The Haunted Major
by Robert Marshall

Written in 1902, and republished in 1999, The Haunted Major is a delighful fantasy of a golf match played for the love of a woman between Major John “Jacky” Gore and Jim Lindsay, winner of the Open Championship.

Gore, the pompous narrator of the tale, describes himself as “the finest sporstman living,” having managed to excel at polo, cricket, tennis, rugby, hunting, billiards, whist, piquet and poker. He has, however, never played golf, regarding it as an inferior activity:

Now golf is a game that presents no attractions to me. I have never tried it, nor even held a golf-stick in my hand. A really good game, to my mind, must have an element, however slight, of physical danger to the player. This is the great whet to skilld performance. It is the condition that fosters pluck and self-reliance and develops out perception of the value of scientific play. It breeds a certain fearlessness that stimulates usnot merely to the actual progress of the game, but unconsciously in the greater world, where we play Life with alert and daring opponents.

Still, when he comes to the conclusion that Jim Lindsay is a rival for the affections of the beautiful and wealthy American widow Katherine Gunter, Gore challenges the Open Champion to a winner-take-all golf match.

After all, for the master of so many sports, how hard can it be to excel at golf?

Gore soon finds out. In spite of practice in his hotel room, and the aid of a Scottish pro, Gore fails to master the sport in the week between the challenge and the match. Gore becomes resigned to a loss, but that’s before he gets a little ghostly intervention.

The Haunted Major reminds me of the very best of P.G. Wodehouse—although it predates him by some years. It’s good natured, with quirky characters and humorous situations. Author Robert Marshall takes more than a few pokes at the British class system of the time through the antics of the impossibly stuffy Major, but never stoops to meanness.

This is a charming book that, while not rolling-on-the-floor funny, is sure to put a smile on your face.

The GolfBlogger is stuck at Boy Scout Camp this week, somewhere in the wilds of Indiana. The weather is hot and humid, the food is awful, the tents are mildewed and there’s no golf.

But even here in Hell, I have found a little island of golf. The camp staff uses a series of golf carts as transportation. Here’s the converted ambulance.

A study by San Diego State University has found that hosting the US Open at Torrey Pines brought $142 million to the city of San Diego.

The study is based on a survey of 1,450 spectators.  San Diego state estimated that there was $74 million in direct spending, including lodging, shopping, entertainment, food and beverage.

The direct spending, in turn, led to an “indirect impact” of $68 million, which went to local labor, goods and other business items needed to run the open.

It probably goes even further than that, though. Every local who picked up some extra money working on something related to the Open, then will take that money home and use it to buy something they otherwise would not have had. That, in turn, puts extra money in the pockets of others, who turn around and spend that money, and so on.

Then there’s the extra tax revenue generated by the event. That, presumably will be spent on projects various and sundry. And those projects will generate a trickle down effect.

It’ll be interesting to see the effect of the PGA Championship on the Detroit Area in August.

If you’re tired of your Sharpie ... or if you want to decorate your ball but completely lack in artistic talent, then Golfdotz may be for you.

These are little decals that you apply to your ball to help mark them. The “dotz” come in a variety of shapes and colors, including letters and numbers, bugs, skulls, targets, clover, bombs, aliens, flames, cats, dogs and poker symbols. I particularly like the Aliens.

The manufacturer claims that you’ll lose your ball before these wear off, but I really wonder about the durability.

When the Golfblogger reviews a course, it’s always with an eye to the bargain: a fun design, with playable conditions at a reasonable price. The course I play most frequently is a mere $15 a round. For that, I get greens in great condition, fairways of well-mowed clover and something resembling grass—but no dirt spots—and the necessity of using most of the clubs in my bag. Most importantly, it’s fun. 

A golf course that does all that gets a good grade on my scale.

There are, however, golf courses that fall so far outside those parameters that no review can be offered—only an appreciation.

Forest Dunes is one of those. There’s a reason it’s in GOlf Digest’s list of the top 20 public courses.

Located in Roscommon, Michigan—the middle of nowhere, really—Forest Dunes is an other worldly experience. Cut through sandy pine barrens, I think that it must offer the general public a glimpse of America’s most celebrated of courses, Pine Valley.

There’s not a single bad hole on this Tom Weiskopf design. Every one offers options for angles and club choices. Studying the yardage book is a must.

That’s not to say that Forest Dunes is difficult. There’s no doubt that it can be, but the judicious placement of tee boxes makes it accessable for all skill levels—so long as you play to your actual handicap. As Dirty Harry Callahan once said “A man’s got to know his limitations.”

There are four sets of tees, ranging from 7,141 to 5,032 yards. The course rating is 74.8, with a slope of 142 from the longest tees, and 72.3/137 from the “blues.” (They’re actually labeled as I through IV). At it’s shortest, the course is a 69.8/128. There also apparently is a set of “junior” tees, where the course measures just 3,000 yards.

I played the blues, and thought it challenging, without being overwhelming. I shot a 95, which I think is not bad—maybe even excellent—for a first playing. There are just so many things to think about on this course.

Forest Dunes’ scenery is wonderful. Whether running through a pine forest, through sandy dunes or along a marsh, each hole was both different and memorable. And yet, as carefully crafted as the layout is, there’s still a raw, wild feeling to it. The front nine is cut through a pine forest, while the back nine opens up, with more dunes, marshes and waste areas.

I’d like to describe my favorite hole, but I can’t. Each is worth playing over and again.

And here’s a first for a new “destination” course: it’s eminently walkable—so much so that I wonder why anyone without a mobility handicap would ever consider a cart. I played in long pants, and never broke a sweat.

Course conditions were absolutely immaculate. The fairways are like carpets (another reason to walk—your feet will never light upon such soft grass), the greens perfect, the sand fluffy. Even the waste areas seem to have been weeded and groomed.

The only downside is the price: at $150 a round, I really can’t justify ever playing it again.

But maybe I will. It’s that good.

Visit the gallery for a photo tour of the course.

The PGA of America is making an effort to bring Greg Norman to the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills in suburban Detroit in August.

“I’m hoping we can get him to play here,” PGA of America CEO Joe Steranka said Monday at the club in Bloomfield Township, where he was speaking to the Detroit Economic Club. “He would be a special invitation. We’re going to talk about that this week with our executive committee that approves those invitations.”

That would go a long way toward making up for the Tiger deficit. I’ve already got my tickets, and if Norman shows, I know who I would be following.

However, Norman has made it pretty clear that he’s not going to expand his playing schedule.

Fresh off her disqualification at the LPGA’s State Farm Classic, Michelle Wie has accepted an invitation to play in the Reno-Tahoe Open next week. It’ll be the eighth time she’s teed it up against the men. She has yet to make a cut.

“It’s not every day that a woman is given the opportunity to play on the greatest tour in the world,” Wie said “This is a tremendous opportunity for me to learn from these great players and take those lessons to the LPGA. This is another step in the process of making me a better player.”

I hope one of those lessons is in signing scorecards.