Letter From Kabul: Beware of Land Mines On the First Fairway

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Then there's the course itself. Stepping up to the first tee, I could hear my father's voice: Keep your eyes on the ball, slow down your upswing, swivel your hips. I could almost hear his sigh of exasperation. Instead I swung hard, too hard, and completely missed. I tried again, and this time skulled it, sending the ball ricocheting off a few boulders before it disappeared. With admirable stoicism, Afzal dispatched two caddies to find his precious ball in the dry scrub. "Maybe you try putting," he said.

Although he once entertained dreams of becoming a pro golfer, Afzal is set on teaching a young generation of Afghans to swing a club. But in a country just emerging from two decades of war and tyranny, the game is still a tough sell. "Many Afghans think that golf is the devil's game," says McNeill. "Of course, many golfers would probably agree with that."