Explore Scotland: An Unforgettable Journey Through the Home of Golf

Martha Caflisch: ...comprehensive, easy to read. Inspires ro try out the innumerable golf course in Scotland.

United Kingdom on Sep 22, 2023

David Kash: Planning a trip to Scotland and this book has helped

United States on Jul 31, 2023

Mr. J. E. Adams: A great book by Tom for anyone visiting Scotland and wanting to play golf here. I feature in the book (so I am slightly biased!!) for the 1562 Course at Montrose (the 5th oldest in the world), but genuinely the book is a good read and Tom really gets to the point and pleasure of golfing in Scotland.

Canada on Dec 16, 2022

Jack O'Spades: Coyne's follow-up to A Course Called Ireland has much of the same as the author now will travel around Scotland plus some English and Welsh courses in search of "the best seaside course". It's a fun and interesting read that I recommend to any golfer, particularly one heading to Scotland. However, the theme isn't as compelling as ACCI. He says he's trying to qualify for the British Open, but this method of prep isn't the way to go about it. And he's continuously coy about his choices, as you might expect. "This one might be the best." Well, is it?

One other key point: ACCI is a rollicking fun, with plenty of post-round libations in the Irish manner. That's missing here. I thought it was because he's driving Scotland vice walking Ireland (not that walking the Irish road bleary-eyed is recommended). At the end he reveals somewhere post-Ireland his drinking issues got the worst of him. Ironic since ACCI features a Guinness glass on the cover. Glad Coyne worked it out, but the tale suffers for it.

United States on Nov 20, 2022

DavidDavid: I finished Tom’s book last week. It was incredibly well written and you felt very much a part of his journey playing golf across parts of England and Wales and all of Scotland on his way to try to qualify for The Open Championship but also in search of a certain peace within himself following a decision to reset his life. On his journey, a wonderful group of people join him and he conveys so well who they are and their time with him. You also read about the genuine friendship he develops with each of them. Beyond enjoying the book as a great read, his journey spoke deeply to my heart as I relived my own walk there in search of God's peace. In 2004, I lost my 19 year old daughter Sally, and niece Grace, in an auto accident involving a drunk driver speeding nearly 90 mph when he broadsided the car they were riding in. Like Tom, I viewed these special places as a refuge and sanctuary to grieve alone and search desperately for God’s peace with life without her. As Tom conveys, there is an unmistakable peace you feel walking courses God created that we just discovered. One we both enthusiastically agree defines this above all others-Askernish. It just doesn’t get any better....

United States on Jul 21, 2021

jmac: A great read about all the subtleties of links golf in Scotland and the climax of the book is playing Augusta National. The ultimate paradox, go figure.

Canada on Feb 21, 2021

CanOrtho: I will use this list on my next Scotland golf trip. Thanks for the awesome links tour. Such an odyssey.

Canada on May 03, 2020

Ammoairdrie: I don't read a lot of books, but had by chance stumbled onto seeing something telling me the release date of this latest Tom Coyne work, and me being a golfer from Scotland, it stuck in my head for weeks. I'm calling it fate.
Any man or woman who attempts to play this amount of golf and travel this many miles in such a short space of time, is going to have good stories to share and this book didn't disappoint.
3 sittings it took me to read this, I was absolutely captured by Tom's superb writing style, humorous golf recollections and heart warming tales of friendships old and new. The biggest compliment I can pay it, is that I'll now be reading Tom's other books, and looking out for other stuff he does.

United Kingdom on Jul 31, 2018

Schorschico: First things first. If you liked "A course called Ireland" you will like this book. Same easy writing, golf obsessed and funny narrative.

A couple of things I disliked. He drives Scotland and walks Ireland, so the ratio golf course per page is very different. You get to know much less about specific courses (with many beautiful exceptions) than you did in the previous one. It makes sense with >100 rounds, but it makes it less enjoyable for me. The only thing I really hated was all the references to Augusta. He spent the book telling us (and I agree whole-hardly) how different links golf is, how amazing and open, how organic, with so little human intervention, how everybody can enjoy it and how that is at the core of Scotland's golf. There is a sentence about the UK being more classist but their golf more open, even their best links can be played by visitors, and the US less socially closed but their top golf being played inside closed County Clubs and private clubs. And then Augusta, the worst offender in terms of exclusivity, becomes the final dream of this book. Not one of the rota courses that anybody can play (for a very reasonable price, many of them), no, it had to...

United States on Jul 26, 2018

JoeL: This is a GREAT golf book. If you have any interest in the game, especially how it is played in Scotland, this is a must read. But it is so much more. Whether you are obsessed with golf or have never held a club in your hand, I recommend “A Course Called Scotland.”

Nearly ten years ago, I received a book as a gift that changed my perspective on the game of golf. I loved playing the game, but knew little of its origins and how differently the game is played on true links courses. I thoroughly enjoy reading in “A Course Called Ireland” how golf is played in that part of the world, but I was also introduced to Tom Coyne’s view on that island – its people, its politics, its walkability, and its history (and its golf). Really, I was introduced to one man’s love of Ireland and this beautiful, frustrating game.

Now, in what can be called a sequel, we are able to enjoy yet another great golf book, but also another great love story. “A Course Called Scotland” is about love of a game and its origins, but also love of family and friends, love of an attitude and way of life that exists in a nation roughly the size of the state of Maine, love of landscape...

United States on Jul 25, 2018