss Ponte Vedra much?

DJ: I enjoyed my time in Ponte Vedra---it got me back on the golf course after all those years in Manhattan when the major sports were smoking, drinking, typing and hanging out. But it was finally time to go home to Texas. You CAN go home again and be happy. I'm living proof. I haven't been back to Ponte Vedra in 10 years. I'm sure it's changed a lot in some respects but stayed the same in others.


GS: The U.S. Open returns to Bethpage and close to another place you used to live. Are you hanging out in the city for old time's sake or staying out on boring old Long Island?

DJ: The Bethpage Open will be my 200th major and I'll be at the press hotel again in a part of Long Island I never knew existed, an hour from the course or anywhere to eat.


GS: Any deep thoughts heading into Bethpage?

DJ: I'm not a big fan of the course. There's no hole you want to take away with you, which is true of most places other than Pine Valley, Cypress Point, or Augusta National. There's a terrible sameness to Bethpage, but it plays tough, and the old-fashioned round greens look like unidentified flying objects have landed there.


GS: Seen any good movies or read any good books lately?

DJ: Good movies are harder and harder to find. But plenty of good books are out there if you like some of my favorite authors---Daniel Silva, Michael Connelly, James W. Hall, Alan Furst, and John Sandford, to name a few.


GS: Interspersed throughout your literature has been the line about "nothing that a good old depression wouldn't fix." Well we could be there. Is it at least righting some of the wrongs?

DJ: Yeah, I used to say a good old Depression could fix a lot of things---meaning greed. But it hasn't fixed the PGA Tour yet. I do love the game, but what has prompted that statement is purely my own frustration with the fact that I can work two years on a book, and some guy I've never heard of, who didn't graduate from college, and never went to class when he was IN college, and doesn't know how to do anything but hit a golf ball, can make more money in one week than my book will by finishing 5th in a regular tournament I don't give a shit about , and it's not even achieving anything. It's not WINNING or even accomplishing anything.

There's something wrong with that picture. It's why in my declining years I have arrived at the point where I don't give a damn about anything but the four majors and the Ryder Cup. They are important. The regular tour sucks.

I should mention that the regular tour didn't used to suck. It used to be quite glamorous, when the LA Open was always first, when the Crosby was the Crosby, when the players wore snappy clothes and movie stars hung around them, when the Florida swing had its own charm, same for Texas, and so on. But mainly when every winner was SOMEBODY.

I live in the past. It was a better world.

"In the American golf imagination, the nine-holer is maligned as a Velcro-patched pitch 'n' putt, the lesser-dressed cousin of miniature golf."

I loved Tom Coyne's SI Golf Plus My Shot piece on Irish golf and the beauty of the 9-hole round. He nails it. If there was some way we could de-stigmatize the 9-hole round, I'd sure love to hear it. (I still say a match play event with 9-hole matches in pool play would help.)

As for Coyne's book, I just received it and haven't had a chance to look at it yet. But freelancer and avid book reader Tom Mackin says this about it and John Garrity's latest:

If you're not going to Ireland soon -- despite one Euro being worth $1.30 American, the best rate in a long while -- two new books will get you there in spirit. Tom Coyne's "A Course Called Ireland" (Gotham Books) chronicles his walk -- yes, walk -- around the entire island while playing almost 60 links courses. John Garrity investigates his own Irish heritage, at a more leisurely pace, in "Ancestral Links" (New American Library). Two different perspectives on the game and the country with a shared favorite: Carne Golf Links in County Mayo.