The Edict: A Novel from the Beginnings of Golf | 
 enlarge | Author: Bob Cupp
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $1.75
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 409256
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0307266451
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780307266453
ASIN: 0307266451
Publication Date: May 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: EX-LIBRARY; used item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned for refund.
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Product Description
In this colorful tale set in 1457—the year the Scottish Parliament banned golf (in the first recorded reference to the game)—renowned golf architect Bob Cupp brings to life the origins of a pastime that has transfixed us for centuries.
In the Middle Ages, St. Andrews was famous for its cathedral, its university, and for the game developed out in the linkslands by bored shepherds using balls and clubs. One of these, Caeril Patersone, is sufficiently skilled to compete for the title of champion, but in this quest he must contend with not only his competition but also a conniving financier in league with a sordid nobleman, not to mention the ravishing girl they have enlisted to further their interests. The Edict is rich in history about both golf and the community that defined the sport-a delight for anyone ever touched by the magic of the game.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Magnificent Spin or Yarn on Golf's Scottish Origins June 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
What a marvelous read Cupp has given us! From his prose (whom he graciously acknowledges he had help with) to his research into Scotland and the line drawings, the total product is to be fully inhaled, exhaled, re-inhaled and given away as presents. This book is soooo good!
The romp through history and shepherds boredom to the course designer and the final edict is truly captivating and delightful reading. Golfers will adore it, and even the non-golfer would likely enjoy this read through time.
Aficionados will find the likes of Hogan, Palmer and Nicklaus in here as well as USGA, etc.
By all means, buy this book and read it. Anybody else wonder if this could be made into movie?
ME THINKS THIS IS A BONNY BOOK! June 21, 2007
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Edicts are meant to be broken, and a novel about how golf might have began, got stopped, and begun again, was meant to be written by a real live golf course maker, writer, artist, social observer, and bon vivant.
Bob Cupp, who's designed fair ways and fair greens all over the earth, has published a novel so deep in historical fact and useable information that it's enjoyable on loads of levels. In other words, do you know why we play golf with a hole? Really? You know, sausages are linked ... some crimes are linked ... but finally we get the explanation from a man who knows: Cupp's narrator tells us, in golf, what "links" really means. Cupp's narrator gives us a review of grasses ... and a review of ancient equipment. In The Edict, you get the best golf lessons. All you have to do is crack this handsome book open and start ... grinning.
The story is about a young shepherd, Caeril Patersone, who's a natural golfer and plays in matches here and there, governed by the United Golf Honours Society, against golfers who make cameo appearances under ancient names and descriptions. Cupp pays quirky tributes to memorable characters very much like Nicklaus, Hagen, Hogan, Palmer, Snead, and Jones. Caeril's handsomely crafted, too, but there's always got to be jealous character lurking around to make the story even more interesting ... and violent ... and it's the local money lender and outright grumpy fart, Mordiac Domni. In Caeril's quest to win the championship, goons get ventilated with arrows and gutted with knives ... a local bonny gal, Eta, bares it all in hopes of distracting our hero and it damn well works ... and the most unlikely creeps turn into real gentlemen. All because of this pesky sport called golf.
Look closely in The Edict ... literally: look closely ... and also enjoy something unique to any modern golf novel: Cupp's own drawings accentuate the entire book. Who is that modern golfer in ancient leggings on page vii? Could that be the great golfer from Latrobe on page 63 ... sporting a bushy beard? Could be ... sure is. And that's part of the fun of this book. The author's clever hand and mind is all over ... and in ... the pages.
The Edict is a novel ... it's fictional entertainment ... but it's a truthful book. You can feel the affection the author has for the sport and the towns and topography on which we play it ... and you can feel the affection for how he thinks golf might have started six hundred or so years ago. I say let's make a new edict up: let's make this special book the official golfer's Bible. In the King James version we're supposed to believe a dead man ... can come alive? Then let's believe a simple man ... a humble shepherd ... can play golf, a lot, and that his woman will still love him, too.
And who's to say their children became the famous ancient club makers and golf professionals we learn about in coffee table books ... those old Grey Beards whose old photographs we gaze at and wonder if they really knew what golf would become. I say let's seriously propose that idea of Cupp's, too.
I won't cryit downe.
Reviewer Todd Sentell is the author of the hilarious golf and social satire, TOONAMINT OF CHAMPIONS: How LaJuanita Mumps Got to Join Augusta National Golf Club Real Easy
delightful sports historical thriller May 16, 2007
17 out of 22 found this review helpful
In the fifteenth century, golf has become the national pastime of Scotland with only raiding matching it with intensity. So popular is the sport, raiding is halted during the annual tournament at St. Andrews while betting on the players is hot.
The favorite to win the St. Andrews tourney in 1457 is shepherd Caeril Patersone. However, a noble panics when he realizes he made a stupid bet. To insure that Caeril fails to win the event, he writes off a debt in exchange for beautiful Eta to distract the favorite. If that fails, he still has his ace in the hole of appealing to King James II to ban the sport and consequently the tournament because he has proof too many soldiers hit the links instead of the archery range.
THE EDICT is a delightful sports historical thriller based on a real event that occurred in Scotland when the King outlawed golf on March 4, 1457. Readers will root for Caeril, who in spite of being the best golfer in the tournament, is a decided underdog because the fix is in. Historical readers and golf aficionados will believe that Bob Cupp is a masterful author as he makes birdies and eagles with this ace of a fifteenth century sports saga.
Harriet Klausner
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