Around the World in 80 Rounds: Chasing a Golf Ball from Tierra del Fuego to the Land of the Midnight Sun » (Unabridged)

David Wood is a former stand-up comedian with a life-long passion for golf. He currently writes a monthly humor column for Grand Tour magazine as well as golf articles for periodicals and Web sites. He lives in Seattle, Washington. Visit his Web site at www.DavidWoodSpeaking.com

“Jealous. That’s what I am. Green with golf envy…Why didn’t we think of that? I mean, what golfer worth his, or her, balls wouldn’t want to trade all the troubles of life for the adventure and privilege of teeing it up everywhere from the glacial volcanoes of the Andes to the Arctic Circle in Norway?”—from the foreword by Turk Pipkin

At 47, David Wood sold everything he owned and set out to fulfill every golfer’s dream: For one year, he traveled the world (covering 60,000 miles and every continent except Antartica) by plane, boat, train, motorcycle and rickshaw, to play the game he loves in the most exotic locales, including the world’s highest, driest, hottest, coldest, and most remote golf courses, and lived to tell the tale.

Along the way, he met a bevy of fascinating characters, including surly cabbies, taxi drivers with a death wish, welcoming golf course managers, threatening kangaroos, and golf pros out for a quick game. David faced dire situations, such as bouts of food poisoning in India and Egypt, altitude sickness in Argentina, getting booted out of the Ukraine by armed guards, and muddling through with limited language skills, but through it all he maintained a sense of humor and of course his passion for golf, which he played every chance he got.

Publishers Weekly

Former standup comedian and humor columnist Wood sold his condo in Seattle and set out on a yearlong global golfing journey. He tells a highly entertaining tale of his trip through 22 countries far off the beaten path from the typical golf vacation. He played the first of his 80 rounds on the world's southernmost course at the tip of Argentina and finished in the northernmost climes of the upper reaches of Norway. In between he played a vast range of layouts: a grassless brown track in the Atacama Desert of Chile; spectacular courses in New Zealand and Australia; a course adjacent to the pyramids and sphinx in Egypt; and the only golf course in all of Russia. He suffered various setbacks, such as golf clubs temporarily lost on a South American bus line. He writes well about the terrain and local atmosphere, and provides a deft mix of golf and travel writing. His take on the people of the world is a 48-year-old bachelor's perspective, as he judges Argentina, Chile and Hungary to have the best-looking women and writes longingly of a beautiful foot masseuse in China. Wood's humor is sometimes forced, but like a few shanked shots in an otherwise well-played round of golf, it doesn't spoil the whole. (Mar.)