Product Description

A beautifully written and evocative memoir about family, fatherhood and four-irons. 'There is no quainter or more romantic spot than Gullane,' wrote the Reverend John Kerr is his titanic 1896 work The Golf Book Of East Lothian. A small town of a few thousand people a dozen miles east of Edinburgh, Gullane was a place of such unmatched physical beauty and peace -- not to mention the home of both Gullane Golf Club and Muirfield -- that Curtis Gillespie vowed to return after spending time there as a student. His memoir of the year he spent in Gullane with his family, Playing Through provides the reader with the rarest of experiences: a story rich with comedy, emotional truths and stunning evocations of a unique landscape. Written with warmth and elegance, Playing Through transcends the boundaries of writing on travel and sport to show us the world contained in a village, a place filled to overflowing with life, character, memory and laughter. This is the story of one family's journey, but it is also a story about the things we all share.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #570066 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From the Back Cover
'This book by the well-respected author, Curtis Gillespie, offers an interesting and unique mix of golf and autobiography amid the game’s hallowed settings in Scotland -– the experiences of a golfing historian turned writer. The descriptions tickled fond memories for me.'
ARNOLD PALMER

'Curtis Gillespie is a beautiful writer, with an exquisite touch reminiscent of John Updike. He can describe the ephemera of the natural world and the fragility of human relationships with the same sure hand. PLAYING THROUGH is a book about golf, history, friendship and the love of family; it is compelling and evocative and memorable in the very best sense.'
ALISTAIR MACLEOD, author of NO GREAT MISCHIEF

'PLAYING THROUGH is one of those special books that comes along only about as often as your favourite links course appears on the Open Rota –- an elegiac tribute to life’s most wonderful and complex game and the enduring bonds it creates, a beautifully rendered meditation on what it means to be a good son, a loving father, and a lasting friend of the game. If I could recommend but one book this year, this would be it.'
JAMES DODSON, author of FINAL ROUNDS

About the Author
Curtis Gillespie's non-fiction has appeared in publications in Canada, the United States and Great Britain, and has earned him three National Magazine Awards. He is the author of two previous books, The Progress Of An Object In Motion and Someone Like That, and lives in Edmonton with his wife and two daughters.