Where Golf Is Great: The Finest Courses of Scotland and Ireland »

Jim Finegan is the author of five books on golf, including Blasted Heaths and Blessed Greens and Emerald Fairways and Foam-Flecked Seas. He lives in Villanova, PA.

Every golfer who s worth his favorite putter knows where golf is great: Scotland, birthplace of the game and still its most important shrine, from the splendor of St. Andrews to the regal resort at Gleneagles; and Ireland, where the links like Ballybunion and Royal County Down are of unsurpassed beauty and challenge. Whether golfers actually make the pilgrimage or arm-chair it, Where Golf Is Great is indispensable: the most luxurious, entertaining, informative, and exhaustive book on these most important destinations. Written by the bard of Scottish and Irish golf, it combines the most authoritative information with the most beautiful prose and the most stunning color photographs -- an unsurpassed celebration of the places where golf is, indeed, great.

Not only is the golf great, but so are the sights, the dining, the lodging -- and it s all here: the pub lunches and three-star dinners; the country-house hotels and full-service resorts. Jim Finegan s singularly insightful advice includes the very best play-and-stay combinations for once-in-a-lifetime perfect golf days, in this once-in-a-lifetime perfect golf book.

Philadelphia Inquirer

“Finegan is a graceful writer clearly in love with his subject; his descriptions of the courses and their signature holes can be enjoyed by golfer and non-golfer alike. Finegan’s prose is better than any photograph.”