If you would, please delve into the mystical portion first, because that's the first part that you get into in the book.

Yeah, and it's the longest part.

It's probably about 60% of the book is the mystical.

And by that, I meant that I was going to write seven or eight essays about different parts of solo golf that I find moving or important or insightful.

So and mystical because I try to write about it in a way short.

You know, you know, the book is not that long.

I think of it as a bath, a good bathroom book.

Right.

Yeah.

That's so funny because Insider is still a business for ESPN.

I remember in 2000 when we took over running Insider for ESPN 20 years ago, that was part of my portfolio.

People were like, you can't charge people for content on the web.

And Insider had been charging forever and still does.

So it's like, I don't know if they still do, but I believe they do.

But I'm not nearly as apocalyptic about the media industry or about content industry as everybody else is.

of the five head.

but it talks about playing alone like talk about why that is such a deep and important like skill to develop in this on this earth

Yeah, it's funny.

I've been writing pieces off of this for the Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe and Fortune.

And one of the pieces I just submitted to another large national newspaper, it talks about that adults need to spend more time and being childlike.

And one of the things that I do when I play golf alone, and I've been doing it for about 30 years, and you guys know me, I'm super social.

I'm a social golfer.

I love golfing with my friends or my nephews and nieces, but every once in a while, two or three times a year, I just like to recalibrate and go out by myself.

Phil Mickelson.

Like the way you described the, it was like you were on a business trip in Seattle, right?

First of all, it was such a different time in media that I, this was in the mid nineties and I ran into one of my bosses in the kitchen of our office.

I was at money magazine and he said, what are you up to? And I was like, Oh, I'm going to Seattle to, to, interview a family for a story called One Family's Finances.

It was a feature in Money Magazine.

And he said, how long are you going for? I was like, I think I'm going to go for four days.

He goes, take an extra day and bring your clubs.

And back then, your boss could tell you to just take an extra day on a business trip in media and to go golfing.

And

Right

... yourself, it is, that is gone, and it is just you and your equipment and a ball and a course.

And I can tell you, sir, I've done this countless times.

It is magical.

And I, I'll tell you what I ...

And for the longest time, I thought I was one of the people that knew about this.

Like, nobody ever talks about this.

Curiosity instead of self-

Louis, back in the day?

I started playing golf, I started playing golf when, [laughs] I started playing golf when I was 18, and, uh, you, I think you know this story, which is that, um, I was a pretty good athlete, not great, but pretty good athlete.

But, uh, I would watch golf for a few years, and then I decided, oh, I'm gonna go out and try to play.

And when I went out, I was, uh, went to the, the, uh, the Green Trails, uh, Country Club, which is actually a public course, a nine-hole course, and I'm thinking, "Oh, this, what if it turns out that golf is my-"

[laughs]

...

in the, in the pages of ESPN The Magazine, and I'm doing this book, and I wanna send it to you.

And if you'd be, feel comfortable, please, I'd love to have a blurb from you.

[laughs]

Um, that, that real golfers don't say golfing, they say play golf.

But I also say golfing.

The, the reason to play by yourself...

I mean, there could be many reasons to play by yourself.

You could be traveling, as I often am, and all of a sudden realize, oh, wait, the weather outside is kind of crappy, and there's, I can probably find a really not well-attended course in this area, meaning kind of a bad course, and if I call them up, they will probably rent me clubs and I can go play a, at least a few holes.

Uh, and there's just something about that that first of all is sort of a little bit fun, a little bit serendipitous, a little bit adventurous.

[laughs]

[laughs] How'd I know you were gonna say that?

My answer to your, to your very smart question is yes.

Uh, golf is and can be many things.

In fact, I think that's one of the reasons why I really, this book meant a lot to me was, um, I, I say it at the outset, I dedicate the book to all of the people that I love to play golf with, except when I love to play alone.

And I start the book off by stressing literally on the first page, I'm a social golfer.

I love to go with my nephews or nieces, with my close friends.

I don't even mind being a single and playing with three strangers.

What do you think?