Best way to get started in studying GCA

[Derek_Duncan]

Chris,

I'm with you. I've got a 2 1/2 year old and a 13 month old. Though I still manage to dabble in writing about golf, it's mostly from a my desk as my rounds have plummeted like yours (although they're creeping back up--I might play 7-8 times this year).

I enjoyed reading Confidential Guide, but I sure wouldn't advise someone to start there.  It's expensive for one, and secondly there are better texts to serve as an introduction.  My pick would still be a Doak offering - Anatomy of a Golf Course.  The already mentioned Grounds For Golf is also a good one.

I second this. The Confidential Guide is invaluable entertainment/information, but it would be better to build your own foundations and opinions and then see where you come out vis a vis Doak's. "Anatomy" is outstanding. So is Shackelford's "Golden Age of Architecture."

Probably the first book I read when I was maybe 12 or 13 and drawing and coloring routing plans for golf courses I imagined in my mind was "World Atlas of Golf." If you haven't seen it yet, I'd start there.

[Colin Macqueen]

Chris,

As Phil McDade suggests this site's IMO and FI segments are an easily accessible mine. A deeper and darker mine can be explored in the back pages, the old threads. I have been doing this (kiddywinks long gone!) over the last wee while and do not have miner's lung quite yet! The point of my ramblings is that I have a goodly number bookmarked. Maybe closing in on a hundred.  I can send you this list by the email route on this site if you like. It could save you time as they will all appear as web links with their title so you can cherry pick them quickly.....in between changing nappies!

The threads are all architecturally "relevant" and are of course only the ramblings of this weird mob but that does not detract from them at all! I guess you wouldn't call it studying GCA but it does provide a different, more personalised approach.
I have another bulging bookmark which traces the tantrums of the main actors on this stage but I wouldn't spend valuable family time on that reading endeavour! Just joking.

Anyway if you want this relatively non-valuable resource just let me know.

Welcome to the site,

Cheers Colin

[Dan King]

I have around 1,500 golf books related to GCA and the history of golf. I need room for other books on my book shelf. I hope to sell them all as a bunch to someone who would give them a good home.  Some of the books are very valuable (three copies of Doak's Confidential Guide, two self published and one Sleeping Bear Press.) I also have a beautiful reprint of Golf In East Lothian and numerous Classics of Golf reprints.

I'm cataloging them in my spare time, so hopefully sometime soon I'll have a list of all of them.

Let me know if you are interested in jumping in with a first-class golf library.

Cheers,
Dan King

The smaller the ball used in the sport, the better the book.
 --George Plimpton (on why books about golf and baseball are better than books about football and basketball)

[Tim_Weiman]

Chris,

In Melvyn's defense, the study of golf architecture does require the time, willingness and money to travel. Jeff Brauer is also correct: you should think of it as a lifelong endeavor.

Much as I agree, a trip to Scotland is advisable, you might just start a few hours north in Philadelphia, one of the great golf cities in the world.

Washington, DC doesn't offer much at all. So, get to Philly and on up to New York as well.

[Chris Fagan]

Chris,

In Melvyn's defense, the study of golf architecture does require the time, willingness and money to travel. Jeff Brauer is also correct: you should think of it as a lifelong endeavor.

Much as I agree, a trip to Scotland is advisable, you might just start a few hours north in Philadelphia, one of the great golf cities in the world.

Washington, DC doesn't offer much at all. So, get to Philly and on up to New York as well.
[/quo
My sister actually lives about 15 minutes from Pine Valley. Everytime we are up there I want to drive by, yet my family doesn't share my enthusiasm. Haha. I do view this as a passion rather than a hobby, and someday really hope to make it to Scotland.  Thanks again to everyone for such a warm welcome!

[Dan King]

Tim_Weiman writes:
Much as I agree, a trip to Scotland is advisable, you might just start a few hours north in Philadelphia, one of the great golf cities in the world.

Jeez, you guys are cocky for a city whose team gets swept by the l.a. dodgers.  

I'll put the golf courses inside SF city limits or 17 mile drive up against anything in Philadelphia. What are these great golf courses in Philly?

Cheers,
Dan King

When that happens [the demise of golf], old men will furtively beckon to their sons and, like fugitives from the guillotine recalling the elegant orgies at the court of Louis XV, will recite the glories of Portmarnock and Merion, of the Road Hole at St. Andrews, the sixth at Seminole, the eighteenth at Pebble Beach. They will take out this volume from its secret hiding place and they will say: "There is no question, son, that these were unholy places in an evil age. Unfortunately, I had a whale of a time."
 --Alister Cooke

[Jud_T]

I'd say get creative like many of the folk in town and get a government subsidy for these:

http://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/darwin-bernard-rountree-harry/golf-courses-of-the-british-isles/69936.aspx

http://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/hunter-robert/links/72183.aspx

http://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/darwin-bernard/history-of-golf-in-britain/84876.aspx

http://www.abaa.org/books/204538780.html

http://www.jamescumminsbookseller.com/pages/books/228257/golf-horace-g-hutchinson-andrew-lang-h-s-c-everard-t-rutherford-clark-etc/famous-golf-links

http://www.barterbooks.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?sort=dprice&keywords=golf&products_id=5761

http://www.biblio.com/books/132111734.html

http://www.biblio.com/books/113202575.html

http://www.biblio.com/books/349162041.html

http://www.biblio.com/books/171817160.html

http://www.biblio.com/books/493670703.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Thomas-Jr-George-C-Golf-Architecture-in-America-It-/160802510405?pt=Antiquarian_Collectible&hash=item2570939645#ht_500wt_1202

http://www.golfspast.com/sale.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=258&category_id=190

http://www.golfspast.com/sale.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=346&category_id=190

[Will Lozier]

Chris,

I've pulled off a few great golf heists in my life:  working for a summer in Carmel as an assistant pro which ultimately allowed me to play Cypress Point, IMO the best golf course in the world...forever; teaching for a year in Surrey where I was able to play so much great heathland golf in the London area and links golf in SE England & Ireland; playing in a British Open Qualifier while an expat; and finally, talking my wife into honeymooning across Canada (hitting Highland Links & Banff along the way) in order to live in Bandon for half a year where I caddied and she worked in the resort.

My one HUGE regret was not going to Pine Valley for the Crump Cup while I lived in DC!  DO THIS!  Hell, go twice this year for the Philly Open and the CC!  This would be as good a start to the study of GCA as any I can think of. 

I still vow make it up there in the next 2-3 years somehow someway from Atlanta.

Cheers

[Melvyn Morrow]

Chris

Get out there, find a course you like, play it as a player, then again in the afternoon looking at the course in more detail. Try a well-known, old course with much written about it and then read the articles and using your own judgement start to make your own comments or justify comments by others.

Books alone are not the way, its hands on you need hence my original comment, which is still very valid if it the history and gca that really interests you.

Melvyn

[David Harshbarger]

Chris,

As a relative newbie, it can be somewhat overwhelming.  I, too, started with Shackleford's Grounds For Golf.  It has the basic concepts, covers the main eras in US design, explores a number of iconic holes in detail, and provides a frame of reference for much of the discussion.

Next, I made it a priority to get to better courses.  I accepted invites on here, from strangers, to courses involving long car drives.  I used time off.  When traveling, I ask here for advice.  I take extra early flights, or red eyes, to fill in a round.  I let friends know that I am interested in courses, should an opportunity arise. 

I don't, however, send PM's unsolicited to GCA members asking for access.   That is crass.

Finally, I follow my interests where they lead, listen as much as I can, and try to remember to make up my own mind.  Do that, add some value with a well written post, and you'll always be welcome here.

Welcome!

[Chris Fagan]

Again, thank you all so much for all the advice! I stopped down to the library and submitted my requests, so I will have plenty of reading material. Melvyn, thanks for the advice on the different mindsets of playing vs. studying, I will give that a go.

David,  thanks for the tip, I wouldn't seek access anyway since I only break 100 once a year, but it is good to know. Everyone has been so great the last thing I would want to do is offend anyone!

Will, thanks for the suggestion. I will leave the kiddos at home and try and take in one of those tourneys!