New Book - Masters of Design - Great courses of Colt, MacKenzie, Alison...

[Brian Phillips]

Colt & Co. was published in June 1991 by Cambuc Archive. There are only 1000 copies of the first edition.  I paid 28 pounds sterling for it in 2002.

One of the unknown secrets of the book is the work Mr Gil Hanse did for it while he interned for the Hawtrees.  They used many of his notes on Colt courses with the book.

[Jonathan Davison]

Yeah, I bought 1 in 1982 from Grant Books, £28.50 !! And i bought another copy a few months ago for about the same in perfect condition. 

[Jonathan Davison]

sorry 1992 !

[Mike Nuzzo]

Yeah, I bought 1 in 1982 from Grant Books, £28.50 !! And i bought another copy a few months ago for about the same in perfect condition. 

Spread the wealth, I've been looking for years now.
I guess not hard enough, please find one for me too.
Cheers

[Jonathan Davison]

Got it from Amazon also, I think for £28 or £30 ! was very surprised. Nearly as good as my Confidential Guide signed for £50.

Just luck I guess.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Colt & Co. was published in June 1991 by Cambuc Archive. There are only 1000 copies of the first edition.  I paid 28 pounds sterling for it in 2002.

One of the unknown secrets of the book is the work Mr Gil Hanse did for it while he interned for the Hawtrees.  They used many of his notes on Colt courses with the book.

it's unfortunate that many of these books have small print runs. Their rarity then creates a market for poor quality books like this one (I'm basing that opinion on reading this thread rather then the book), which in turn reduces the liklihood that anyone will follow up with a new definitive book on the subject.

Both MacKenzie & Colt have now undergone this treatment from Pugh and his fellow authors.

[Cristian]

What are the best books on Colt&Co / Mackenzie to buy which do not cost 300 $ ++ on e-bay/amazon?

From what I've read in replies, and apart from very generous borrowing offers, it seems like really there is nor sub 300 $ 2nd hand alternative for the really good books....... unless I am overlooking certain titles??

[Christoph Meister]

The more I skim through the book the more annoyed I am becoming.  There is so much stolen research in the book it is quite unbelievable.  There are no Endnotes at all.  People have been quoted without referring to where and when it was said.  A letter from Alison to Morrison has also been published without recognition of the source or ownership.

I got a copy of "Masters of Design" for christmas - it's a nice coffee table format and has nice large photos...but then I have to agree what Brian says - here is a good exemple:

On page 164 the authors are showing two sketches by Colt which where published in the centenary book of the Hamburger GC in 2006.
There is no source/endnote given for these two sketches pictured nor an acknowledgement made to the Hamburger GC. There are about 50 sketches but interestingly the authors are using the same two sketches from the centenary book...no comment...

On page 155 next to the only picture of a Dutch Colt & Co. design it says "When war broke out after Germany's invasion of Poland on 3. September 1939"...According to what I learned at school war broke out when Germany invaded Poland on the 1st of September 1939....

I hope that other parts of the book are better researched but didn't have time yet to read.....

C.

 

[Paul_Turner]

Is this new book basically "Creating Classics" with some Mackenzie and Morrison courses tacked on?  Or did they revise/update the original Colt research.  Same basic mistakes?

In the first few pages of "Creating Classics", I was a bit sad to see the Colt portrait-that took me weeks of searching through a library to dig up! But I gave copies of that portrait out to several clubs, so can't really complain.

PS I recently read the history book by Peter Pugh on Stoke Poges.  The author seems to have forgotten that it was published to celebrate the centenary (1908-2008) of the golf club, there's hardly any research on the golf course, the golf club and its history!  (it's mostly history about the building, the  estate etc)

[Cristian]

What are the best books on Colt&Co / Mackenzie to buy which do not cost 300 $ ++ on e-bay/amazon?

From what I've read in replies, and apart from very generous borrowing offers, it seems like really there is nor sub 300 $ 2nd hand alternative for the really good books....... unless I am overlooking certain titles??

I have been lucky! Found a copy of 'Some essays on Golf course architecture by Colt &Alison for 15 USD on Amazon! It's on its way to A'dam! Previously I had not seen copies for sale under 150 USD, so I wonder about the condition of the book. Also I bought a book by Mackenzie, "Golf course architecture" for just something like 15 USD; I did not know this book however and have not read a lot about it, surely many on this board are familiar with it, is it a good book?

[Christoph Meister]

Is this new book basically "Creating Classics" with some Mackenzie and Morrison courses tacked on?  Or did they revise/update the original Colt research.  Same basic mistakes?

In the first few pages of "Creating Classics", I was a bit sad to see the Colt portrait-that took me weeks of searching through a library to dig up! But I gave copies of that portrait out to several clubs, so can't really complain.

PS I recently read the history book by Peter Pugh on Stoke Poges.  The author seems to have forgotten that it was published to celebrate the centenary (1908-2008) of the golf club, there's hardly any research on the golf course, the golf club and its history!  (it's mostly history about the building, the  estate etc)

Hi Paul,

The book has some real nice photos, I specially liked chapter eight "Australia and New Zealand" with impressive photos shot by Gary Lisbon - sometimes though this part of the book reminded me of the brilliant "Sandbelt" book by Paul Daley published some years ago....

There are ten chapters in the book:

1 - In the Beginning
2 - Gentlemen vs. Players
3 - The Golden Age
4 - Harry Colt
5 - Alister Mackenzie
6 - Alison & Morrison
7 - The British Isles and Europe (Royal Zoute being the only portraited Non-British Course - disappointing for me)
8 - Australia and New Zealand
9 - The Americas
10 - Japan

totalling 445 pages of text and pictures plus acknowledgements...sometimes it remains unclear to me whether this is actually a book about Colt & Associates or more about the history of golf architecture in general plus some nice photos - More general chapters 1, 2 and 3 are containing photos and texts that most of us have seen or read elsewhere before....also I sometimes find it dificult to fellow the general line of the book - either because my English is just not good enough or maybe simply because the book lacks a good and straight line....

Personally I found two sketches on page 164 most dissatissfying as the authors didn't even bother to find out what one can see on these sketches - certainly not greens at Hamburg-Falkenstein! The drawing shows a green on a never realized course in the Jenischpark at Hamburg-Flottbek adjacent to the original 9-hole layout of Hamburger GC (which was opened in 1906).The proposed Jenischpark-site is about 5km away from Falkenstein and has nothing to do with todays course there. The drawings are dating from early 1928 (having been sent to the club secretary on April 24th, 1928)  

....I have enclosed the two scans shown on page 164 of "Masters of Design" (without any source or acknowledgement) plus an additional scan not in the book explaining hole and green no.15 as I thought you might find them interesting  - Colt or Morrison? What do you think Paul?

Greeting and have a good new year 2010!

Christoph