The Uncorrupted Pleasure of an Old Bladed Putter is essentially about falling in love with golf. Connecting with the zeitgeist of our times it calls for something simpler, less manufactured, perhaps purer- The 13 fables loosens the shackles of expectation, which drill us to manufacture a ‘perfect’ swing, count each shot and follow every rule. That’s not all that golf is about - it’s about spending time with a friend you don’t get to see very often, smelling fresh cut grass on a dewy morning, bracing yourself against a west wind, feeling your head lift and your shoulders unclench as you walk down the first and the small triumph of a ball eventually finding the hole.  

But, The Uncorrupted Pleasure… isn’t just about golf. Golf is also the way in to conversations about how to be in the world and live the best version of a life. I have been told the book is a smooth, easeful and uplifting read, A friend at bedtime and it sits alongside titles including How to Fish by Chris Yates, A Shepherd’s Life, by James Rebanks and On Learning Golf by Percy Boomer.

Excerpts from Chapter 1

The Classic, the Gentle and the Wild -A tribute to the golf course

I head out to my local club early in the evening, the sun’s rays have begun to recede, and the course is relaxing and softening. Rabbits and birds are once again colonising the fairways as the golfing traffic recedes to a trickle. I shoulder my small bag and set off down the first, hearing the soft jangling of my clubs intermingled with the birds, a dog and a distant airplane far above, scudding through the haze of approaching dusk. I’m struck by the soft beauty of the place- the mingling of a multitude of greens and yellows, water and hill contrasting starkly with the scarlet red of the flagpole flapping idly in the distance. My heart lifts to be outside, to be part of nature, to breathe fresh air. I can feel my shoulders loosening, my lungs expanding and my stride lengthening as the cares of the day melt into the soft grass of the fairway. 

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I can’t think of another sport where a good place to start one’s story would be talking about the surface on which it is played. It’s difficult to wax lyrical about the beauty of the concrete baseball court, the majesty of the swimming pool… some have tried tapping into the ‘hallowed ground’ of the football pitch, but what have you really got to work with here? A rectangle of flat grass, fringed by stands? Come on! But the golf course….. that is an entirely different proposition. Golf courses long ago transcended their status as a ‘surface’ and are today as much a part of the fabric of our landscape as the patchwork of fields, woods, streams, hills and lakes that characterise the British countryside. At best, they are in and of themselves a thing of beauty, a way of conserving and protecting the countryside, providing sanctuary for animal and plant life, and a resource for the community. They can provide us with a kind of passport to nature- giving us permission to walk, to breathe and to decompress in a way that many people wouldn’t take up without the allure of hitting a little white ball. They have the ability to take my breath away with their raw beauty, to soothe me with their undulating fairways, and inspire with their swooping vistas. 

So, remember next time you’re on the course to look up from you’re score card, to shift your focus from playing to being, and take a look around you.