Pen to paper

Jim Smith Jr. (from left), Nancy Phillips and her pals Jean and Jill during a trip to Royal Portrush in 2019. Courtesy Nancy Phillips

After a career as a pharmacist and medical writer, Nancy Carroll Phillips found that there was a book inside of her. It just took being a member at history-rich Philadelphia Cricket Club to bring it out.

Her self-published, not-for-sale golf travel memoir is titled: “It’s All About… Golf, Memoirs of learning the game, new friends, and playing some of the world’s best golf courses.”

In 2017, while on a trip to Bandon Dunes, she read a Wall Street Journal article by John Paul Newport about a women-only trip that he had joined to the Oregon resort. It inspired her to think about telling her own tale.

Two golf writers, Michael Bamberger (a Philly Cricket member) and Tom Coyne (a Philly local), offered the same advice.

“They told me, ‘If you’ve got a story, write it,’” she said.

The result is a ...