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A Zen Approach To
Playing Golf In
Scotland

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James C. Plowden-Wardlaw

James Campbell Plowden-Wardlaw hit his first golf ball into the gorse bushes at Old Prestwick -- the cradle of championship golf and site of the first British Open -- at the age of nine, during a family visit to a great aunt in Ayr, Scotland. He returned home to America impressed by the game, but waited more than fifty years to play again in Scotland...(More...)

Alex B. Pagel

Alex B. Pagel dubbed his first shot at the Maidstone Club course on Long Island in the 1940s under the Scottish eye of the club professional Jack Ross. This legendary man endeavored to teach him how to hit a ball, never a total success, and how to enjoy the game, by contrast a long and continuing success story. Old Jack also frequently implied that the true object of the game was to play in Scotland on a links course in the wind...(More...)

 
 
 

 

Introduction - What’s Zen Got To Do With It? Why Scotland?

There has never been a golfers’ book quite like this one. This book is about developing an attitude. Birdie reinvents the whole concept of the modern game (as played outside the United Kingdom) for players past their best days and for hesitant beginners of all ages. It shows how to recapture the original spirit of golf, with all its magic and wonder. At the same time, it explains why the Scottish links have been so irresistibly seductive to players for hundreds of years.

The spirit of the game in Scotland today remains the same as it was hundreds of years ago— “Play, but don’t forget the scenery, or to smell the flowers”. The authors discovered that for this reason Scots do not keep scorecards, except in tournaments.

Warning: Our Zen Approach to Golf is not about scores, and it is not about current rules. It is about deciding to use this ancient pastime purely as a vehicle of physical and metaphysical pleasure.

What’s Zen Got To Do With It?

What is Zen’s place in golf? We put it to you that different concepts are needed for the ever-changing span of one's golfing life. For the progression from the exuberant, full-flailing swing of youth to the sagacious control of middle age, there are many fine technical golf manuals and experts to help the player. However, there comes a time in your golfing life when a fresh, new outlook may be useful. To address this moment, Birdie offers a coherently mystical approach, in short, the “ Zen Approach to Golf”.

Why Scotland?

Simple. Golf and Scotland are inseparable. Scotland’s courses, particularly the seaside “links” courses, are so lovely, so natural and so “user friendly” that they induce a Zen-like serenity in all those fortunate enough to visit them. Each course has its own personality; each leaves the golfer with his own special memories of what it feels like to swing a club in the unique atmosphere of The Holy Land of Golf.

  

 
Ryoan-ji, Kyoto

Tobermory, Isle of Mull – Magical Views to Mainland

The key to enjoying the Scottish links courses may be the unique and exhilarating sense of freedom and space you get when you swing your club in the swirling seaside winds, be it in brilliant sunshine or the famous Scottish mists or drizzle. At their best, these courses represent a severe, simple beauty that is timeless. And for an additional dose of Highland magic, there is simply no equivalent to the quiet serenity of playing in the golden light of the gloaming (dusk) that lasts well into evening during the summer months.
     

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