The Loop

Living vicariously through an admitted golfaholic

June 27, 2015

*GolfDigest.com will regularly highlight a book that it finds of interest to readers. *

__Confessions of a Golfaholic

__By Paul Laubach, Elevate Publishing, $29.95, hardback, 414 pages

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Every so often a determined golfer goes on a journey to play a collection of courses of a certain region or genre or ranking. Ever since Golf Digest began its authoritative rankings of golf courses in various categories, for instance, several brave souls have tried to play our 100 Greatest as the most popular choice. Larry Berle did such a book back in 2007.

I always found such ventures logistically intriguing and worthy of envy. In "Confessions of a Golfaholic," author Laubach, a self-described 50ish golf addict, goes around the country playing 100 premier public courses in nearly a four-year timespan. In what amounts to a travelogue, he breaks down each course's best characteristics, and tells some fun anecdotes in the process, including the fact he flew 87,800-plus miles, drove another 17,000 and spent around $100,000 all total. Barring you've got your own resources for such a trip, living vicariously through this golfer's journey will have to suffice and you'll have to imagine what your own adventure would be like. But at least you'll learn of some potentially great golf courses to play near you.