Turtleback, inverted saucers, the hood of a Volkswagen – all terms used to describe the green’s complexes of the revered Pinehurst No. 2. Regardless of the descriptions, the greens on Pinehurst No. 2 are some of the smallest targets in golf. In 1935, Donald Ross, the famous architect of Pinehurst No. 2, and over 450 [...]

In 1948, a French watchmaker named Maurice Jacquemin revolutionized light tackle fishing. At that time, most people fished with bulky, difficult reels requiring some skill. An inexperienced angler, and even some old pros, could easily create a mass of tangled line that might ruin a day on the water. Jacquemin, an engineer for the French [...]

When the Spanish explorers first began to trek across North America about 500 years ago, they discovered “dragons,” dubbing these giant toothy reptiles, “El Lagarto,” or “the lizard.” Over the centuries, English-speaking people corrupted the Spanish phrase into “alligator.” For 400 years, many settlers considered them vermin worthy only of eradication to protect humans and [...]

Stinging raindrops mixed with sleet projectiles pelted the foreboding forest like fine birdshot fired from a thousand distant shotguns as I walked up the trail toward the deer stand. In thick darkness, I followed the path as it snaked through somber rolling hills shrouded in mist and obscured by the precipitation. The previous evening, I [...]

People who are planning their “once in a lifetime” trip to Scotland often ask my advice. I go there nearly every summer, so I’m always happy to share some of the good – and bad! – decisions I have made on my trips so they can make own trips more fun. The first thing I [...]

To the north, water, marsh and sky merged into one colossal swirling, flashing grayish, black mass, erasing any trace of a horizon. Safe for the moment in the bay, we listened for our quarry. Ahead of the storm, the water around us slicked into a quiet greenish-gray sheen in the oppressive late summer afternoon heat. [...]

In the fall of 1996, I received an assignment to Egypt. It was a diplomatic assignment, advising senior Egyptian Air Force officers and flying as an instructor pilot in F-16s at a remote location approximately two hours north of Cairo. Although this may sound like a great job, initially I wasn’t very thrilled about the [...]

Long, long ago in a parish far, far away, my older sister planned the perfect Easter weekend family activity. “Daddy,” she said, “you and John get up early Saturday morning, go out into the swamp and catch a bunch of crawfish. Come home about noon to clean them, so Mom can cook them. Tell her [...]