The town of Dornoch, Scotland, is a bit too small and remote to host a British Open, it has hardly diminished Royal Dornoch's mystique or renown. In an influential piece for The New Yorker in 1964 (and now included in this edition), Herbert Warren Wind wrote, "It is the most natural course in the world. No golfer has completed his education until he has played and studied Royal Dornoch."
Lorne Rubenstein spent a summer in Dornoch to rediscover the natural charms of the game he loves. But in the Highlands he also found a people shaped by the harshness of the land and the difficulty of drawing a living from it. Rubenstein met people of great thoughtfulness and spirit, eager to share their life stories and a wee dram or two. He came to understand how golf reflects the values, character, and history of the people who brought it into the world.
A Season in Dornoch is both the story of one man's immersion in the game of golf and an exploration of the world from which it emerged. Part travelogue, part portraiture, part good old-fashioned tale of matches played and friendships made, it takes us on an unforgettable journey to a marvelous, moody, mystical place.
WHAT'S NEW IN THIS 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION: A FULL UPDATE FROM LORNE: Lorne has written a 20-page update, sharing what's happened in Dornoch over the past 25 years, while chronicling the life of the book. He shares his recent experience of being made a Honorary Life Member of Royal Dornoch.
A LIVELY ESSAY BY STEPHEN PROCTOR: This noted golf writer explains the magic of A Season in Dornoch, why readers keep coming back to it, and why it should be on everyone's bookshelf.
PHOTOS OF ROYAL DORNOCH AND TOWN: The first edition regrettably lacked photographs. We're adding a section of color photos from Lorne's visits to Dornoch. The golf course and town come to life in the professional photographs included as well.
TOM COYNE PUTS IT TOGETHER: Coyne helps to contextualize the importance of A Season in Dornoch and its influence on golf literature over the past 25 years.
A REPRINT OF HERBERT WARREN WIND: His important essay, "North to the Links of Dornoch" (1964), which put Dornoch on the world golf map and has inspired many books, including Lorne's.
PRAISE FOR A SEASON IN DORNOCH"Lorne Rubenstein gives the reader a feel for what makes the appeal of the Highlands so enduring. He brings the place and its people to life, and his descriptions and images of Dornoch show how golf is but a part of the town's extraordinary fabric, though its strongest and most visible thread."-Tom Watson
"Rubenstein's tone is what matters: breezy, anecdotal, impressionistic, and easy on the metaphors. He wants golf to help him understand his life, not provide a substitute for it."-New York Times Book Review
"It is the village life even more than the golf that imbues this memoir with its seductive tranquility: that elusive quality we search for but rarely find in either our daily lives or our vacations. ... the prose breathes a kind of atmospheric calm that works on the reader like a mild summer breeze."-Booklist starred review
"Rubenstein has done every fan of the game a great and entertaining service by taking us with him on a magical mystery tour of Royal Dornoch, ... revealing far more than the area's soulful landscape and unforgettable local characters. Part sporting travelogue, part memoir of a summer magnificently spent, this tale of discovery will linger in the mind."-James Dodson, author of Final Rounds