Blue Fairways: Three Months, Sixty Courses, No Mulligans [Hardcover]

Charles Slack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 1999

A duffer's odyssey on the public links from Maine to Key West.

A golfing everyman takes us on a pilgrimage, playing public golf courses along Route 1 down the east coast of the United States. From his first round with French-Canadian partners amidst the potato fields of northern Maine to his final round against a setting tropical sun in Key West, Charlie Slack chronicles the best and worst of the public-golf experience. Each round introduces a new set of partners and opens a window onto a new locale, whether it's the manicured suburbs of Connecticut, the worn-down urban centers of the Northeast Corridor, or the sun-drenched golfing havens of the South. Here in the land of new beginnings, Charlie Slack lives out every golfer's fantasy, a fresh start and a pristine fairway each and every morning. An utterly charming tale of a quintessentially American journey of discovery.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Perhaps the Royal and Ancient game's most majestic appeal is simply this: Stand up on the first tee and what you survey down the fairway is a beckoning landscape of possibility, renewal, improvement, and hope. All mark the scorecard of Blue Fairways, a lovely pilgrimage that begins in Maine, ends in Florida, and in a journey of three months plays 60 public courses from one end of Route 1 to the other. It's a chronicle that inspires envy. Every duffer dreams of dropping out and devoting himself wholeheartedly to his golfing jones; Charles Slack actually lives it.

Like all good golfing odysseys, Slack's doesn't take place solely on the golf course. There's plenty of golf, sure, and Slack does a fine job of capturing the flavor of each of the outposts he tees off from--be it a track as grand as Pinehurst or as modest as the short municipal pitch-and-putter he navigates with the mayor of Jersey City. But the story of Blue Fairways is really the story of the people he meets and plays with, the nongolfing lessons he takes from them, and the senses of place--some elegant, some hopelessly threadbare--he experiences from city to suburb to town. Some 2,200 miles after the first drive, he's shaved a few strokes off his game, felt an explosion of midlife freedom, and come to grips with more than his clubs. "It took sixty golf courses," he writes, "to convince me of a truth about golf and life so obvious and facile sounding, I probably could have gotten it from a fortune cookie or a Salada tea bag: Getting there is nothing; the journey is all." The fun of Blue Fairways is that he indeed reached that conclusion through a golf ball, and not through one of its crystal cousins. --Jeff Silverman

From Library Journal

Slack, a former business reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and feature writer for many national magazines, takes us on a journey along Route 1 down the east coast of the United States, playing public golf courses from Maine to Key West. The author lives out every duffer's fantasy: a fresh start and an untarnished fairway each day. From his first round in northern Maine to his final round in Florida, he recounts the best and worst of his experiences on his three-month odyssey, introducing a new set of partners with each stop. As Slack hacks his way through the suburbs and urban centers of the Northeast on his way to the sun-drenched golfing havens of the South, the journey becomes one of discovery as well. More than just one man's account of a golfing junket, this is an absorbing tale about America. Recommended for all public libraries.APeter Ward, Smithtown Lib., NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition edition (November 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805059938
• ISBN-13: 978-0805059939
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,739,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just a golf trip..., December 2, 1999

By 

Alex Miller (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Fairways: Three Months, Sixty Courses, No Mulligans (Hardcover)

It's a book about golf - but it's also a book about life. Every page reveals something beautiful. From quirky courses and companions, to nostalgic pictures of childhood golf, Charles takes us down life's path via Route 1.

His descriptions are stunningly vivid, painting the picture of his journey. Long overtaken by interstate 95, Charles describes a stretch of Route 1 in the south: "Here the old highway seems to have lost its reason for being. Hollowed-out husks of roadside motels molder in the sun like beetle shells..." Just beautiful! I find these jewels on almost every page.

Humorous, nostalgic, and clever, and cloaked under pretense of Golf, Blue Fairways gives us all a little more insight into ourselves.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treasure for those who love the ambience of golf, November 13, 1999

By 

Henry Hurt ([e-mail]) (Chatham, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Fairways: Three Months, Sixty Courses, No Mulligans (Hardcover)

Through the eyes of a gifted writer, we travel as the author's partner from Maine to Florida and play golf with a spectacular array of people and in a delightful selection of places. With striking insights and humor, Charles Slack let's us in on the joys of playing the game with the rich, the poor, the sophisticated and otherwise. Nifty historical tidbits spring from every page as this amiable young man fulfills a dream to make this journey. The book is beautifully written by a seasoned business reporter who had the guts to slip off not just for an afternoon--but for three delicious months. Anyone who likes golf--or likes just knocking around with a nice fellow--will love this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gimme Some Slack, November 3, 1999

By 

solly (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Fairways: Three Months, Sixty Courses, No Mulligans (Hardcover)

Slack is not a good golfer, but he sure knows how to write. Don't buy this for instruction, buy it for laughs, wonderful stories, and great scenery. Every golfer will enjoy his travels and appreciate his travails. And for anyone who has never picked up clubs, Blue Fairways conveys the pleasure (and regular pain) that brings the rest of us to golf courses on and off Route 1.