“
Despite his attempts to maintain a vigorous structure of errands, golf games, visits, and meetings, there were sometimes days like this one, filled with rain and touched with a gnawing sense of parts missing from life. When the slick mud ran in the flower beds and the clouds smothered the light, he missed his wife.
”
”
Helen Simonson (Major Pettigrew's Last Stand)
“
You hate the golfers,” he reminded me. “You once said, and I quote, ‘Golf isn’t much different than glorified fly swatting.
”
”
Lucy Lennox (Right as Raine (Aster Valley, #1))
“
You also said baseball was more interesting to watch than golf.
”
”
Lucy Lennox (Right as Raine (Aster Valley, #1))
“
And without discussing it, I think we both felt that it was a symbolic place to reestablish our marriage; we had been married and spent a two-day honeymoon in the Highlands, shortly before the outbreak of war seven years before. A peaceful refuge in which to rediscover each other, we thought, not realizing that, while golf and fishing are Scotland’s most popular outdoor sports, gossip is the most popular indoor sport. And when it rains as much as it does in Scotland, people spend a lot of time indoors.
”
”
Diana Gabaldon (Outlander (Outlander, #1))
“
For about five minutes, as I tried to get the Vespa to start, I fell in love with her. The oversized raincoat made her look about eight, as though she should have had matching Wellies with ladybugs on them, and inside the red hood were huge brown eyes and rain-spiked lashes and a face like a kitten’s. I wanted to dry her gently with a big fluffy towel, in front of a roaring fire. But then she said, “Here, let me—you have to know how to twist the thingy,” and I raised an eyebrow and said, “The thingy? Honestly, girls.” I immediately regretted it—I have never been talented at banter, and you never know, she could have been some earnest droning feminist extremist who would lecture me in the rain about Amelia Earhart. But Cassie gave me a deliberate, sideways look, and then clasped her hands with a wet spat and said in a breathy Marilyn voice, “Ohhh, I’ve always dreamed of a knight in shining armor coming along and rescuing little me! Only in my dreams he was good-looking.” What I saw transformed with a click like a shaken kaleidoscope. I stopped falling in love with her and started to like her immensely. I looked at her hoodie jacket and said, “Oh my God, they’re about to kill Kenny.” Then I loaded the Golf Cart into the back of my Land Rover and drove her home.
”
”
Tana French (In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1))
“
If there’s one lesson I learned early on during the decades I’ve spent in this business, it’s that of all the qualities that distinguish a hard target from everyone else, among the most important is self-control. Yes, you have to be able to think like the opposition, which enables you to spot the ambush. And yes, you have to be able to take immediate, violent action in case—oops—your ability to spot the ambush fails. And yes, sentiment is a weakness. But fundamental to the rest is self-control. Because if you’re not in control of yourself, someone else is, most likely an enemy, and in my business, an enemy isn’t someone who wants the promotion you’re after, or who covets your corner office, or who wants to beat you on the tennis court or golf course or display a better car in his driveway. In my business, an enemy is someone determined to end your life, and probably with the means to bring it about.
”
”
Barry Eisler (Graveyard of Memories (John Rain, #8))
“
One of the bonds between Lily and me is that we both suffer with our teeth. She is twenty years my junior but we wear bridges, each of us. Mine are at the sides, hers are in front. She has lost the four upper incisors. It happened while she was still in high school, out playing golf with her father, whom she adored. The poor old guy was a lush and far too drunk to be out on a golf course that day. Without looking or given warning, he drove from the first tee and on the backswing struck his daughter. It always kills me to think of that cursed hot July golf course, and this drunk from the plumbing supply business, and the girl of fifteen bleeding. Damn these weak drunks! Damn these unsteady men! I can't stand these clowns who go out in public as soon as they get swacked to show how broken-hearted they are. But Lily would never hear a single word against him and wept for him sooner than for herself. She carries his photo in her wallet.
”
”
Saul Bellow (Henderson the Rain King)
“
As if on cue, in 1608, golf was introduced from Scotland for the first time, played around a 5-hole course on Blackheath, south of London. The leather balls, stuffed with feathers, lasted no more than one game each, particularly if it rained. At 5 shillings a time, it was a ruinously expensive but a strangely consoling pursuit, fitted to a country replete with contentment.
”
”
Adam Nicolson (God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible)
“
Tiger, what are you doing out here hitting balls at three a.m.?” “It doesn’t rain very often in Northern California,” replied the kid who went on to become one of the most successful golfers in history. “It’s the only chance I have to practice hitting in the rain.” You might expect this kind of diligence from the best athlete in his field. What is fascinating is how narrow the exercise’s scope was. He wasn’t practicing putting or hitting from a sand bunker. He spent four hours standing in the rain, hitting the same shot from the same spot, pursuing perfection in an intensely specific skill. It turns out that’s the best way to learn. K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of psychology at Florida State University, has studied the acquisition of expert-level skill for decades. The conventional wisdom is that it takes ten thousand hours of effort to become an expert. Ericsson instead found that it’s not about how much time you spend learning, but rather how you spend that time. He finds evidence that people who attain mastery of a field, whether they are violinists, surgeons, athletes,144 or even spelling bee champions,145approach learning in a different way from the rest of us. They shard their activities into tiny actions, like hitting the same golf shot in the rain for hours, and repeat them relentlessly. Each time, they observe what happens, make minor—almost imperceptible—adjustments, and improve. Ericsson refers to this as deliberate practice: intentional repetitions of similar, small tasks with immediate feedback, correction, and experimentation.
”
”
Laszlo Bock (Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead)
“
an Arctic desert with no rain and minimal vegetation that was every bit as desolate and bleak as the Tibetan plateau. Along the way we passed what is billed as “the world’s most northerly golf course”, laid out in 1986 by a couple of bored helicopter pilots working for Greenland Air with the help of a night watchman from the Kangerlussuaq Hotel.
”
”
Richard Starks (Greenland for $1.99)
“
dank water. They felt low, despite the presence of Ted’s name carved on a tree as a token of memory. As rain began to fall, Ted made one token cast himself, which he described as ‘a ceremonial farewell’, and there ‘among the rubbish’ he hooked ‘a huge perch’, one of the biggest he had ever caught: ‘It was very weird, a complete dream.’32 Manor Farm is now a gastropub, the Crookhill estate a golf course, the pond of the pike shrunk by mud and reed. The magic landscape survives only in Hughes’s writings.
”
”
Jonathan Bate (Ted Hughes: The Unauthorised Life)
“
Bond asks if she’s good at any other games (he means sex), and she says she’s not bad at golf, amongst other things (which probably means sex as well).
”
”
John Rain (Thunderbook: The World of Bond According to Smersh Pod)
“
Woman of Mother Earth
Oh, what is this I’m feeling, Mother
Earth beneath my feet . . .
Endless roots journey, through fresh
rich soil, grounded and strong.
Forever reaching, forever pulsing
out the beat.
A voice of a thousand mothers
in synchronicity.
Let yourself be seeded in the womb,
belly of heart and soul,
And all that is grown, the richest
gift ever known.
Wisdom of the land, nurtured by hand,
Are the women who give birth, to
the children of the Earth.
Plants and trees and flowers and seeds
Breathe life with energy from
the sun and rain.
As in me, I remain, a woman of the Earth. That is this feeling . . . I am
woman of Mother Earth.
”
”
Kathleen Klawitter (Direct Hit: A Golf Pro's Remarkable Journey back from Traumatic Brain Injury)
“
I’m standing with other parents in the school playground. A misery of humans, huddled, hunched, and wet. Our golf umbrellas are only helping the top half of our bodies. Even though the storm has passed, the wind is still whipping up the rain, our legs are soaked. And isn’t it fun standing in wet feet?
”
”
MariaPFrino
“
The perfect man. Excellent taste in clothes and music, no corporate types, a dimple, a respectable-looking outside wrapper with a bad boy streak. Must love puppies, travel, rain, and eighties movies. Must hate golf. He’s got to be an excellent cook, a big reader, know all my favorite podcasts, and make me laugh. Frat bros are a no.
”
”
Melanie Jacobson (Betting on the Boy Next Door (Betting on Love, #1))
“
In my experience, moving on is part of healing. Think of it like physical therapy during rehabilitation for an injury. You start to use the muscles again while they’re healing, but you have to take it slow and build the strength back before you can make a full recovery. The heart’s a muscle. Did you forget that already?”
I laughed. “Are we talking about matters of the heart in doctor-speak?”
“Why not? This is our shared language. We could use a golfing metaphor if that works better for you.”
I laughed. “That would play more to my strengths.”
He chuckled then leaned in, grasping my arm. “All joking aside, you’re my son and I’m your dad. Every other way in which we’re related is secondary. So think about that when I tell you that you have the potential to be a better surgeon than me. But nothing would make me prouder than if you became a better husband and father.
”
”
Renee Carlino (After the Rain)
“
The Answer
by Maisie Aletha Smikle
What's the question
They ain’t got none
What's the answer
There is but one
The answer is quick
The answer is fast
The answer is the remedy
The answer is the solution for the unask question
What's the answer
Tax it
What's the answer
Tax it
There goes a ghost
Is it walking?
Yes
Tax it
There is a stone
Formed from limestone
Cost it and ahh... ahh..
Tax it
Cost all rocks, stones and pebbles
From North to South
From East to West
Not a grain of pebble must be left
Rain snow or hail
Any buyers
Yes
Tax it
We want more
We must store
We must take
Even the dirt
Ocean front
Ocean back
Ocean side
All sides
Lake front
Lake back
Lake side
Every side
Beach side
Beach back
Beach front
Beach rear we don't care
Water back
Water front
Water side
River side Gully side Any side
Cost it
We must tax it
Oh look. .the desert
The forest
What's the cost
For us it's nil
For them it's a mil
Tax on nil is a nil
But a mil
We shan't be still
Ours is nil
Theirs' is a mil
It's a thrill
Tax the ant on the mill
So we can get our mil
For we shan't get rich taxing nil
The cost of land must never fall
It must grow tree tall
Or else
We shan't be able to have a Ball
Rocky smooth soggy or muddy
If only we could tax the sea and ocean too
Ahh...ahh.. .who owns it
For us it's nil for them it's a mil
We shall tax the animals and fishes too
All that are kept in the zoo
When the zoo is full
Our pockets are full
Enact a fee just to look at the zoo
The circus cinema or fair
To hunt or fish
Whether you caught or miss
Add a fee for every flush
Number one or number two
For every act you do
We must make a buck or two
Anyone who protests
And put our pockets to the test
We shall arrest
For unlawful unrest
We go to the moon but .
What we really want is heaven
To cost it
And tax it
Then we'd go
Sailing on cloud nine
Skiing on cloud ten
Golfing on cloud eleven
Foreclose on cloud twelve
For the owner we can't find Aha
Parachute off cloud thirteen
Practice Yoga and Ballet on cloud fourteen
On cloud fifteen we’d parade Impromptu Balls
We’ll call a piece of land a Park
So we can tax the trees and tax the plants
We’ll tax all creation visible and invisible and call it a Tax Revolution
”
”
Maisie Aletha Smikle
“
K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of psychology at Florida State University, has studied the acquisition of expert-level skill for decades. The conventional wisdom is that it takes ten thousand hours of effort to become an expert. Ericsson instead found that it’s not about how much time you spend learning, but rather how you spend that time. He finds evidence that people who attain mastery of a field, whether they are violinists, surgeons, athletes,144 or even spelling bee champions,145 approach learning in a different way from the rest of us. They shard their activities into tiny actions, like hitting the same golf shot in the rain for hours, and repeat them relentlessly. Each time, they observe what happens, make minor—almost imperceptible—adjustments, and improve. Ericsson refers to this as deliberate practice: intentional repetitions of similar, small tasks with immediate feedback, correction, and experimentation.
”
”
Laszlo Bock (Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead)
“
Act, Junah, but act without attachment, as the earth does. As I do. The rain falls, with no thought of watering the land. The clouds roll, not seeking to bring shade. They simply do. And we must too.
”
”
Steven Pressfield (The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf and the Game of Life)
“
Even impersonal events can be interpreted, and reacted to, as affronts to our self-esteem. The bus we wanted to catch had to be late; it had to go and rain when we had planned to play golf; traffic had to get into a snarl just when we needed to catch the plane. We react with anger, resentment, self-pity, or in other words, unhappiness.
”
”
Maxwell Maltz (Psycho-Cybernetics: Updated and Expanded (The Psycho-Cybernetics Series))