Talk:Fer-de-Lance (novel)

golf club
My E→F dictionary translates golf club as club de golf or crosse de golf, but when I first read the novel (unaware of the snake, which is first mentioned well after the gimmicked golf club) I took the title to mean 'golf club'. Perhaps the story idea came from such a misunderstanding! —Tamfang (talk) 20:41, 13 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Okay, I take it that you no longer wish to imply or state that the phrase "fer-de-lance" refers to a golf club. In that case I'll remove the "citation needed" template and revise the text accordingly. The reference to "iron of the lance" is interesting and I'll leave it in. For what it's worth, the book makes several references to the club in question being a driver, which in English golf jargon means a one-wood -- that is, a club with a mostly wooden head and the minimum amount of loft, notoriously as difficult to manage as a one-iron. One therefore wonders why Stout had Manuel instruct Carlo to alter a driver, when his father was perhaps more likely to use a different club, even for a long tee shot. TurnerHodges (talk) 00:45, 16 May 2010 (UTC)


 * You take it somewhat inaccurately: I never did intend the article to say that the title means 'golf club' (someone else inserted that). —Tamfang (talk) 03:44, 16 May 2010 (UTC)


 * I see. Yes, the insertion was unsigned. I assumed that your post here was a response by the contributor to a citation request. Thanks for setting the record straight. TurnerHodges (talk) 06:30, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

COI disclosure
I've just added a paragraph to the article mentioning the interesting finding that Stout re-used a key plot element of Fer-de-Lance from a long-forgotten story he had serialized in Golfers Magazine 18 years earlier. This discovery was reported, and the earlier story reprinted in full, in The Green Bag Almanac and Reader 2012. The discoverers were Ross E. Davies, editor-in-chief of The Green Bag, and his assistant, but I was tangentially involved and I was co-editor of the 2012 Almanac, so I am mentioning this here for what it is worth per WP:COI. Newyorkbrad (talk) 21:33, 18 March 2012 (UTC)