What do golf writers do for you...

[John Kavanaugh]

I have never understood what so many members on this board get from reading books about the subject.  What do they tell you about this simple game that substitutes for playing.  Do they open your eyes to features you could not see...Do they explain some spiritual feeling you didn't know you were having...Do they paint pictures with words your eyes can't see...Honestly, I don't get it..

[redanman]

Since Herb Wind?  Honestly, I've been searching.  I've always hoped that someone would introduce John McPhee to golf.

If he can make dirt and rocks this interesting, I can't wait to read his writings on golf.

[Jay Flemma]

Good golf writers help me look at a course or hole in a way I might not have before...but then I pretty much concentrate my reading of books on architecture and travel, not the tour...for my tour news, its Golf Observer.

[John Kavanaugh]

Jay,

You describe yourself as a Golf Writer,  what can you do for me except tell me where you have played and if you liked it or not..

[BCrosby]

There is nothing in books that, in theory, you might not figure out eventually on your own. But life is short. Some people who write books are very smart. They are offering you a short cut. You will waste less time and enjoy things you might not see sooner with their help.

Bob  

[Jeff_Brauer]

I have said this before, but the very best golf writers are the gca's who can write decently themselves.  And the best of the best was George Thomas who didn't write a lot of flowery stuff.  He told you why he left fw behind the green on long par 4 holes, etc.

I will say Doak is probably the best writer of today among us gca types. I read most of his stuff and he is clearly an intelligent guy. Beyond that, I don't know how much the three co-authors did on the MacKenzie book, but it was well researched and provided a lot of information I didn't know before.

I like to think I am a decent writer, but who knows.  My stuff is probably TOO straightforward, if you read Cybergolf and my Golf Course News columns.  Some people prefer that the gca types don't reveal secrets, much like magicians don't reveal secrets.  But, I can't resist!

[Jay Flemma]

John:

Hopefully, I can perhaps help avid to casual golf fans to look at a course design in a way that you might not have thought of before...or teach you something interesting about a course that you might not have known.  Things that either fly under the radar screen (for example one great thing about Bethpage great variety in the design of the par-4s. )  Also, I have a pretty solid eye for value as well.

Not just "play here because I liked it and it's pretty", but why its a great, merely good, or mediocre design.

There are plenty of good media guys too though...Rob Thompson for example.

I agree with Jeff...my fave authors are the architects...Tom D, Shack, The Good Doctor...Remember GCA is a super-intellectual crowd...most of my readers are avid fans to casual fans, but even here where I'm just another perspective..I'm hopefully an interesting, passionate and observant one...but that'll come with more time.

[Pat Howard]

I think one thing that is being overlooked here is the history of the game. You can't step onto a great classic course and know who has tee'd it up before you here, or what dramatic endings have occured over on the 18th, etc.

You can guess, but you don't know. Part of the golf writers job is to portray this history to us fans of the game.

[John Kavanaugh]

Doak in an interesting example as I have read parts of both the Conf Guide and Anan-o-Golf....A travel guide and a text book..both useful.

[Jeff_Brauer]

John,

I wasn't thinking of the TCG. Go on his website where he has some of his golf design philosophical writings, or read Anatomy of a Golf Course.  Some pretty direct stuff which explains a lot in a better form than the old guys (who possibly needed editors)  If there is a flaw (IMHO) it is that he seems bent of going against the grain of almost every convention of golf design, iconoclast that he is/was.  As Pat Mucci points out, conventions start from good ideas that work, then, now, always.  Yes, sometimes we do have to know when to break out of the box.....

[John Kavanaugh]

I agree with Jeff...my fave authors are the architects...Tom D, Shack, The Good Doctor...Remember GCA is a super-intellectual crowd...most of my readers are avid fans to casual fans, but even here where I'm just another perspective..I'm hopefully an interesting, passionate and observant one...but that'll come with more time.

I could provide reams of evidence disputing your assertion that this is a "super-intellectual crowd".  I do hope you continue to post on here more often as I find it hard to remember to check your blog unless I see your name.  As a former blogger myself, I could only aspire to be as informative as you..As a matter fact, I wish you would duplicate your blog and just post all of your ideas and reviews here.

[Jay Flemma]

Thanks John, thats really nice.  But also, alot of what I learned is a house built on the foundations of the thoughts of GCA guys.  This is a great COMMUNITY.

[Adam_F_Collins]

Everyone on this board is a 'golf writer'. What do you get out of it?
Information, perspective, reflection...

...something to do during the endless frigging winter...

[Norbert P]

Barney, a book is a symbolic doorway of somewhere.  The very best either make us understand or make us want to. I have tremendous affection for Bernard Darwin's "Golf of the British Isles."  I think what I enjoy most about that book is his disposition -- his voice comes through unwavering and clear. He takes me on a wander in an eloquent language not spoken anymore.

Did Charles Bukowski ever write about golf?  I'm sure he must have wrote something about golfers, eh? Perhaps as being a
%^&ing pox on humanity?

[Tony_Muldoon]

My experience is perhaps different to others on this site.  My family played golf but I didn’t until I was 43, and once hooked I wanted to catch up fast.  (If I may be so bold as to compare myself to) Mackenzie describes a s similar process (although he was in his 20's) in The Spirit of St Andrews; I want to read everything I can about golf.

For the first two years it was at least 5 magazines every month. Lately it's been books and GCA.com.  Even now I notice my tastes are changing; I devoured the first Mark Frost book but struggle with the second. Right now I’m reading Hamilton’s ‘Golf Scotland’s Game’ more carefully than anything I’ve ever read about golf. (What a great book not really trumpeted enough on here – thanks Alfie!)

It must be a personality type thing, because my golf book collection is still only about 1/4 of the size of either my popular music collection or ½ of my opera books -some of which are in Italian, a language I've never mastered!  Once something has grabbed me I want to know everything about it because then I might understand.

[cary lichtenstein]

I like to do research on golf courses in order to decide where or where not to play. If I'm going to a town that I don't plan on going to again, I want to play those courses really worth taking a days time to do so, and I hate to waste a day playing a ho-hum course.

In doing that research I look at pictures (I am basically a pretty simple guy) and read reviews. If I like what I see and read, I go play it.

This has been quite helpful in narrowing down the courses down to the best.

[John_Cullum]

...my fave authors are the architects... Shack....

Have you actually read "The Good Doctor Returns"? I know he is a favorite son, but this is among the poorest works ever put on paper.

I acknowledge that he redeems himself somewhat with his website blurbs, but sadly The Good Doctor was my first intro to the man and it is an indelible mark upon my memories.

[Mike Hendren]

I am truly ashamed to admit this, but when it comes to golf, I enjoy a good photographer more than a good writer.  I am a simpleton, but greatly admire avid readers.  

Mike

[Jason Topp]

Some examples of things that really stuck with me from writings:

1.  Doak's analysis of a hole at North Berwick (I think 10) that doglegged around a bunker.

2.  Writings about the Old Course.  Having only played there twice, I would not have seen the subtelties of several of the holes.  The primary thing that stuck with me when playing it the first time was my surprise at how big and how hidden the bunkers were on 12.  

3.  Hurzdan's huge book about building a course.  I was partcularly interested in his description of the experience, including the anticipation and the memory of a round of golf.

4.  The varying perspectives in Paul Daley's compilations.  In particular, the description of use of hand labor in Asia, someone's description of the renessaince (sp) potentially occurring today, the impact of environmental restrictions, approaches to dealing with housing, etc.

5.  Mackenzie's 13 principles and their applicability today

6.  The Reverse Old Course piece on this site which is both interesting from a real life perspective as well as what it demonstrates regarding the thought that goes into routing a course.

I could go on and on.  Writing makes me think about courses in ways I never would have otherwise.  

[Tyler Kearns]

I am truly ashamed to admit this, but when it comes to golf, I enjoy a good photographer more than a good writer.  I am a simpleton, but greatly admire avid readers.  

Mike,

No need to be ashamed, often a good photograph of an architectural feature is much more easily understood than a written description. It can be hard to visualize certain concepts from text, and photographs are the obvious solution.

TK

[Steve Pozaric]

Information, perspective, reflection as someone else has said.

Books about golf in Ireland and Scotland, and other places I have not played, open my mind up to other possibilities of golf -both design and destination.  

Along the same lines - access.  I might never get to play Pine Valley or NGLA, but reading books gives me a better appreciation of those courses.

From books like Anatomy of a Golf Course, I get hit over the head with essential design elements or philosphies, which provides a frame of reference for my impressions of a particular course.  Without these primers, I might not fully appreciate or be able to articulate why I like one hole or course but not another.  Especially if I don't play the course over and over and allow the impact to sink in.  With a frame of reference, I might more fully appreciate why I like it.

Golf books without pictures - either photos or drawings (at least GCA oriented books), are no where as good, imho.

My thoughts anyway.

[Garland Bayley]

There is nothing in books that, in theory, you might not figure out eventually on your own. But life is short. Some people who write books are very smart. They are offering you a short cut. You will waste less time and enjoy things you might not see sooner with their help.

Bob  

As a former professor, I viewed the books as a shortcut to the best knowledge on the subject, and myself as a shortcut to the books.

[George Pazin]

There is nothing in books that, in theory, you might not figure out eventually on your own. But life is short. Some people who write books are very smart. They are offering you a short cut. You will waste less time and enjoy things you might not see sooner with their help.

Bob  

Terrific post, to which I can only add that sometimes writers also help you out when you're trapped at home.

* D'oh - started this post awhile ago, and was interrupted. Then Garland beats me to the punch!