A Season in Dornoch: 25th Anniversary Edition

By Lorne Rubenstein

Book Overview

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

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1956237194
• ISBN13: 9781956237191
• Release Date: March 2024
• Publisher: Back Nine Press
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Wee Bit of Dram of A Golf Book

Rubenstein seeks out the Scottish course that he enjoyed 25 years past, and discovers much more than he bargained for.This eminent, wordcrafter contributes a delightful tale of golf, not "cart-ball" as the game as become on the NA contienent. Here, it's not booming drives and high stick shots, but more the relaxation and wide open spaces with the tranquility and sereneness the game has had in these Highlands.One gets somewhat the feel that golfers rave about in Scotland, and this fine book helps those of us who have never been closer than say London in my case to get a taste of what it's like to be near the sea in sand formed links.Golfers will reverberate to his find wordsmithing such as: "Golf, not marriage, is the triumph of hope over experience. I don't konow why I shuld feel hopeful after playing dreadfully for thirteen holes and now facing the most comfounding hole on the course. That's golf. That's a golfer."Such charming writing about what every golfer that I know has ever played speaks of Dornoch, it is the essence of Donald Ross and links golf and everything the game is about.What the season life at Dornoch gives Rubenstein he also passes on, the Clearances and the plight of this people of pipes and drams and links and books. Sounds like the perfect village life many of us dream of living in.

Ace in the Hole!

Lorne Rubenstein has scored a literary "Hole in One" with this book. How so? - He has successfully tackled that most difficult of subjects - a community and its local characters, as seen by an outsider (or "incomer" as known locally in the Highlands) who is living slap bang in the middle of town. Not only this, but the landscape and its people are seen in an historical context that is dominated by land ownership and the forced clearances of tenants. Pretty heavy stuff, you might protest, but no - a charming, light hearted insight into Dornoch life that really tells you something about the Highlands of Scotland, its history, its romance, its golf.....and Madonna! Lorne does this by getting seriously involved in the heart of things - he doesn't sit around on the sidelines and ponder - He gets his boots muddy by psyching himself up & competing in the Carnegie Shield golf championships at Dornoch; sharing the excitement of playing the ancient, traditional links of nearby Brora & Golspie; tramping & cycling around the countryside and most of all by meeting as many local folk as possible, downing a dram and recording their philosophy of life, love & the golfing universe.We also learn something about Lorne & his wife Nell, a partnership which has true romance peeking out between the pages. If you have ever dreamed of spending a summer in the Highlands of Scotland, read this book - Rubenstein has got it spot on .. an Ace in all respects.

A warmhearted golf and travel book

Lorne Rubenstein, the veteran golf columnist of the Toronto Globe and Mail, is one of the game's most distinguished writers, in the tradition of Bernard Darwin and Herbert Warren Wind. A Season in Dornoch is the chronicle of the enchanted time he and his wife, Nell, spent in the tiny Scottish village that gave birth to the renowned golf architect Donald Ross and is home to the Royal Dornoch Golf Club. The course is highly-esteemed by golf architects and prominent golfers like Tom Watson, but its remote location allows it to exist in relative obscurity compared to more famous counterparts like St. Andrews, Muirfield and Carnoustie. For three months spanning the summer of 2000, Rubenstein immersed himself in the golfing life of a golf-intoxicated community. I enjoyed his accounts of matches won and lost, swing thoughts seized on and almost as quickly abandoned, and the rueful, but good-natured tale of his play in the major amateur event of the summer, the Carnegie Shield. Much of the true charm of the book, though, lies in Rubenstein's keen, wide-ranging observations on life as it's lived away from the golf course in this ruggedly beautiful area of the Scottish Highlands. I found it enlightening to learn about the sometimes painful history of the region, the way that history echoes down to the present, and how it influenced Rubenstein's response to the landscape. For Rubenstein, golf obviously has been a means to explore the world, and so he introduces the reader to subjects as diverse as Scottish piping, the natural history of links golf courses and the subtle pleasures of fine single-malt Scotch. I enjoyed meeting the charming cast of characters that come vividly to life in Rubenstein's gentle prose (Madonna even makes a cameo appearance). A Season in Dornoch is a delightful book for lovers of the game of golf and all things Scottish. I know it has me eagerly looking forward to my first visit there.

Where the Game Still Rings True

For most non-Scots, a trip to the Homeland of golf necessitates a whirlwind tour of the Open Championship rota courses- Royal Troon, Turnbury, Muirfield (if you plan well ahead), Carnoustie, and certainly, the Old Course at St. Andrews. Great history, lots of photo opportunities, bags of logo sweaters, memories and experiences to savor. But, for many, and increasingly, the saavy and erudite golfer is selecting destinations and links courses away from the package- tour crowd. Where the courses are relatively uncrowded, and where the locals have not been put through a mandatory training class in dealing with finicky, type-A travelers, who rage at the bacon being not just so, or the course not being yardage marked on every sprinkler head. Names pop up, like Machrihanish, Peterhead, and especially, Dornoch. The small village of Dornoch, county Sutherland, the birth place of Donald Ross, is located in the Northern Highlands, 50 miles north of Inverness, 4 hours plus from the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and nearly as long a journey from the Rota courses. Many central region Scots view the trek as being too cumbersome for their holidays. And that surely is part of the quest and the reward. Royal Dornoch invariably is rated among the top 15 courses in the world, and if villages had their own rating system, dare say the burgh would rank as high. Lorne Rubenstein and his wife Nell somehow(praise them with large dollops of envy) spent the summer of 2000 living in a small flat above the bookshop, playing the wonderful links, and meeting a variety of the local citizens. The reader is invited into the life of the village, where golf is truly integral to the economy as well as the ethos of population. Everyone plays, everyone cares about the game, everyone welcomes and befriends the visitors. You will meet, and indeed "know" Euan, the kilted, poetry spewing barman; Andrew, the septugenarian RDGC member, who caddies for guests of the club; Pipey, another weathered ancient, who has lived the game of golf his entire life, and would not trade a minute; Jim Miller,from nearby Brora, one of the finest amateurs in Highland golf history. Rubenstein delves into the history of the region, exposing the horrific drama of the "clearances". He also gives us a good glimpse of himself, his long, tight ties with the game, and his relationships with its players, and his loving wife Nell. If you have been to Dornoch, this book will ring clear and true, and you will want to E-mail Rubenstein with your own anecdotes about the town and course and people. If you have not had the priviledge of the Dornoch experience, or of Scotland , for that matter, you will getting your maps out, setting a new vacation budget, and calling your travel agent before you close the cover.

Where the Game Still Rings True

For most non-Scots, a trip to the Homeland of golf necessitates a whirlwind tour of the Open Championship rota courses- Royal Troon, Turnbury, Muirfield (if you plan well ahead), Carnoustie, and certainly, the Old Course at St. Andrews. Great history, lots of photo opportunities, bags of logo sweaters, memories and experiences to savor. But, for many, and increasingly, the saavy and erudite golfer is selecting destinations and links courses away from the package- tour crowd. Where the courses are relatively uncrowded, and where the locals have not been put through a mandatory training class in dealing with finicky, type-A travelers, who rage at the bacon being not just so, or the course not being yardage marked on every sprinkler head. Names pop up, like Machrihanish, Peterhead, and especially, Dornoch. The small village of Dornoch, county Sutherland, the birth place of Donald Ross, is located in the Northern Highlands, 50 miles north of Inverness, 4 hours plus from the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and nearly as long a journey from the Rota courses. Many central region Scots view the trek as being too cumbersome for their holidays. And that sure is part of the quest and the reward. Royal Dornoch invariably is rated among the top 15 courses in the world, and if villages had their own rating system, dare say the burgh would rank as high. Lorne Rubenstein and his wife Nell somehow(praise them with large dollops of envy) spent the summer of 2000 living in a small flat above the bookshop, playing the wonderful links, and meeting a variety of the local citizens. The reader is invited into the life of the village, where golf is truly integral to the economy as well as the ethos of population. Everyone plays, everyone cares about the game, everyone welcomes and befriends the visitors. You will meet. and indeed "know" Euan, the kilted, poetry spewing barman; Andrew, the septugenarian RDGC member, who caddies for guests of the club; Pipey, another weathered ancient, who has lived the game of golf his entire life, and would not trade a minute; Jim Miller,from nearby Brora, one of the finest amateurs in Highland golf history. Rubenstein delves into the history of the region, exposing the horrific drama of the "clearances". He also gives us a good glimpse of himself, his long, tight ties with the game, and his relationships with its players, and his loving wife Nell. If you have been to Dornoch, this book will ring clear and true, and you will want to E-mail Rubenstein with your own anecdotes about the town and course and people. If you have not had the priviledge of the Dornoch experience, or of Scotland , for that matter, you will getting your maps out, setting a new vacation budget, and calling your travel agent before you close the cover.