Ancestral Links: A Golf Obsession Spanning Generations

by John Garrity

One man’s quest to uncover the roots of his family’s obsession with golf—a journey that takes him to his ancestral home in Ireland, to Scotland, and to the American heartland.

John Garrity is well known in the golf world for his writing for Sports Illustrated, Golf Magazine, and on Golf.com. In this new book, Garrity travels to the remote corner of Ireland from which his great-grandfather left for America, now home to a majestic golf course. There he discovers why local farmers spent seven years carving the course out of unforgiving terrain, using only rakes and spades for their work. From there, he visits Musselburgh, Scotland, where his maternal ancestors played golf before the first thirteen rules of the game were written there in 1774, and to Wisconsin’s St. Croix River Valley, where his father learned the Ancient Game.

Part memoir, part travelogue, and all golf, this book is for the enthusiast, the casual fan, or just the curious. The story of how golf altered three small-town landscapes and forever changed one family will captivate readers and inspire them to find life’s greatest treasures in their own family tree.

Genres: Sports

304 pages, Hardcover

First published February 11, 2009

Reviews

[Royce Aldridge]

I am enjoying the history of the Garrity Clan & the Carne Links. I feel like each chapter is its own tale but the entire story is disjointed.

The last 40 pages or so really captured my interest. When Garrity got to the 'real' reason he was in Ireland for a sabbatical it all came into focus for me. Man, what a moving tale. Plus he had a few great quotes in the end that really made me think.

[Clair Keizer]

I love golf. I am not particularly good playing golf, but I love the game. Like many, my relationship with golf is stormy to say the least. When my game is hot, my love is as well. When my game is poor, my love is scornful. Perhaps it’s this tempestuous affair that feeds my unbridled enthusiasm for John Garrity’s Ancestral Links. He feeds my love affair, and fuels it further with his wonderful stories of growing up with a golf impassioned father and a talented PGA pro brother, who knew he had more to do with his life than chase the tour. Garrity further feeds my flames with his words describing his love for Carne Golf Links in northwest Ireland in County Mayo, tracking down his Hibernian ancestry while re-living more recent memories of his father and brother. I have no Irish, nor Scottish ancestry, but reading Ancestral Links allows me, for this moment to fantasize that I do. And thanks to John Garrity, I see myself one day on that 17th tee of Carne believing I too can achieve that unreachable score.

[Marilyn]

I have never had any desire to go to Ireland--until now and you can bet I will be bringing my clubs!

[Jim Fitzpatrick]

Irish heritage is one link.
Links golf is another.
Jim Fitzpatrick, the Irish artist perhaps most famous for his 1960s era image of Che Guevara, is another link, and then there's the 17th hole at Carne, a links course in western Ireland that may be the biggest link of them all.
I played golf at Carne, on a glorious day, well before I read Garrity's book. Now I can't wait to return. The whole golfing experience at Carne was filled with powerful images and long lasting memories.
The 17th is everything Garrity makes it out to be. A challenge. A puzzle. A potential reward. A test of self and your game.
Just like Ireland.
Westport, Ireland, home to Matt Malloy's Pub, owned and operated by The Chieftain's flutist, Matt Molloy, might be the jump off point to travel out to Carne, it was ours, so that's a link, too.
Golf. Ireland. Carne. 17th hole. Matt Molloy. It's all there for you in Garrity's world. It can be your world, too.

[Dan Coyne]

Just a wonderful read. Twas in my wheelhouse, admittedly, but a wonderful tale well told. Loved it!!!!!