Class
Overall, class was enjoyable. I learned many new things about the game of golf. The discussions of the history of the game and of the layout of the course allowed me to, in the period of one day, create a greater appreciation and understanding of the game of golf. I was interested and learned much about the history and development of golf and how certain ecological aspects of the course affect game play.
Assigned Readings
Many of Updike's articles were easy for me to relate to. Updike seems to me to be a very intent golfer who is very easily distracted and easily frustrated. He seems to love the game but finds it difficult to get good now that he is aging.
I especially like the way he writes the novel. Although at times he is difficult to follow, his wording makes the story interesting. My favorite aspect of the novel is the descriptive scenes he gives and how he develops them into extremely problematic situations.
From the book, my favorite section is the "Golf Dreams" section. This is because of several reasons. Firstly, as I have mentioned, I like his style and descriptiveness of the scene. I also find it easy to relate to his situation where he makes everything seem much more difficult than it really is. Overall I enjoyed the first readings.
Day 2 (May 14, 2002)
Class
Today was a fairly relaxed class. Since I knew most of what was discussed, time seemed to pass quickly. The discussion over Golf Dreams was interesting and it caused me to think about the readings more than I had already done.
Assigned Readings
The new Updike readings were not as interesting to me ...