Putting the Bounce in the Ball
Posted on 12. Jul, 2011 by Paul Sochaczewski in Golf
Playing golf near the rainforest which revolutionized the game MANAUS, Brazil Normally when I play golf, I clutter my head with an excess of swing thoughts – turn, extend the arm, swing to two o’clock, and so on. But standing on the first tee of the Manaus Golf Club outside the Brazilian city of Manaus, […]
Read MoreArticles
Posted on 16. Nov, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles
Some notes on these articles This section includes just a few of the more than 600 by-lined articles I’ve had published in the International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, CNN Traveller, GQ, Geographical, Reader’s Digest, Travel and Leisure, Travel and Leisure Golf, DestinAsian, International Wildlife, Earth Times, BBC Wildlife, and many other publications. Some of these […]
Read MoreLast Great Elephant Hunter Achieves Indochine Glory
Posted on 27. Jun, 2025 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
DON VILLAGE, Buon Ma Thuot, Central Highlands, Vietnam Stardom can be defined in many ways. For Ama Kong it is a number, 298, the sum of wild elephants he has captured. He was 90 when I met him in 1999 (he died in 2012 at the age of 103), with failing eyesight but still […]
Read MoreInduced Labor? That’s Real Golf Commitment
Posted on 16. Nov, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Golf
Golf nuts push the envelope “Honey, great news about the pregnancy, but would you mind inducing labor so I can play in a tournament?” Really, how many men would have the courage to say that to their wives? Well, Ivan Morris of Limerick City, Ireland did just that so he could play in the Interprovincial […]
Read MoreThe Keys to Golfing Success? Try a Red Shirt and the Right Locker, and Listen to Your Mother
Posted on 24. Jul, 2011 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Golf
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THE KEYS TO GOLFING SUCCESS? TRY A RED SHIRT AND THE RIGHT LOCKER And it never hurts to listen to your mother LANAI, Hawaii I was pedaling up a hill on a rented mountain bike, sweat evaporating under the fiery sun, glorying in the lunar-like scenery and cursing myself for not bringing enough water. I […]
Read MoreGolf: An Antidote to War and Hardship
Posted on 16. Nov, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Golf
Could golf in Iran help people love one another? TEHRAN, Iran And all along I had thought golf was a cause of anxiety. “No, just the opposite. Golf relieves stress,” Eisa Eshagi, president of the Iranian Golf Federation, said. “And that’s what we need, since we’re a nation that has suffered wars and hardships.” Few […]
Read MoreFire and Fury Might Have to Wait for the Next Lifetime
Posted on 16. Nov, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Golf
The Indian Army controls the world’s highest golf course, bringing a surprising set of challenges LEH, Ladakh, India I thought it might be the altitude that would get to me, but it turned out to be military bureaucracy. Since my first visit in 1979 I had wanted to play golf in Ladakh, an isolated corner […]
Read MoreMove Over Scotland: China Invented Golf
Posted on 17. Nov, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Golf
And it’s coming home to the Middle Kingdom HONG KONG, On the outskirts of the Middle Kingdom The Scots never knew what hit them. Everyone knows that these sturdy northerners invented golf. After all, the first written record about golf comes from 1457, when King James II banned the game because his subjects preferred it […]
Read MoreHow Green are Your Greens
Posted on 16. Nov, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Golf
Asia’s golf courses face an environmental challenge BANGKOK, Thailand I play golf. And I am committed to nature conservation. Is this an insolvable conundrum, or can the two passions be reconciled? “Golf development is becoming one of the most unsustainable and damaging activities to people and the environment,” notes Chee Yoke Ling, environment coordinator of […]
Read MoreThis Guy is a Natural
Posted on 04. May, 2013 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Golf
The world’s greatest golfer? Hint: He rolled a perfect game the first time he tried bowling ECHENEVEX, France In the cosmos of golfing role models, the hero-of-heros might seem a touch unlikely. But this man had one brief shining golfing experience that was Camelot-like in its brilliance. That golfer was Kim Il Sung, president of […]
Read MoreZen Shrine Helps Duffers Answer Cosmic Question: Why Can’t I Putt?
Posted on 16. Nov, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Golf
Japanese monk invokes Goddess of Holes-in-One ANNAKA, Japan Golfers, Lord knows, seem to need more spiritual guidance then practitioners of other sports. How else could you explain the almost-religious-like belief duffers will place in a Heaven Wood, or the way they mumble the mantra “Tetrachaidecohedron dimple pattern” in order to ensure that they will not […]
Read MoreShooting Orangutans and Pondering the Universe
Posted on 21. May, 2011 by Paul Sochaczewski in Alfred Russel Wallace and his assistant Ali, Articles
Alfred Russel Wallace spent 18 lonely months in Sarawak, writing the precursor to his theory of evolution. SANTUBONG, Sarawak, Malaysia Different people react to solitude in different ways. Some people converse with demons and angels. Some folks become truly, giggling-at-midnight mad. Some find enlightenment. And once in a while a guy who spends too many […]
Read MoreWhy Travel Far?
Posted on 21. May, 2011 by Paul Sochaczewski in Alfred Russel Wallace and his assistant Ali, Articles
Wallace’s rite of passage and the teenage imperative BATANG AI, Sarawak, Malaysia Why travel far (and treacherously), leaving behind comfort, friends and security? This question turned in my mind as I looked for orangutans while following the trail of Alfred Russel Wallace, who travelled some 22,400 kilometers in the Malay Archipelago from 1854 to 1862. […]
Read MoreThe Man with Pins in His Lungs
Posted on 28. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Alfred Russel Wallace and his assistant Ali, Articles
After dinner in Sulawesi, chatting with a man who speaks with Moses BOGANI NANI WARTABONE NATIONAL PARK, Sulawesi Over the grilled fish I asked about spirits. We were eating lunch in a simple warung outside Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park in north Sulawesi. I sensed that my companions had tales to tell. Endie’s father was […]
Read MoreThe Literate Orangutan
Posted on 21. May, 2011 by Paul Sochaczewski in Alfred Russel Wallace and his assistant Ali, Articles
Trying to teach a red ape to write SEPILOK, Sabah, Malaysia What if we could communicate with other species? What could an orangutan tell us about her life, about her emotions when her rainforest is chopped down, about the rascally behavior of randy adolescent male orangutans? * * * * * I’ve seen orangutans in […]
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