AIM FOR THE FLAG

Unusual in several ways--the central figure is in his twenties, the game is golf, the circuit is English--but slow-moving if not tedious. Ian Vander begins with little reputation, less confidence, and a dying business proposition--a rock 'n roll club jointly owned with brother Forbes. From hole to hole his momentary psychological advantages and mood changes are followed, and the few possibilities for excitement are lost in sentences like this: ""Although he drove into a bunker, the lie was a good one, and he exploded out to within four inches of the hole, to the approval of the Canadian who was no sadist even in the competitive furnace of an Open championship."" His golf improves, a sportswriter and a retired pro offer encouragement, the club begins to pay, and he gets his brother's girl. No prize even for putters.