Best Golf Book from the Golden Age (or earlier)

[Dan Moore]

Not having read nearly enough of them myself my nominee is Scotland's Gift.  

I was captivated from the start by Macdonald's description of his long trip to St. Andrews in 1872 at the age of sixteen.  He described his journey via ocean liner to Ireland's west coast where he kissed the Blarney Stone and then by car and train to Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh and the final leg into St Andrew's by train which passed several holes of the Old Course as it made its way into town.  The next day he was taken to Old Tom Morris' shop where he obtained 3-4 clubs, secured a locker in the shop and was introduced to the game on the Old Course.  Add to that his descriptions of bringing the game to Chicago, starting the Chicago Golf Club and his quest for the ideal course, as well as its insights into the man himself, and it is a fascinating journey.  

What are some of your nominees?  

And the nominees are:  

Scotland's Gift, C. B. Macdonald
Golf Has Never Failed Me, Donald Ross
Golf Courses of the British Isles, Bernard Darwin
Golf Course Architecture in America, George Thomas
Spirit of St. Andrews, Alistair MacKenzie
Swinging into Golf, Ernest Jones
The Links, Robert Hunter
The Architectural Side of Golf,  Wethered and Simpson
British Golf Links, Horace Hutchinson
Concerning Golf, John Low
Some Essays on G.C.A.,  Harry Colt
Book of the Links, Martin Sutton

[Doug Bolls]

There are more than a few that I have enjoyed - "Golf Has Never Failed Me" - Donald Ross was just so thoughtfully written - Commentary, Photos and Drawings on everything from Bunkers to Where To Put the Clubhouse.  I took it to Pine Needles just to compare the photos with the current course.
Bernard Darwin's "Golf Courses of the British Isles" is also a great read - His chapter in St. Andrews, Fife and Forfarshire was a great intro on what to think about at he Home of Golf.

I am sure I could dig out a couple more, but these are a very good start.
DB

[David Stamm]

I agree w/ Doug. Darwin's GCOTBI is fantastic. Pretty much any Darwin book is wonderful to read.

I also love Thomas' Golf Course Architecture, IMHO, the best book ever written on the subject.

[Ken Moum]

Even though it wasn't published until 60+ years after being written, "Spirit of St. Andrews" holds a specail place in my heart as it was my first taste of the Doctor's philosophy.

Another book from the 1930s that I think is special is Ernest Jones' "Swinging into Golf." It's much better IMHO, than the later, and better known, "Swing the Clubhead."

Ken

[Tom_Doak]

The best-written books are Darwin's.  They are just fun to read.

For the nuts and bolts of architecture, I would agree that Thomas' book sets the standard.  However, it isn't what I would call a great read, nor is Macdonald's book.

For my own tastes, anyway, Robert Hunter's The Links and Wethered and Simpson's The Architectural Side of Golf are much more interesting to read and to get a flavor of the times.  They have fewer diagrams about designing great golf holes, so they're probably not the best textbooks for a class on the subject, but Hunter's story about playing golf with John Ball at Hoylake is as good as it gets.

(Oops, that's Tom Fazio's new tagline about his most recent work.)

[Sean_A]

My first instinct is to go with the Thomas book because its a better read than the Links (which is terribly written imo).  I like the Darwin Golf Courses..., but it is so outdated that it is often difficult to figure out where Darwin is on a course.  I think a better book for looking back at specific courses is British Golf Links by Hutchinson.  The pix alone are invaluable.  So my vote is for Hutchinson or Thomas.

Ciao

[David Stamm]

I ahve to agree with Sean, I totally forgot about HH's British Golf Links. Absolutley wonderful photo's. In fact, the quality of them is uncanny for their time. And there's something about B&W that really makes them.

[BCrosby]

John Low's Concerning Golf has only four or five pages on gca, but it may be the best four or five pages ever written on gca.

Tom Simpson's parts in The Architectural Side are very good.

But in terms of full, book length treatments of gca (as opposed to books that survey golf courses) MacK's SofSA still takes the prize.

Bob

 

[JMorgan]

My top five:

Simpson and Weathered  Architectural Side
CBM Scotland's Gift
Mac Spirit of St.A
Colt Some Essays on G.C.A.
Sutton Book of the Links

[Ally Mcintosh]

so mackenzie's 'spirit of st andrews' from the 1930's (which i haven't read) seems to be mentioned here whereas his earlier 'golf course architecture' from 1920 (which i own) does not...

...i had previously thought that the earlier book had more champions... am i wrong?... what is the difference between the two books?....

[Bill_McBride]

Darwin's book is the one that got me hooked on golf course architecture.  I bought it during a trip to Golf House in the USGA bookstore - they cleverly displayed it on the entry counter - and fell in love with his writing about the old style courses in the UK.  Then I discovered those are the courses I enjoy most.