Dear Harvey:
A bright November sun over The Richmond Golf Club. The fairways look forgiving—though the chill in the air and long shadows told a different story. The season has shifted. The grass holds the ball now; the air is heavier. Less roll, more truth.
On balance, it’s time to return to my series: Dear Harvey – Golfing My Ball in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Time to start dreaming and mapping out future golf trips beyond the winter cold ahead.
Three Players, One Fine Day
Yesterday’s walk, in the weekly Sunday Rollup, was one to remember. Three of us—Dr. David Ford, David Bradley, and me—making the most of a “winter” day that felt like borrowed spring. We played in three and a half hours, never rushed, but steady. Our club does such a good job of making it possible to play with and meet so many remarkable people!
The Round That Felt Right
My card: 40–39–79. 31 putts. Six greens in regulation. Nine of 12 fairways. Four out of 12 up-and-downs for par. One sweet kick-in birdie, on 18, got me under 80! Suitable for 39 Stableford points—but not quite enough to top Dr. Ford’s impressive 40 points, built on five straight pars out of the gate.
Lessons from a Health Leader and a Palaeontologist
Accordingly, David Bradley brought his steady calm—no surprise for someone closing a 43-year NHS career as Chief Executive of South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust (SLaM). Mr. Bradley has led SLaM, which has an annual turnover of more than £600m and provides mental healthcare to over 1.3 million people, since 2019. Congrats David on reaching the reaching years!
David Ford brought his usual curiosity, the same kind he applies to his research at the Natural History Museum, where he studies the evolution of early reptiles.
Two men who’ve each devoted decades to understanding complex systems—of life, of care—and me, chasing relevance and rhythm one fairway at a time.
I enjoyed telling both David’s about my book project, RELEVANCE – a page turner on a slippery subject (working title). The featured image above taken on 13 green, in front of a favorite tree – the inspiration for my cover and the three main sections of the book – rooting, rising, reaching.
At sixty-six, I’ve come to see that I now have line-of-sight across eight generations of working professionals—from my daughters and their friends, still planting roots and testing their wings, to my son-in-law’s grandfather, Jim Chapman, a ninety-year-old architect in Atlanta still sketching and designing with Autodesk tools every day. It’s a rare vantage point, and a humbling one. From here, I can trace the full arc of relevance—how it takes root in curiosity, rises through seasons of purpose and change, and reaches outward in later years toward meaning and legacy. Rooting. Rising. Reaching. The through line of a relevant life.
Moving Toward Single Digits
Some rounds score better than others—but the company, and the walk itself, usually win. And a small step closer to my goal: WHS Index now 11.1.
every gPage Singletary thing,
gPage
“Millions of people were charmed by the homespun golf advice dispensed in Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book, a sports classic that became the best-selling sports book of all time. Yet, beyond the Texas golf courses where Penick happily toiled for the better part of eight decades, few people knew the self-made golf pro who coaxed the best out of countless greats — Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Betsy Rawls, Mickey Wright — all champions who considered Penick their coach and lifelong friend.” – Kevin Robbins, author of Harvey Penick: The Life and Wisdom of the Man Who Wrote the Book on Golf.
