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    Golf - The Funny Side
    Golf - The Funny Side
    Golf - The Funny Side
    Ebook45 pages28 minutes

    Golf - The Funny Side

    By James Clarke

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    About this ebook

    Guess how old is the game of golf.
    It goes back to the time of the apemen - around four million years ago. These diminutive tree-dwelling creatures were forced out of the drought-devastated African forests and on to the expanding savannah with its nose-high grass. In order to see over the top of the grass they were compelled to stand upright - the first historic step towards being able to play golf.
    The apeman evolved into Homo habilis whose main weapon became the club. The second step towards golf had been achieved.
    One hundred and twenty thousand years ago an apeman, Ug Blankenthorpe, picked up a stick with a knob on the end. He instinctively liked it and started using it for hunting small mammals and striking people he didn't like. But he also had fun hitting small stones with it.
    To understand the evolution of the game read James Clarke's fascinating history of golf which has been widely acclaimed by historians worldwide and beyond.
    For the last 20 years Clarke has been amassing information and anecdotes about the game - mainly contributed by readers of his offbeat daily newspaper column. Some of it is almost believable and a lot of it terribly useful for those who have to speak at raucous golf club prize-giving ceremonies.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJames Clarke
    Release dateJun 6, 2013
    ISBN9781301977406
    Golf - The Funny Side
    Author

    James Clarke

    James Clarke is the author of Movie Movements: Films That Changed The World of Cinema and a number of other film books. He has contributed to Empire, Imagine, Resurgence and Classic FM and has lectured on the subject of film at the University of Gloucestershire and the University of Sussex.

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      Book preview

      Golf - The Funny Side - James Clarke

      Golf – The Funny Side

      James Clarke

      Cover illustration courtesy of Graeme Hotter’s Free Clip Art collection

      Published by Shalva Publications at Smashwords

      Copyright 2013 James F Clarke

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Introduction

      Let me say up front: I have tried golf from time to time and I can certainly appreciate its fascination. I know the thrill of hearing that satisfying Clink! as one tees off, and the thrill of watching the ball climb and climb, as if rocket-assisted, to land you know not where.

      I’ve tried it and learned that, first, I am not at all good at it. Second, in my line of work, with its irregular commitments, I simply do not have the sort of schedule that is needed if one wants to win a t-shirt or two or win something vaguely useful that one can hide away to give somebody for Christmas.

      And, as the manufacturers of All Bran will tell you, you’ve got to be regular otherwise it becomes a bind.

      Golf is an excellent way to keep relatively fit and, certainly, it makes a brisk 8km walk interesting and forces one to swing the arms about and take in fresh air and, often enough, explore the countryside way beyond the course.

      It is, by all accounts, great mental exercise because for much of the time you play against yourself and you learn a lot about yourself. What makes you as mad as a snake on the golf course can make you smile afterwards, even laugh at yourself. You might even become hysterical and people will have to slap your face a few times.

      Two former editors of mine – long retired and now in their 80s – play golf three times a week. As a result they are so disgustingly fit that, every year, they join four of us cycling hundreds of kilometres across Europe (see Blazing Bicycle Saddles) achieving up to 30km/litre of beer.

      Yes, there’s a lot to recommend golf.

      But, as I have intimated, it is rich in humour despite its many testing frustrations. Or, maybe, because

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