An interview with Lorne Rubenstein by Steven Toon
LR: My dad loved all sports and in fact he played some professional football with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League. Because of him the atmosphere in the house was thick with sports: football, ice hockey, baseball, horse racing, and, of course, golf. He and I played most weekend mornings at a local public course, up at dawn and soon out together. When he died in 1989 he was carrying one of my golf columns.
Q: Although golf was a passionate interest, I understand that your initial career path did not involve golf.
LR: I was on my way to completing a doctorate in psychology when I started to write about golf and to caddy on the PGA Tour. That led to a golf column in The Globe and Mail, CanadaÕs national paper. I continue to write that column now, 21 years later. The doctorate, which included a minor paper on the psychology of golf, I did complete that assignment, never got finished. I continued to write about golf as one published article led to another. Before I knew it I was writing all the time.
Q: When do you feel that you made a clear commitment to golf writing as a lifelong profession?
LR: I had a part-time job as the first editor of Score, Canada's golf magazine, and another part-time job running the Royal Canadian Golf AssociationÕs museum and library. I was also writing a Globe and Mail column, and finding that I enjoyed that and other writing most of all. I called a wise aunt in Winnipeg who was, and is, always ready to talk about anything with me, and told her I was considering turning to writing full-time but that I was concerned about giving up a couple of salaried positions. Ruth said, "Your writing is part of you. Trust it." And the late and great Canadian golfer George Knudson, who later asked me to write his book The Natural Golf Swing with him, said after I started writing, "You have your foot in the door. Just keep writing and good things will happen." Luckily, I took my aunt Ruth's and George's advice. This was back in 1982.
Q: Your regular column requires enormous discipline. How did you become established as one of the worldÕs leading columnists and how tough is it to produce consistently good copy?
LR: I still enjoy all aspects of golf and so donÕt find it difficult to come up with ideas or to sit down to write. Certainly deadlines concentrate the mind. As long as IÕve done the research I find I can sit down to write. I'm an over-researcher, but this allows me to write without being anxious. Well, without being too anxious.
Q: Your columns may be considered to be in the tradition of Bernard Darwin and Henry Longhurst. If you want to settle down for a really good read, who do you pick up, golf or otherwise?
LR: Our bookshelves at home are filled with books of all description. My wife Nell is a college English teacher and an avid reader; her doctorate was in the works of Thomas Hardy. We like nothing better than to spend an evening at home with our current reading at hand, along with some excellent single-malt. My reading takes me everywhere. Just recently I read Roy Macgregor's A Life in the Bush. Roy is a fine Canadian writer whose father essentially lived in the bush of Algonquin Park in north central Ontario. I do enjoy books about nature, and enjoy dipping into Rachel Carson's collection of essays called Lost Woods. When I lived in Dornoch my interest in Highlands writers was sparked, and I became interested in Neil Gunn's work. I also enjoy reading about books; just now IÕm reading Used and Rare, a journey into the world of antiquarian bookselling, and Stet, Diana Athill's memoir of her days as an editor in the British book world. In golf I find myself still turning to the old masters; Pat Ward-Thomas, Bernard Darwin, Henry Longhurst, Patrick Campbell, Peter Dobereiner, Leonard Crawley, Herbert Warren Wind. Of todayÕs golf correspondents I like John Hopkins in the Times, Michael McDonnell (though he's retired now), and Dai Davies. I enjoyed the late Michael Williams in the Telegraph, and like to read anything that Donald Steel writes when he can take a break from his superb work as a course designer. In America I enjoy Brad Klein and Geoff Shackelford on architecture, and Jaime Diaz, Tim Rosaforte and Bill Fields on general golf matters.
Q: When we first met, you helped me discover more about Moe Norman, perhaps CanadaÕs greatest golfer. Who are the Canadians to watch out for the next few years?
LR: First, a word about Moe. His reputation is as one of the gameÕs best ball-strikers ever. He's a most unusual person. I've been privileged to know him and in fact last night screened a rough cut of a documentary about him that IÕve been involved in for CBC's Life and Time series. To me Moe is the most interesting person in golf; and he's a tremendous subject for a writer.
As far as current and upcoming Canadians, of course we have Mike Weir, who has become a top player in recent years. He won the Tour Championship in the fall of 2001, and the American Express Championship in Spain a year before that. Weir loves links golf and it wouldnÕt surprise me to see him win an Open Championship. I also look for good things from Ian Leggatt, who is maturing into a golfer with a very strong game. I look for good things also from my good friend Richard Zokol, who is returning full-time to the 2002 PGA Tour after a few years as a part-time player while spending most of his time at home with his wife Joanie as their three kids grew up. The younger crop includes Jon Mills and Craig Matthews. Watch for Mills in particular.
Q: Has the President's Cup a future, considering the commercial successes of the Ryder Cup?
LR: I believe it does. The Ryder Cup didn't catch on in a major way for many years. This could happen with the President's Cup as well, once golfers truly appreciate the caliber of the game around the world and by that I obviously mean, in this case, outside the U.S. and Europe. The problem is that the International side doesn't cohere in one's mind because there's nothing tying them except that they're from "out there." The European side has geography on its side, as it goes without saying, does the U.S. But thereÕs a bond among the International players on the PGA Tour, and I can sense a feeling of their being a team building.
Q: Speaking of international golf, you have traveled and played all over the world. Why did you decide to spend the summer of 2000 in a little Highland village?
LR: Precisely because it was a little Highland village, and that it happened to have one of the most beautiful links in all the world. IÕd been to Dornoch once before, way back in 1977, and the place took hold in me. I wanted to return for an extended period, and to live in the village rather than visit it. I've never been one for these nine-courses in seven days golf as boot camp trip. Dornoch is small, it's in a gorgeous, moody part of Scotland, and golf is at the heart of life there. The place was calling me, had been for a long time.
Q: How did your wife react to the idea?
LR: Nell encouraged me to go. She's an adventurer and felt it was time for me to write a different sort of book after doing a couple of instructionals with Nick Price and David Leadbetter. Nell was at the lunch that I had with my literary agent in Toronto when we mentioned the idea to him. She was my partner in every way in the book, which is why the dedication reads, "For, and with, Nell."
Q: Tell us something of your experiences there.
LR: Where do I begin? LetÕs just say that Nell and I found life in the flat above the Dornoch Bookshop nearly ideal, at least for two people who live in a busy city of four million people and who wanted its opposite for a summer. We lived simply, but felt enriched in every way. Royal Dornoch was a five-minute walk away, Lesley Bell in the bookshop kept me plied with tea and biscuits, the townspeople welcomed us, we hiked in the Highlands and cycled in and around Dornoch, and made lasting friends. It's all in the book, and it was a joy to write.
Q: Where else did you travel during that summer?
We mostly stayed within the Highlands, although we did venture south to St. Andrews where we saw Tiger Woods win the Open Championship. We also went to the Senior British Open at Royal Portrush. Other than these trips, we rambled around the Highlands to the west coast and north of Dornoch and into the middle, just following detailed maps and, sometimes, just wandering off.
Q: What aspects of life and golf in the Highlands would you export and to where?
LR: IÕd export the feeling for the landscape and the sense, as somebody told us, "I feel very fortunate to live here." I think we can all look at where we live, especially in the west and especially after September 11th, and try to spark that original, childlike wonder that responds to what's around. I'd export the ways in which people look each other in the eye and know how each other is doing that sense of community I found in Dornoch thatÕs not always perfect, I'm sure, but that was apparent to me most of the summer. I'd certainly export the way people like to know about the history of where they live; it's important, I think, and helps one appreciate life in a place. As for the golf, I'd export the central principles of walking, match-play, hitting a variety of shots rather than one shot in the air, and, of course, fast play. Links golf is imaginative golf. We in North America are getting into paint by numbers golf, and losing feeling for the deeper pleasures of the game. I also think we could learn that courses don't have to be wall-to-wall Augusta green to play well. A brownish tint to the ground usually means firm and fast conditions. That's as it should be. And if one gets a bad lie from time to time, well, why not? Golf is played outdoors, and the environment should reflect this.
I'd also export the Captain's Pink Balls competition; I had a superb day with the Braid Society at Golspie in this event.
Q: Tradition and progress are two apparently contradictory terms. What is the best and the worst of both tradition and progress in the game of golf today?
LR: Golf is a wonderful game and always will be no matter how we try to fool with it. It's a cross-country game that gets us into the open air with friends over an extended period. These are exceedingly positive attributes. The traditional elements that I like best including those mentioned above: match play, walking, playing a variety of shots. I'd prefer that golfers were allowed to play medal tees in Scotland if their handicaps warrant it. That's about the only thing I'd change.
Q: How much is personal psychology part of the game today and was it always so?
LR: Always was, always will be. You can build drivers that the best players will hit 350 yards, golf balls that don't curve as much in flight, and have immaculate conditions. Players can be fit as Olympic swimmers or Epsom Derby horses, and have the best of instruction and the ideal swing. But it will all come down to heart at the end, to the ability to swing that club freely when the match or championship is on the line, or whether one is trying to break one's personal best. That's personal psychology. Golf is a personal game all right. It's a game of creation and not reaction because the ball sits still. As long as that ball sits still, we'll have the opportunity to think too much. And when we think too much, it's goodbye smoothness, tempo, rhythm and balance. Errors in the mind find expression through errors in the swing. That's golf. As I say, always was and always will be.
Q: Imagine your book sells millions and you become as wealthy as Tiger, with the magical powers of a Merlin that allow you to bring historical figures to life and to restore youth to todayÕs senior citizens. You decide to build a golf course. Where would you locate it, who would design it, how would it play and who would you invite to make up the inaugural 4-ball?
LR: I'd have Donald Steel design the course, which would be on the links land just north of Dornoch. Nell and I walked this area frequently during the summer. Or I'd have Donald design a course on the links land that makes up much of Prince Edward Island or Nova Scotia in Canada. I'd invite Allan Robertson, the first golf pro, just to see what he'd think of how far the ball is going these days; and also Donald Ross and my late, great friend and wonderful golfer George Knudson. Oh, how he could hit the ball. What an elegant swing. He also knew how to enjoy the game just being out there. "Never do anything at the expense of balance," George said. And, "you have to give up control to gain control." Beautiful. If we could play five I'd also have Moe Norman along. Heck, I'd give up my spot to have Moe in the group.
The book: A Season in Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands is about the summer of 2000 that my wife Nell and I spent in this remarkable golfing village. It's an account of our experiences, and a view of the game as I experienced it there and, in some instances, at other courses in the Highlands. The book is also an account of my experiences in trying to recapture the pure joy I once took in the game, but that had gradually diminished over the years. I wanted to spend a summer in one of golf's glorious places where the game was central to the lives lived in a quiet, remote place. Yet I found so much more than golf, and so I weave a tale that incorporate the haunting history of the Highlands Clearances, the empty, vast landscapes, and a simple love of the land that informs Highlanders. The book is also a look at the ways in which we make golf an obsession, and in so doing lose our feelings for just being out in the open land and hitting shots alone or with friends. I felt good when a reviewer wrote that A Season in Dornoch is "a book of considerable charm that will delight more than just golf fans." Another reviewer wrote, "Like the town, this tale is about much more than golf, but the game is always close by and provides the basis for far-reaching insights." A Season in Dornoch is published by McClelland & Stewart in Canada and Simon & Schuster in the U.S. Publication in the U.K. is still pending.
My top five websites: www.aldaily.com (a compendium of interesting articles from the world's press every day; "al" means "arts and letters." I also read www.golfclubatlas.com, the best site for infor ed discussion on course architecture; www.blueear.com, another excellent site for international journalism; whattheyrewriting.com, a daily collection of golf writing from around the world; and www.npr.com, the website for National Public Radio in the U.S.
My published works include the following: The Natural Golf Swing, with George Knudson, McClelland and Stewart, 1989; Links: An Insider's Tour Through the World of Golf, Random House of Canada 1990; Stanley Paul, U.K., 1991; The Swing, with Nick Price, Random House of Canada and Knopf (U.S.), 1997; The Fundamentals of Hogan, with David Leadbetter, McClelland & Stewart, 2000; A Season in Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands, McClelland & Stewart, Simon & Schuster, 2001. I also write a twice-weekly column for The Globe and Mail, Canada's national paper, and a column in ScoreGolf, Canada's national golf magazine.