A Season In Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands

by Lorne Rubenstein

In 1977, Lorne Rubenstein, an avid golfer, travelled to Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands. Young and adrift in life, he was profoundly affected by the experience. As he writes, 'My week in Dornoch introduced me to a place with which I felt a connection. A week wasn't living there, but it was enough for Dornoch to imprint itself on my mind.'

Twenty-three years later, in 2000, now an established golf writer, Rubenstein returned to Dornoch to spend an entire summer. He rented a flat close to the Royal Dornoch Golf Club and set out to explore the area on many levels.

Rubenstein writes about the melancholy history of the Highland Clearances, which have left the beautiful landscape sparsely populated to this day. He writes about the friendly and sometimes eccentric people who love their town, their golf and their single malt whisky, and who delight in sharing them with visitors. But most of all he writes about a summer lived in a community where golf is king and the golf course is part of the common lands where townspeople stroll of an evening. Rubenstein is able to return to thinking of golf as play, as opposed to a game of analysis and effort.

A Season in Dornoch is an affectionate portrait of a place and the people who live there, a fascinating look at golf and the spirit and skills it calls forth, and a perceptive and ultimately moving memoir of one man's quest to experience again the pure love of sport that he knew in his youth.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Conor · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re into golf, history and the Scottish highlands, this may very well be up your street. If not, probably swerve it.

[John Matthew IV · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is about a love story between a man, golf and Dornoch. It is well-written and a compelling read. Very enjoyable and will have you looking at flights to Scotland.

p. 80 Timothy Neat
p. 153: "Weather is just that, however. Weather. We think of it as good and bad, but maybe there's just weather."
p. 156: Scotland's Golf Courses
p. 220: Three fundamental questions: Where do you want your shot to finish? What sort of shot do you want to play? What club should you use?
p. 226: My Life And Soft Times

[Timothy Sears · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captures completely the feel of Dornoch

Having visited Dornoch for four short days out of a love for golf I can say that this book captures the feel of and spirit of the town and links at Dornoch. I too cannot wait to return, and will return to this book when the longing becomes too great.

[Timothy Hoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of golf's classics.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great golf and travel story about Dornach that adds in some great history of the Scottish Highlands

[Graham Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Golf is more than a game and this is more than a book about golf. Magnificent. I only wished I was reading it in the Highlands.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining and well written tale of golf, Scotland and life itself. The Highlands and a wee dram beckon.

[Jason , etc. · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, you have to be a golfer. Second, you have to have a 'thing' for Scotland. I've been to Dornoch since reading this book and, yes. It's awesome. The course is amazing, the town defines 'quaint', and the surrounding area is lovely. This guy spent a year living and golfing in Dornoch and writes about the course and the people. That said, the book is for a limited audience, of which I was one.

[Lance Ludman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this before visiting Dornoch and thought the book was rudderless from about page 100.

I re-read after visiting Dornoch and had a greatly increased appreciation for this book -- especially the rudderless structure as a metaphor for the serenity Rubenstein achieved while in Scotland.

The audience is indeed very narrow -- golfers -- but for those have played Royal Dornoch and visitied the Highlands....it's a direct hit. Great book -- now one of my favorites.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author engagingly chronicles a long summer spent in Dornoch, Scotland, learning to play golf with the heart not the head, biking and hiking around the countryside, and learning the history of golf and the people of the area.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Descriptions that coincided with my father's stories of visiting Dornoch. Sounds like a lovely normal Scottish town, that just happens to host one of the greatest golf courses in the world. Though to the locals, this is simply the local course. Will read again before we visit Dornoch.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this while staying in Dornoch however, the best way to experience Dornoch is to play Royal Dornoch as many times as possible.

[Joakim Oskarsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice story about golf and life in the Scottish highlands. The book does not reach the same heights as some similar books did (Playing through by Curtis Gillespie or Final rounds by James Dodson).

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite golf book ever. Followed up by a trip to play Dornoch, what an experience!

[Jeff Keisler · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone who has been there, a great memory....for anyone who hasn't, a dream yet tone fulfilled!

[Robert Schwab · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an entertaining read, and is recommended for golfers and lovers of Scotland. The author and his wife spend a summer in Dornoch, a village in the highlands renowned for its golf course. Over the season spent there, the author, a single-digit handicapper and golf journalist, wrestles with his swing, the meaning of the game, the glory of links golf, and the magic of the Scottish Highlands and its inhabitants, a people scarred still by their history in relationship to the English. The book is a meditation on all of these things, well told by an accomplished writer and deep thinker. I was fortunate enough to travel to Dornoch twenty years ago, and to play the course there with a dear friend. I came away convinced that if God plays golf, it is at Dornoch. This year, after a return to Scotland, I came to believe that for variety, God plays at Carnoustie, but that is another story. The book made me eager to return to Dornoch, a trip that I hope I will take with my son in the not-too-distant future. Anyone who enjoys golf and/or Scotland will enjoy this tale.