This Video of a Detroit Writer Golfing Through the Motor City Is Both Hilarious and Heartbreaking

All hail the D!

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Complex Original

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The best way to get to know a city is to walk it. But if you really want to get a feel for a city—and how it's become a symbol of decline in America—you have to golf it. And that's how Detroit reporter Charlie LeDuff chose to see the Motor City in the video above, shot earlier this summer.

LeDuff, who won a Pulitzer Prize while with the New York Times in 2001, teed off on 8 Mile Road and made his final putt—more than 10 miles and 2,000 strokes later—on Belle Isle in the Detroit River. Along the way he blows out a pair of shoes, has his golf clubs blessed by a pastor, and chats up locals, including a woman caring for her special needs grandson. The video manages to be both light and heavy at the same time, not unlike the city itself.

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