I’ve been busy. I’ll admit I’m still trying to keep up with the blog, but even though my commitments to the National Post have largely ended as the PGA Tour season concludes, my writing has actually increased.
That’s because I’m in the midst of finishing my third book, Going For The Green: Canada’s Leaders on the Links for Key Porter. The book will appear next spring.
Right now I’m about 45,000 words in, or about 10 chapters and the introduction. The book contains descriptions of 20 rounds played with top Canadian businessmen (and one woman), as well as a handful of notable politicians. It is based on the series I wrote for the National Post from 2002-04 called, naturally enough, Going For The Green, and more than a dozen of the participants in the book first met me during rounds for the newspaper columns. That said, there are a number of first timers (Newfoundland premier Danny Williams, RBC chair JP Ouellet, CN chair David McLean, Golf Town founder Stephen Bebis) that were completely new to me.
Overall the tone is much less restricted than what I wrote for the Post — and that doesn’t just mean there’s the occasional four-letter word, though that is also true. There’s also more of me in the book, more commentary on the individuals and the courses. And I did get to see neat places, including Ron Joyce’s Fox Harb’r, Montreal’s Mount Bruno, Magna GC, Shaughnessy, Westmount, and Glen Abbey. Always nice to play in style.
In case you are interested — and I hope some regular readers are (and my publisher is counting on it!), here is the complete list of those in the book and where we played:
G4G Schedule:
Completed: Introduction (4,300 words) *
Raymond Royer (Domtar) @ Mount Bruno
Eugene Melnyk (Biovail, Sens) @ Eagles Nest
David Miller (Toronto Mayor) @ Don Valley
Jim Kinnear/Jim Balsillie (Pengrowth/Rim) @ Canadian Open
Ron Joyce (Tim Hortons’ co-founder) @Fox Harb’r
Chris Cahill (Fairmont) @ Chateau Montebello
Brad Pelletier (IMG) @ Links at Crowbush Cove
Frank McKenna (former premier) @ Fox Creek
Stephen Bebis (Golftown) @ Magna
Bruce Simmonds (ClubLink) @ King Valley
JP Ouelett (RBC) @ Mount Bruno
Norm Keevil (Teck Cominco) @ Shaughnessy
Rai Sahi (Morguard) @ Glen Abbey
Dee Parkinson (Sherritt) @ Sunshine Coast GC
Peter Schwartz (Lawrence Capital) @ Westmount
David McLean (CN) @ Nicklaus North
Ralph Klein (former premier) @ Elks Club
Danny Williams (Newfoundland premier) @ Willows at Holyrod
Tom McBroom (golf designer) @ St. George’s
Gerry Barad (concert promoter, Live Nation, TNA) @ Scarboro
I’ll keep readers posted on the details as they emerge, and as always, thanks for reading.
