A passionate advocate and a charming storyteller, Finegan combines a writer's eye, a historian's knowledge, and a golfer's sense of wonder to provide an impossibly ambitious grand tour of this beautiful land.

This collection draws on the Mobilities approach to look afresh at notions of the sacred where they intersect with people, objects and other things on the move. Consideration of a wide range of spiritual meanings and practices also sheds light on the motivations and experiences associated with particular mobilities. Drawing on rich, situated case studies, this multi-disciplinary collection discusses what mobility in the social sciences, arts and humanities can tell us about movements and journeys prompted by religious, more broadly ’spiritual’ and 'secular-sacred' practices and priorities. Problematizing the fixity of sacred places and times as territorially and temporally bounded entities that exist in opposition to ’profane’ everyday life, this collection looks at the intersection between the embodied-emotional-spiritual experience of places, travel, belief-practices and communities. It is this geographically-informed perspective on the interleaving of religious/ spiritual/ secular notions of the sacred with the material and more-than-representational attributes of associated mobilities and related practices which constitutes this volume’s original contribution to the field.

Provides descriptions and anecdotes about the greatest golf holes from courses around the world.

Golf has been called the greatest of all games, but it has also been derided by none other than Mark Twain as nothing more than a good walk spoiled. Traditional teaching holds that golf originated in Scotland around the 15th century. However, there is historical evidence of games similar to golf being played in the low countries of Europe back in the 13th century. Over the many centuries of golf's evolution, the balls used have changed greatly, as have the clubs, the holes, the courses, and the entire game itself. The Historical Dictionary of Golf presents a comprehensive history of the game through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, photos, and over 300 cross-referenced dictionary entries on places, teams, terminology, and people, including Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sörenstam, Lorena Ochoa, Phil Mickelson, and, of course, Tiger Woods. Appendixes of the members of the World Golf Hall of Fame, the Major Championships of Golf, the International Team Events, and the Professional Tour Awards are also included.

An award-winning golf writer for Sports Illustrated follows his family's obsession with golf on a personal odyssey that takes him to his ancestral home in Ireland, now home to a magnificent golf course, to Musselburgh, Scotland, home of his maternal ancestors, and to Wisconsin, where his father learned to play.

Focusing on the landscapes and memory of golf and examining the games nature and appeal, this collection of seventy-two haiku poems and essays aims to lead readers to a fuller appreciation of the culture and history of golf and a deeper awareness of a players place in the game. Be the Pine, Be the Ball also reveals the compelling beauty and power of haiku, the most popular poetic form in the world. Through the brevity of its style, precise language, and ability to reveal how ordinary moments and elements of our lives are pathways to a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us, haiku can have both a meditative and consequential effect on the reader. A key to the connection between haiku and golf is that both foster powers of concentration and detailed observation with a related reduction of distractions. Both seek to cultivate a more tranquil and disciplined mind and to translate that condition into how a life is lived and a game is played.

Aftermaths offers compelling new ideas on exile, migration, and diaspora. Ten contributors-well-established scholars and promising new voices-working in different disciplines and drawing from diverse backgrounds present rich case studies from around the world. Seeking fresh perspectives on the movement of people and ideas, the essays take on a wide range of subjects such as the influence of religion upon diasporic consciousness, the conflict between the local and the transnational, the fate of historical tragedy in globalization, the reinvention of social bonds across migrations, and the agoni.

Another volume in the distinguished annual

In a loop of a thousand miles that begins in Edinburgh and ends across the Firth of Forth in St. Andrews, Finegan covers some sixty courses, visiting the true shrines of the game, the courses that are well known and respected, and the little-known gems you might otherwise pass right by. He shares the history of the courses, both of their creation and of the most famous matches played there; he also writes marvelously about the scenic and strategic charms to be found as you play them yourself. And he provides all the information you need to make your arrangements to do just that -- because, unlike most championship courses in the United States, the great courses of Scotland are available to the public. In addition to his delightful descriptions of the golf to be found there, Finegan gives us his recommendations for places to stay, ranging from the most modest bed-and-breakfast to the most magnificent castle hotel. He describes the pleasures to be found off the beaten track: the spectacular views from a country road, or the ancient cathedral that's worth a stop on the way to the first tee. And because all the travel within the country is done by car, he spells out the actual routes from town to town and course to course.

Every golfer dreams of making a pilgrimage to the British Isles, and it sometimes seems as though every golfer is in fact making that pilgrimage, especially when you're trying to book a tee time. The legendary courses of Scotland and Ireland are magnificent shrines, but their fame has obscured the greatness of the golf to be found all across the landscape of England and Wales. From the heathland in the north and center to the linksland on the coasts, England and Wales present an extraordinary variety of great golf experiences. In All Courses Great and Small, James W. Finegan treats the reader to a countries-wide survey of these golfing delights -- some famous, like the Open Championship venues of Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham & St. Annes, and Royal St. George's; some well known, like Sunningdale, Wentworth, and The Belfry; and some gems that have long been hidden in plain sight, like The Addington (in suburban London) or Southport & Ainsdale (not ten minutes from Royal Birkdale). There are as many outstanding courses in England and Wales as there are in Scotland and Ireland combined, a shocking fact that is easily explained: While Scotland has 5.2 million people and 550 golf courses, and Ireland has 3.5 million people and 400 courses, England and Wales have 50 million people and more than 2,000 courses. Finegan provides a charming guide to the courses and the towns, the inns and the eateries to be found along the way. He highlights the best of the not quite four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire; gives advice about lunch after your round at Sandwich; raises a cup of grog at Gog Magog; and tackles the playing and pronouncing problems posed by Pwllheli. He gives full due to the best-known places such as Rye, Wentworth, Hoylake, and the royals, but he also declares such lesser-known treasures as St. Enodoc, Silloth-on-Solway, Southerndown, and Pennard to be every bit as worthy of your time and attention. His books on the courses of Scotland and Ireland, Blasted Heaths and Blessed Greens and Emerald Fairways and Foam-Flecked Seas, have become invaluable companions to thousands of travelers; All Courses Great and Small is an irresistible and even more essential addition to the touring golfer's shelf and suitcase.