As I replied to the members of our Minnesota GCA group that has been so supportive of this project, they might not have been expecting such a big book (370 pages, 200 photos). My pitch to the U. of M. Press was for a book of approximately 40,000 words and 100 or so photos. By the time I was finished writing the first two chapters, I was already at about 25,000 words, and realized that a different book was emerging. There was too much good stuff to cut, so I simply trimmed back a little bit at the beginning, and from that point on put in whatever interested me, hoping the intended readership would agree with me. I didn’t think another book like this would be written for a long time, if ever, so leaving out interesting historical facts and anecdotes seemed short-sighted.
Fortunately, my publishers seemed to agree. As I sent in chapter after chapter, the book grew to over 100,000 words, and I received no complaints. (I only missed my copy deadline by a month.) Despite all the photos that made the book, we still had to make some painful cuts in that department. Now I see it as two books in one; a black-and-white photo essay of early golf in Minnesota that can be perused in one sitting, and a thorough history of more than two dozen golf courses that will take a while for readers to digest.
Thanks to everyone here who helped me or showed interest in the book. I can truthfully say there is a lot of Golf Club Atlas influence in "From Fields to Fairways."