The Fairway Dragon

Here are today’s Wonderful Words:

The fairway is split lengthwise up the middle by a bony ridge, with downward slopes on either side, like a green carpet draped over the back of a dragon.

Blue Fairways, Charles Slack, page 89

Background

Blue Fairways is the classic American travelog with a golfing spin. Sometime in the mid nineties, Charlie Slack quit his job as a newspaper reporter and set out on a golfing expedition down the east coast of the United States. With his wife and young child at home, Slack—a mediocre golfer—spent several months sleeping in motels and hacking his way across the municipal courses of the Eastern US. Blue Fairways is the story of his journey. This sentence is a description of the 12th hole at Franklin Park Golf Course in Boston.

What makes it wonderful?

I’ve stood on enough tee boxes—looking out at a terrifying hole—to appreciate a great description of one.

Like number 12 at The Cardinal, with a pond along the entire left side so large it may as well be the Atlantic Ocean.

Or the first at Rock Barn, where it looks like your drive needs to carry the Grand Canyon.

And I can’t forget 15 at Bryan Park, with water on the right, water in front, and a landing area the size of the tablecloth on a New York City high-top for two.

Half the fun of being on a golf course is appreciating the beauty of man’s handiwork on a natural landscape. When I read Slack’s words, I imagine my mouth hanging open with both awe and terror as I stood looking out at this fairway.

With my luck, it would be the only straight drive I hit all day. It would land in the middle of the fairway—on the spine of the dragon—and kick right into the weeds faster than a rabbit running from a beagle.

Golf is a game of visual delights, but it’s hard to have the same level of delight reading about golf. With sentences like this one, Slack manages to pull it off.

Let's get technical

This sentence is a simile dripping with imagery.

A simile is a comparison using the words like or as. This technique seems to be used most often to paint a picture.

And imagery, as you can imagine, is the picture painted, in this case, with the simile.

Slack compares the fairway to a carpet draped over the back of a dragon. Not something you see every day but something you can envision quite clearly.

When you’re writing for a very specific audience—like golfers—it’s even more important to capture the feeling of “being there.” You’ll lose their interest if you don’t. So paint a vivid picture of something they’ve all experienced. It’ll get their buy in and keep them reading in search of more.

Happy writing,

Joe