If you are going to produce a coffee table book that lists for $40US, the photographs had best be first rate. There is no excuse for doing otherwise and certainly True Links delivers on that score, courtesy mostly of Iain Lowe. However, great photos of golf holes are more ubiquitous than even just ten years ago and it is the text of True Links that makes it the must have golf architecture book of 2010.
Authors George Peper and Malcolm Campbell meticulously define what a links is and then compile the definitive list of 246 links from around the world. Chapter One is entitled Rare, Rugged and Real and let's face it, 246 courses scattered around the globe really isn't a whole lot. Yet, the word that grabs me is 'Real.' Especially in North America where the game has become so diluted with folderal, it is nice to be reminded afresh as to just how simple this game can be if you let. Flighting a ball from a humpy-bumpy lie under the wind brings a certain joy that many $30M golf operations never even sniff.
Rolf-Stephan Hansen's Budersand is one of the relatively few modern courses that made the cut as a true links.
In reading it, I found another benefit to be as a way to check yourself. For instance, having only played Brora once and that was a dozen plus years ago, is it really as good as my crazy high memory? In reading their description, it was reassuring to see that they share a similar opinion all the while reflecting back on Brora's best attributes.
The book is as current as current can be with Lost Farms in it (it is just opening) and even Cabot
gets several mentions (and that's eight months before any play commences).
DaVinci (I think!) said something like 'simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'. Links golf with with its capricious bounces, firm playing surfaces and exposure to the elements is just that: simple yet sophisticated. This well organized, tightly written book is a timely reminder of golf's highest form.
Cheers,