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schoeller

Hunter's "The Links"
« on: March 07, 2002, 08:30:11 AM »
I am looking for comments on "The Links" by Robt. Hunter.  I have read and really enjoyed "Golf Architecture in America" by Thomas and "Golf Architecture" by MacKenzie and I was wondering how Hunter's book compares.  Also, any suggestions on any other indispensable reading on architecture from pre-World War II would be appreciated.  Thanks.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Craig Van Egmond

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2002, 08:48:27 AM »

Mark,
            If you enjoyed the Thomas book then you will also enjoy the Hunter book, both are excellent.

             Right now I am reading the Architectual Side of Golf and what a great book!  It has all the discussions about equipment and the need to lengthen courses.  They also refer to the top golfers as Tigers, as in the need for Tiger tees and how does it play for the Tiger.  How did they know?  ;D
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

BCrosby

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2002, 08:51:40 AM »
Mark -

My personal view is that The Links is a better book than either Thomas' or MacK's.  I think it was one the best books written by a practitioner from the Golden Age.

I strongly recommend that you get it and read it.

We will schedule a quiz later. ;)

Bob
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

THuckaby2

Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2002, 08:52:46 AM »
Craig:  Maybe Earl did a bit more historical golf reading than anyone ever knew?  ;)

As for THE LINKS, we've discussed it several times in here before.  I was "able to put it down" - never did finish it - because I found it way too archaic.  But if one is into those others, one would find THE LINKS a must.  It's great in a historical sense, anyway... I just found it a difficult read.

TH
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

THuckaby2

Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2002, 08:54:52 AM »
BCrosby:  uh oh!  Guess I ought to finish it....   ;)

All of Hunter's stuff about land acquisition and choice thereof was just so irrelevant in today's world, so completely different from today's reality, it just made me roll my eyes.  Oh, there is LOTS of good in there, I just couldn't get past all this.

TH
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

John_D._Bernhardt

Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2002, 08:55:58 AM »
The Links would have gotten approval from none other than the great Bernard Darwin. Much of it is as true today as then. it is a great book and better than the others mentioned.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

THuckaby2

Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2002, 09:02:10 AM »
Aw hell, now I'm up against Darwin?  And here I thought I was over my head disagreeing with Goodale all the time...  ;)

Like I say, there is a lot of good in The Links, I admit.  Just so much that is totally irrelevant today... oh well.  To each his own.

TH
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

John_D._Bernhardt

Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2002, 09:19:28 AM »
Tom, I will try to avoid these moments. Rich is a tough brain to match wits with.lol
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

TEPaul

Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2002, 09:44:34 AM »
"The Links" is certainly one of the best ever! It has interesting amounts of both the philosophical, the general and the specific to it and of course he deals in detail with actual holes and courses too that help readers visualize and clarify things well, or better than otherwise. As TomH said there are a few areas in that book and some of the other great books too that seem irrelevant today but that doesn't make the really good stuff in the books suffer at all to me.

Some of those old guys had some almost bizarre albeit occasionally humorous styles of writing too (probably without intending to be), which can be a bit off-putting sometimes, but I enjoy even that! Reading Tillinghast's writings just kill me! He can be talking sometimes about the most mundane or seemingly boring thing but just the way he phrases things or the terms he uses can be completely LOL hilarious!

But Mark:

If you really want to bend your mind get your hands on some of Max Behr's articles (a number of them in GeoffShac/Miller's new book "The Art of Golf Design"). That stuff is absolutely unbelievable. Don't look for how a good bunker is constructed in his writing or anything like that but if you want to know what might be or should be going through the farthest reaches of an architect's left brain lobe during creation and maybe a golfer's too that's the writing for you.

It's every bit as contemplative as, I don't know what, Siddhartha or something and in the end of all this which takes about two weeks to digest a small paragraph he tells you all this stuff is just a game and should be looked at as such.

I'm sure glad Behr never wrote about what he or we should think about when we go to work or something more serious because it would probably totally fry my little chicken brain!
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Yancey_Beamer

Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #9 on: March 07, 2002, 10:16:17 AM »
This is the best architecture book I have read. For any beginner I would start with this book and then go to MacKenzie,Thomas,Wethered and Simpson and Darwin. To learn the subject a foundation is essential.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

THuckaby2

Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2002, 10:21:15 AM »
All right, that's it, too many great minds love this book.  So OK, I'm gonna delay trying to catch up with my daughter on Harry Potter, and give THE LINKS another try.  I shall report back in due course.

TH
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

W.H. Cosgrove

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #11 on: March 07, 2002, 10:23:07 AM »
If you consider yourself a well read in golf architecture...you must have read "The Links."  

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

Dan King

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Hunter's
« Reply #12 on: March 07, 2002, 10:30:17 AM »
I've spent the last six to ten months reading like a madman. Right now I'm in the middle of a few fascinating books, How the Scots Invented the Modern World (about the Scottish Enlightenment. Fascinating book) A New History of Jazz (writing a research paper on Davis, Parker, Coltrane, and Monk and their influence on the Civil Rights movement) The Wealth and Poverty of Nations and What Kind of Nation (about the conflict between Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall.)

But sometimes I take a break, and lately it has been with Aspects of Golf Course Architecture: 1889-1924 compiled by Fred Hawtree. It has selections from Horace Hutchinson, Willie Park, Jr., Garden Smith, J.H. Taylor, John Low, Harry Vardon, H.S. Colt, C.K. Hutchison, James Braid, W.H. Fowler, Dr. MacKenzie, F.G. Hawtree, Sir Guy Campbell, Reginald Beale and T.P. Cooke (Interview with C.D. Harris.)

It's my second time reading it, but I seem to be getting more out of it this time.  The book is available from Grant Books.
Quote
"There is hardly such a thing as an unfair bunker. Even the hazard right in the middle of the course at the end of a long tee shot, like the ninth hole bunker at St. Andrews is really quite a fair risk. That it is only a good shot which goes into it is often the complaint we hear. True, true, gente grumbler, but not good enough. If a player is going to drive as far as that pot, he must see to it that he drives to one side or the other; there is plenty of room on either flank."
 --John L. Low
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

schoeller

Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #13 on: March 07, 2002, 10:31:02 AM »
Thanks for all the great insight, everyone.  Sounds like Hunter's book is a must.

Similar type of question, but about another person.  I have seen some excerpts from some Wm. Flynn articles in Shackelford's book, but I have never seen any of Flynn's articles in full and I have never heard that he wrote any books on architecture.  Anyone know anything about Flynn's writings and where I could find them.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »

BCrosby

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Hunter's "The Links"
« Reply #14 on: March 07, 2002, 11:06:55 AM »
Tom -

I'm not so sure about Behr.  I've read the Behr excerpts in Geoff's book.  I agree he's got some interesting ideas.  But frequently I'm not sure what he is saying.  Abstruse prose may be a sign of deep thinking, but more often than not it signals confusion, bad writing or both.  Ever read any Heidegger or Husserl?  Behr reminds me of them.  Highly convoluted, dense, self-referential sentences (just like this one ;)) that leave me scratching my head.  Then again, maybe I'm the one that's too dense.

I love the "line of charm" concept, but mostly Behr loses me.

There is so little writing from that era about cga.  We should enjoy what we have.  But I think there is a tendency to elevate that writing to levels higher than it deserves.  That applies to all Golden Age authors, not just Behr.

Bob



« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by 1056376800 »