Devon resident and renowned golf writer Tom Coyne’s latest work rounds out a trilogy of books about his golf-mad travels, writes Tom Bedell for Sports Illustrated.

Coyne’s new book, A Course Called America, continues to explore the same subject as his previous two: A Course Called Ireland and A Course Called Scotland.

As part of his research, Coyne, once an associate professor of creative writing at Saint Joseph’s University, spent most of 2019 playing 295 courses across the country. His results would take a poster-sized scorecard to tally. He played 5,182 total holes and shot a nifty 21,727 strokes (a 4.19 stroke average).

Luckily, he finished just before the pandemic severely limited course play, leaving him with plenty of writing time.

And while this book focuses on finding the great American golf course, it is also about the people Coyne met on his travels.

One of the things the author advocates for both in and outside of the book is providing more public access to private clubs.

“We’re coming out of this pandemic golf boom, and it’s tough to see a way to keep that going when we keep bumping up against the fact that 90 percent of our extraordinary golf is private … and expensive private,” he said.

Read more about Tom Coyne in Sports Illustrated.