David Godwin's engaging and hugely enjoyable memoir bears the subtitle "An amateur's shot at golfing respectability". The scene is set early with an amusingly grim description of the Packer Rejects tournament in Aldeburgh, where Godwin, an amateur taking his first hesitant steps into competitive golf at 60, finds himself mired in horrible weather and even worse playing. Taking a vow to score the semi-mythical round of 80, he finds himself taking a globe-hopping journey that encompasses India, Scotland and, of all places, "American Golf" in Watford.

Godwin paints himself as that most English of things, the bumbling but good-hearted amateur, and it's hard not to enjoy his frequently farcical travels. Whether accidentally breaking wind practising yoga, forgetting the names of his schoolmates, or finally returning to Aldeburgh to try to put right his earlier disaster, he's a likable and sympathetic guide to a world that can be confusing to anyone who can't differentiate between an eagle and a bogey. As he comes to realise that golf, far from being a solipsistic activity, involves coming together as part of a committed team, a pleasing sense of catharsis emerges amid the jokes about bad backs and lost balls.