Two Years in St. Andrews

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."

George Peper

1 The Slice of My Life 2 Transatlantic Landlord 3 An End and a Beginning 4 Dogged Pursuit 5 Arrival 6 Two Andrews 7 Round One 8 Molishing 9 The Saint Hood 10 Perfect Golf 11 In at Last 12 Gordon 13 Show Me Your Papers 14 Window Office 15 The Club 16 Tescoid Anthropology 17 Wooing the Old Lady 18 A Special Experience 19 Pedo-phile 20 Playing Backwards 21 Having a Wee Flutter 22 21 Ways to Get on the Old Course 23 A Different World 24 Happy Anniversary 25 Other Courses, Other Charms 26 Rifts and Schisms 27 A Matter of Trust 28 Did It -- with Sir Michael! 29 Nice Measurements 30 Victoria's Vase 31 On His Majesty's Secret Service 32 The Night I Kissed the Captains' Balls 33 The Wedge-Away 34 The Partisans 35 Reunion 36 Winter Wonderland 37 Stalking Prince William 38 Dazzled by a Puffin Crossing 39 Two Trips Home 40 Herbicide 41 Summer Son 42 50,000 People in Our Backyard 43 Home Acknowledgments Index