Golf in the Field of Time: A Himalayan Round (Valley of Flowers)

In the Himalayas there is a golf course that no one designed.Eighteen holes spread across 300 kilometers of mountain terrain – from India's Valley of Flowers National Park to Bharmour, at the foot of the Abode of the Blessed, in India's far north. Bronzed pots mark the tees. White flags mark the greens. A course journal of philosophical teachings is the scorecard.Local villagers built it from a game the British left behind. They turned it into something the British never imagined.Nicolas Kumar plays it alone. Ten clubs. Sent by his father to trek eighteen paths over two Indian states and two mountain systems, he encounters fog that erases the world, trees that step forward, a statue of Shiva standing waist-deep in a flooding river and loving it, and a bearded vulture whose shadow follows him from start to finish.Each hole opens a 'path' drawn from the Bhagavad Gita. The front nine empties him. The back nine fills him. What remains was always there: the will to make the walk.No prior knowledge of Hindu philosophy, golf, or the companion novella Valley of Flowers is required. The course provides. Includes Glossary and Discussion Questions.Third in the Valley of Flowers series, with The Big Three and Other Golf Essays, and MIST: A Philosopher's Guide to Golf and the novella Valley of Flowers. Read more