“He knew how much Pine Valley meant to every one of his guests. Despite always being practical, Barney still knew that history needed to be felt rather than read, because knowledge is far more than facts.”

“With deep bunkers already surrounding it, and the stiffened green, it is the hardest shot on the golf course for me personally—because we made it harder than I wanted it to be.”

“As they were celebrating by the 18th green, my son walked over into the middle of them and shook every single one of their hands. I still cry when thinking about it. I think I always will.”

“As we strode out to our opening hole, I eyed my six partners and wondered who among us would walk back in as our hero. The fact that I was looking at everyone but myself was a worrisome sign.”

“Pour a little out for an ol’ girl who, like us, had a lot of miles on the tires, some dirt underneath a dented veneer and still enough motor to make it to the next tee. ”

“While his pieces today can fetch nearly seven figures at auction, Taylor was not widely known until his 40s, when the art world discovered his spontaneous canvases and found-object sculptures.”

“Even in this sanitized version [of the jump into Poppy’s Pond], there is no disputing that golf will lose something when the LPGA moves this storied major to Houston next year. But what, exactly?”

“It’s a lovely old soul where that golden hour of sunlight—the warmth cast on the bottlebrush and the wire grass, the long shadows that make the bunkers look like bottomless pits and the pines like skyscrapers—seems to be shining from more than a century ago, just waiting for someone with a bag on their shoulder.”

“While the overwhelming majority of fans who flip on the weekend telecast have no idea who he is, they should know that those shot-tracer lines tracking 370-yard drives to the inch have their origins in what was known for years on Tour as ‘The Book.’”

“You can forgive a bunch of folks for getting dressed up in some spectacularly goofy outfits in order to get away from it all for one blissful spring day.”

“Along with his trash bag, he carries weather-beaten pin flags and beat-up squares of faded green artificial turf. Such is daily course management for the Club de Golf Pozuelo.”

“We were actually doing it—hanging out with the prettiest girls our sixth- and seventh-grade eyes had ever seen. Then it happened.”

“I made my first left-handed par on the ninth. I immediately texted my dad as if I were 13 and had just birdied a hole that had always been my nemesis.”

“My wife has a right to an explanation for all the time and energy I dedicate to something that appears on the surface to be self-indulgent. I believe I will eventually come up with it.”

“They probably have almonds in a Ziploc bag. They definitely have a Sharpie. Diehards need a Sharpie like caddies need comfy shoes.”