The golf gene actually came down through my mother, the former Grace Helen Stuart of Minneapolis, although I never saw her touch a club. I was stunned to discover that she had grown up in the sheltered environs of Interlachen Country Club, and that she had wielded a pretty mean stick in her youth. But I shouldn't have been surprised. The first golfers history knew by name were Stuarts -- ever hear of a lass called Mary, Queen of Scots? -- and I learned of another half-dozen kinsmen who helped grow the game when I traveled from Scotland's ancient Musselburgh Links to the mystical dunes of Machrihanish. (Scottish readers can go directly to Chapters 20-22.)