(Harold E Edgerton - Courtesy Palm Press Inc.)

Golf is more than a way of life; it's also a sport, as the Kemper Open reminds us this week. And for writers it's a challenge, one that authors as accomplished as Updike, Longhurst and Just could not resist. Neither could we.

Euguene Robinson contemplates his midlife obsession.
Steve Coll relives the hole-in-one that, as it happens, didn't change his life.
Mary Battiata rhapsodizes on miniature golf.
Peter Carlson recalls the jaundiced joys of caddying.
Kevin Sullivan shows how golf reflects Japan's changing fortunes.
Liza Mundy surveys the golf course as ground zero in the gender wars.