“War is good for nothing,” my grandfather used to say — and he knew exactly what he was talking about.
These days, the word war rolls off the tongues of the media without hesitation.
War here, war there, war everywhere. As if we hadn’t learned… anything.
They normalize it. And honestly — it makes me sick.
Disgusted.
Today I want to tell you the story of Bernard Darwin, the man who wrote about golf while the world was at war.
Bernard Darwin was:
- A witness to two World Wars.
- A distinguished amateur golfer.
- A British Army officer during World War I, stationed in France.
- The most influential golf writer of his time.
- And, in his spare time, the grandson of Charles Darwin.
Quite a résumé.
He inherited from his grandfather that same obsession with observing, describing, and understanding human behavior. Darwin became a lucid witness to how golf survived even as civilization itself seemed to fall apart.
To find meaning amidst chaos, officers played golf.
He wrote journals, chronicles, and articles for The Times, describing how golf helped soldiers endure the psychological absurdity of war behind the front lines.
The World of Golf, published in 1934, was a collection of essays and stories gathered from decades of his writing.
In them, Darwin didn’t explain golf.
He told it — the way I like it — leaving out stats and mechanics, focusing instead on the emotional side:
The nerves.
The pride.
The fear.
The patience.
The impatience.
All those things that make playing a round of golf with someone the best interview you could ever do to truly know them.
Quotes I keep from Darwin:
“Golf would be unbearable if it didn’t teach us that we’re not as good as we think we are.”
By the time World War II came, Darwin was older. He didn’t fight. He observed. And he wrote:
“As long as someone keeps walking a fairway with honest intent, the world hasn’t completely given up.”
May wars die — and golf live on.
Happy weekend, golfers!
P.S. If you’re thinking about reading a modern edition of Bernard Darwin’s writings, I recommend this one.