For many golfers Michael Murphy’s 1972 novel, “Golf in the Kingdom,” is practically a sacred text. It’s about a young man, modeled on Mr. Murphy himself, who on his way to an ashram in India stops off in Scotland, where his life is transformed by an encounter with a golf pro and mystic named Shivas Irons, who knows as much about Pythagoras and the Hindu scriptures as he does about hitting a high fade. Several filmmakers have felt similarly transported by reading the book, and “Golf in the Kingdom” has been optioned or in development since before it was even published. Gus Van Sant was interested for a while. Sean Connery was approached about playing Shivas. Clint Eastwood fell in love with the book and clung to the rights for a decade or so before giving up.

At last, though, “Golf in the Kingdom” is coming to the screen. It opens in New York on Friday in a version written and directed by Susan Streitfeld, who has never played golf in her life, and produced by Mindy Affrime, an independent producer who says that “Hollywood is a men’s club for guys who don’t need to work.” She made the movie not on a shoestring but on the discarded baling twine you use when you can’t afford a shoestring. The cast, which includes Mason Gamble as Murphy, David O’Hara as Shivas, and Malcolm McDowell as a crusty Scottish doctor who thinks the electric golf cart spells the end of civilization, worked for $100 a day.

For reasons of economy, the film was shot at Bandon Dunes, a golf resort in Oregon that looks more Scottish than much of Scotland, and Mike Keiser, owner of the resort, wound up feeding and housing the cast and crew free during the 20 days of shooting.