Book details golf journey from Argentina to Norway
When I first started reading David Wood’s wonderful book “Around the World in 80 Rounds,” I was jealous of him traveling to 22 countries to play golf.
By the time I finished the book, I was no longer jealous. I was thrilled that Wood shared the captivating details of his journey because there was no way I could ever have done what he did.
Reading about his 60,000-mile adventure that took him from the southern tip of Argentina to the northern edge of Norway was like being with Wood every step of the way. Except I didn’t have to endure altitude sickness, brutal heat, obnoxious caddies, food poisoning and getting kicked off a train in the middle of the night.
The book, which was published in 2008 by St. Martin’s Press, and is available at amazon.com in hardcover, paperback, audio and Kindle editions, is about a one-of-a-kind golf trip. But Wood writes about more than just the courses he played.
He describes, often humorously, the people he met, both good and bad, and the places he traveled to achieve his goal of playing the southernmost golf course in the world and the northernmost. And he doesn’t hold back, unlike some golf writers and travel writers.
Every golfer I know who has read “Around the World in 80 Rounds,” including me, has loved it.
A former standup comedian who now lives in New York City and works in public relations and as a motivational speaker (his website is authordavidwood.com), Wood was a travel writer and 7-handicap golfer living in Seattle when he got the idea to sell his condominium, put his belongings in storage and use the proceeds of the sale to fund his golfing odyssey.
The only part of the trip he planned was getting to Ushuaia in Argentina, which isn’t far from Antarctica, to start his journey with a backpack and a travel golf bag with 10 clubs. From there, he knew he would eventually work his way to Tromsö, Norway, north of the Arctic Circle.
“I wanted to finish at the top in Norway. I knew I would move west, in essence to follow the sun,” Wood said.
“My hero is Paul Theroux, the travel writer. I wanted to see the pyramids. I wanted to go to the Southern Hemisphere. I wanted to see the Taj Mahal. I wanted to see Victoria Falls. So that’s what I did. And the golf was almost just the through line of it.”
One of the highlights of his travels was how helpful other golfers were. Strangers he played golf with invited him to their homes. Club professionals and general managers, after hearing about his intentions, would call friends of theirs to arrange everything from golf outings to fivestar lodging in other countries
Without giving away too much, just in case you want to purchase the book for a special golfer as a Father’s Day gift, Wood said that New Zealand was his favorite country for golf given its abundance of links courses, the friendliness of its people and the spectacular scenery.
(As an aside, Wood said his favorite place to play in South Florida is the Champion course at PGA National: “Trying to play The Bear Trap is humbling, but an absolute blast.”)
Thanks to the connections he made, Wood played several of the world’s best private courses, as well as resort and public courses. Plus there was an Alistair McKenzie gem in Uruguay that anyone can play for free on Mondays, a course with not a single blade of grass in Chile and one in Egypt overlooked by the Great Pyramid of Giza.
It certainly wasn’t smooth sailing in every country. There were rip-off attempts, hucksters, insane drivers and some experiences in India that you’ll probably never read about in a travel magazine.
“I wanted to emulate Paul Theroux: Whatever you see is what you write,” Wood said. “I have had people who were quite upset about my India [chapters]. That’s how I saw it.”
And that’s why “Around the World in 80 Rounds” is must reading for all golfers.