Gentlemen,
The foregoing suggestions cover my personal library pretty well, but I'm not sure Golf By Design (Jones Jr.) is getting enough credit here. It is one of the few books that combines practical advice on how to decipher a list of common strategies and arrangements from the perspective of an architect - and then how to attack them from the viewpoint of a player. In that way, the book is unique in some respects.
Bobby gets a bad rap here in the Treehouse for a variety of reasons, none of which hold water. I've spent some time with him one-on-one and yes, he's an usual personality - with that sort of far-off Bob Weir look in his eyes while at the same time incredibly erudite and observant. I was a little surprised the book was written with so much detailed, concrete clarity because in person, Bob tends to explain concepts and ideas using much more ethereal language.
It is possible he had an editor
who took his intellectual meanderings and formalized them into tight prose - but since all of us are players as well as design critics, I'd recommend it. I made it required reading for my golf team since most of them arrived at school with 10x more brawn than brains.
I didn't see anybody mention Arnie's book: Situation Golf (1970 I think). There isn't much architecture in there per se, but the bulk of the book is devoted to reading golf holes and devising a strategy commiserate with your skill level. Slightly off topic, but not really.
Three other books just occurred to me - although not strictly about architecture, are full of rich descriptive prose of individual holes.
#1. To the Linksland. (Michael Bamberger).
#2. Blasted Heaths and Blessed Greens (James Finegan)
#3. Emerald Fairways and Foam-Flecked Seas. (James Finegan)
Maybe Bamberger's book is more a travelogue, I don't know. But playing courses through the eyes of a caddy on the Euro Tour was quite insightful.
If we really want to go to the bottom of the metaphysical and metaphorical well, Golf In The Kingdom . . . . . .