Well rated books on golf course architecture

[Bill_Overdorf]

I hate to do this once again, but I have misplaced my list of publications on golf course design. My son has requested same from me. Can you once again help?

Thanks, Bill

[Steven_Biehl]

I'll just copy a list I have made.  As for well rated, I haven't found a book on golf architecture I disliked.

Discovering Donald Ross; Brad Klein
World Atlas of Golf; Ward-Thomas, Wind, Price, Thomson
The 500 World Greastest Golf Holes; Peper
The Course Beautiful;  AW Tillinghast
Reminiscences of the Links;  AW Tillinghast
Gleanings from the Wayside;  AW Tillinghast
The Evangelist of Golf;  George Bahto
Missing Links;  Daniel Wexler
Lost Links;  Daniel Wexler
The Life and Work of Dr. Mackenzie;  Doak, Scott, Haddock
Golf Course Designs;  Tom Fazio
Golf, As it was in the Beginning;  Michael Fay
Golf, As it was Meant to be Played;  Michael Fay
Perry Maxwell's Prairie Dunes;  Mal Elliott
The Toronto Terror;  James Barclay
Golf Has Never Failed Me;  Donald Ross
The Anatomy of a Golf Course;  Tom Doak
The Spirit of St. Andrews;  Alister Mackenzie
The Links;  Robert Hunter
Golf Architecture in America;  George Thomas, Jr.
Rough Meditations;  Brad Klein
Bury Me in a Pot Bunker;  Pete Dye
Confidential Guide to Golf Courses;  Tom Doak
Golf Course Design;  Graves, Cornish
Golf Course Architecture;  Michael Hurdzan
Routing the Golf Course;  Forrest Richardson
Classic Golf Hole Design;  Muir Graves
Scrapbook of Old Tom Morris;  Joy
Grounds For Golf;  Geoff Shackelford
The Art of Golf Design;  Geoff Shackelford
The Golden Age of Golf Design;  Geoff Shackelford
Masters of the Links;  Geoff Shackelford
The Captain;  Geoff Shackelford
Riviera Country Club: A Definitive History;  Geoff Shackelford
Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club;  Geoff Shackelford
The Golf Course;  FW Hawtree
Aspects of Golf Architecture;  FW Hawtree
Golf By Design;  Trent Jones, Jr.
Nicklaus By Design;  Jack Nicklaus
Golf Architecture: A Worldwide Perspective;  Daley
Golf Architecture: A Worldwide Perspective, Vol. 2;  Daley

Golf Architecture books difficult to acquire:(maybe somebody else knows how?)

The Architectural Side of Golf;  Wethered, Simpson
Golf Architecture;  Alister Mackenzie
Scotland's Gift: Golf;  CB Macdonald
Golf Courses of the British Isles;  Bernard Darwin
The Architects of Golf;  Cornish, Witten
Eighteen Stakes on a Sunday Afternoon;  Geoffrey Cornish
Some Essays on Golf Course Architecture;  Colt, Allison
Colt and Co.;  FW Hawtree
The Golf Courses of Old Tom Morris;  Kroeger
Golf Architecture in the Chicago Golf District;  William Langford
Hazards, The Essential Elements in a Golf Course;  Alec Bauer
Concerning Golf;  John Low
The Book of the Links;  Martin Sutton

[Brian Phillips]

Steven,

That is a very comprehenshive list.  Most of the books that you mention that are difficult to get are available from Grant books in the uk.

www.grantbooks.co.uk

Brian.

[wsmorrison]

Grant Books is a wonderful source.  To find reprints of classic books on golf and golf architecture, some of which are listed above, you should check out:

www.classicsofgolf.com

They have a wonderful inventory and are very helpful.

[Tom_Doak]

Just for the record, the only reason to purchase a copy of MacKenzie's GOLF ARCHITECTURE is as a collectible.  Everything in that book is also in THE SPIRIT OF ST. ANDREWS, revised and updated with his thinking twelve years later.

In fact, quite a bit of the manuscript of SPIRIT was actually torn-out pages of GOLF ARCHITECTURE with notes in the margins.

[George Pazin]

It is my naive opinion that we are in the midst of a golden age of GCA books, with all the books by Geoff, Tom, Paul Daley, Brad Klein, George Bahto, Daniel Wexler, Michael Fay, Forrest Richardson, James Finegan, Rick Wolfe's Tillinghast compilations, Pete Dye & I'm sure others that I'm forgetting. Is Jeff Mingay's book on Essex available to the general public?

And that's not even including the profiles & opinion pieces on this site, which are all top notch.

Thanks, guys. 'Course, it makes it tougher to get anything done.

[Nick_Ficorelli]

One of the alltime hard books to find,Wethered & Simpson's "Architectural Side of Golf" is now available as a reprint from classicsofgolf.com for about 30 bucks

[Peter Pratt]

I'd add Donald Steel's fine book on the Classic Links Courses of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. And Patric Dickinson's A Round of Golf Courses.

[Forrest Richardson]

The Mystery of Golf
by Arnold Haultain

[Norbert P]

Nick, Thanks for that announcement of W&S Arch. Side o' Golf.  I've seen it on the web for over a 100 bucks used for months now and was losing hope.  I ordered it last night from  www.classicsofgolf.com  for $33.  Finally.  Now if we can get them to obtain the rights to Concerning Golf by JLow.

  Bill,  also,
 Golf Course Design, by Cornish and Graves.
 The Golf Course by FW Hawtree
 A Guide to Irrigation and Drainage Design by Pira
 Turfgrass Management for Golf Courses by Beard

Am still eagerly awaiting Doak's 'Making of Pacific Dunes'.

[brad_miller]

Golf's Magnificant Challenge by RTJ, even if just for the pictures, although I did enjoy the text. He did state that his sons where golfs best modern (current archies). Believe it is out of print. www.golfiana.com  (george lewis)