World Atlas of Golf: which edition

[ward peyronnin]

Please indulge a question no doubt answered before on this platform.I want to give my grandson this classic tome for Christmas no doubt inspired in some part by the bio tale of golf's most beloved and his start in golf architecture.Please offer thoughts regarding which edition would be best for his young 21st C eyes. Thanks.
As an aside can someone reveal why my shift key apparently does not register within these dialogue boxes?

[Tom_Doak]

If you can get hold of a good copy of the original edition, do that.  That's the book that launched many into this field, including myself.


The one that Mark Rowlinson helped put together years ago is not a bad substitute -- I contributed some things to it myself -- but I would recommend the writing of Pat Ward-Thomas et al. ahead of my own, any day.

[Robin_Hiseman]

I strongly second Tom's view.


The First Edition is definitely the one to go for.


In an age before the internet, this book opened a lot of aspiring architect's eyes to the world beyond their own shores. The beautiful course maps have never been matched in any publication since. I wonder what happened to the original artworks?

[Tim_Weiman]

Robin,
Definitely a must have in any golf architecture book collection. Might have been the second book in my collection, but certainly one of the early additions.


Sports Illustrated’s “The Best 18 Golf Holes in America” was definitely my first.

[Marty Bonnar]

I strongly second Tom's view.


The First Edition is definitely the one to go for.


In an age before the internet, this book opened a lot of aspiring architect's eyes to the world beyond their own shores. The beautiful course maps have never been matched in any publication since. I wonder what happened to the original artworks?

I seem to recall Mark asking us for updates a few years ago, so they could be incorporated into the original illustrations so maybe he had them?
Does anyone know how he is?
Cheers,
F.

[ward peyronnin]

Your welcome feedback only reinforces my initial peference for the original. Thank you all.
I too was thinking the excellent drawings are strongly suggestive that yes, indeed, golf archecture is a form of art.My last word on Mark, and this was some time ago, was he was not really leaving his residence. What an accomplished and gracious man.

[Tim_Cronin]

I have a couple of copies of the 1976 original with minute changes. A quick look on eBay indicates there were five printings of the first edition though 1985 and at least two revised editions after that before the new version, which is also worth acquiring. So be careful in your search if you want a "first-first." That's where old bookstores are best, because you can see the copyright page were that info would be.

[Marty Bonnar]

What_the_hell is going on?






Reading this thread, I realised I hadn’t bought the latest WAOG despite having seen it in bookshops everywhere. So, I thought I’d nip online and get myself a copy.
What did I pay?
FORTY FIVE PENCE. FORTY FIVE PENCE!
The sodding postage was £2.80. £3.25 delivered to my home for one of the best books on our subject.
Mind-boggling.
F.

[Tom_Doak]

What_the_hell is going on?
Reading this thread, I realised I hadn’t bought the latest WAOG despite having seen it in bookshops everywhere. So, I thought I’d nip online and get myself a copy.
What did I pay?
FORTY FIVE PENCE. FORTY FIVE PENCE!

Jesus.  The paper alone is worth more than that.  It's a hefty book!

[Cal Carlisle]

What_the_hell is going on?






Reading this thread, I realised I hadn’t bought the latest WAOG despite having seen it in bookshops everywhere. So, I thought I’d nip online and get myself a copy.
What did I pay?
FORTY FIVE PENCE. FORTY FIVE PENCE!
The sodding postage was £2.80. £3.25 delivered to my home for one of the best books on our subject.
Mind-boggling.
F.

Take it and run. Doesn't happen often with influential golf books. I thought the same thing when I found mine.

[Marty Bonnar]

Absolutely, TD. It’s a beast of a tome. Quite lovely with those glorious illustrations and marvellous text. I’m sitting looking at it in awe on my coffee table right now.
I’m quite ashamed.
F.

[Stewart Abramson]

There are ten different editions/versions of the World Atlas of Golf now available on the Abe Books site. The price for used copies start at $1 for several of the editions and go up to $7 for some versions. Shipping ranges from free to $5.98. 

[Mike_Clayton]

The latest edition has a better collection of courses.


For example, Kingston Heath replaced Royal Sydney.
Cape Kidnappers is also included which at least keeps NZ's resurgence somewhat updated.
It's come a long way since MacKenzie wrote in The Spirit of St Andrews that "Golf in NZ is dead - in fact it's never been alive".

[Tommy Williamsen]

I have five different editions of the book and periodically look at them. The reach of that book and how many people it has touched is amazing. What a gift.

[Adam Lawrence]

Absolutely, TD. It’s a beast of a tome. Quite lovely with those glorious illustrations and marvellous text. I’m sitting looking at it in awe on my coffee table right now.
I’m quite ashamed.
F.

Because you didn't have it already, or because you paid so little for it?

[MCirba]

I have a paperback copy of the one Mark R. contributed to but my original (not a first edition) may have been cracked a time or two.

[MCirba]

Fortunately, some things have definitely improved over time.   You have to wonder who ever thought planting small white pine trees in a straight line was a good idea.

[MCirba]

On the other hand, I still bemoan the loss of the 3rd diagonal fairway bunker on the left side of 18 at Muirfield.   The Feng Shui of that hole's bunkering was a huge part of why I became fascinated with golf course architecture in the first place, and it hasn't felt quite right to me since. 

[Paul Rudovsky]

Fortunately, some things have definitely improved over time.   You have to wonder who ever thought planting small white pine trees in a straight line was a good idea.

A little off topic for this thread but the back story about why these trees got planted is interesting. 

About a month after the 1953 US Open at Oakmont, Herb Warren Wind's regular post major article appeared in The New Yorker and focused on the event itself and how Oakmont and Pittsburgh were made for each other (toughest course in USA and blue collar, beer and shot town).  He also wrote that about extreme hot  temperatures all week and brutal sunlight with no trees on the course to provide shade.  The club president in 1953 proposed to the governing board that they initiate a tree planting effort (remember...the Fownes were no longer running the club by then).  I first saw the course about 18 years later in the early 70's (but not to play it,...attending a wedding in February :'(  and viewing the 9th/practice green under a blanket of snow from inside clubhouse).  It looked like any other parkland course with large trees lining the fairways.  In July 2019 I played Iron Horse Golf Club in Montana and was fortunate to meet an Oakmont member (Jim M.) who was the head of the Greens Comm when they started to remove trees at night (he later became club president) and he confirmed the above. 


So the blame for the trees lies with the Club's President and Board in 1953.

[MCirba]

Paul,


Thanks for that back story.   The first time I saw Oakmont was over the weekend of the 1983 US Open and indeed it looked like most other northeast courses that have trees paralleling every fairway.   The look across the property today is staggeringly better, even if it's hotter.      


Sorry to venture off-topic, all.

[David_Tepper]

https://www.alibris.com/booksearch?mtype=B&keyword=the+world+atlas+of+golf&hs.x=0&hs.y=0

Prices starting at $0.99.

[Matthew Lloyd]

Love this book and have 2 copies in case one of them ever gets "borrowed."


Like many of you I am curious about where to find the original artwork. I'd love to have a 12x18 print of a few of the courses, especially the Cypress Point and Banff paintings.


Used to peruse this book all the time as a youth. One of my life goals is to play every U.S. and UK/Ireland course in this book.


For those looking for a copy --- Amazon has what appears to be an excellent copy of the 1970s edition (I believe it's that edition anyway) for about $20. I'd jump on that deal.


https://www.amazon.com/New-World-Atlas-Golf/dp/0831795018/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2INBVOMNHKKH&keywords=world+atlas+of+golf&qid=1700523699&s=books&sprefix=world+atlas+of+golf%2Cstripbooks%2C125&sr=1-5

[ward peyronnin]

I discovered I do indeed have the 2012 edition.
It is a queer sized book, about nine by nine inches, and the illustrtaions are akin to comparing Japanese movie cartoonwork to the old hand drawn and colored artwork in the classics ie Cinderella etc.

I have no doubt the 70s/early 80's editions are the place to land

[Ally Mcintosh]

I discovered I do indeed have the 2012 edition.
It is a queer sized book, about nine by nine inches, and the illustrtaions are akin to comparing Japanese movie cartoonwork to the old hand drawn and colored artwork in the classics ie Cinderella etc.

I have no doubt the 70s/early 80's editions are the place to land

I seem to recall that the general consensus on this website back in 2012 was that the 2012 edition was where to land, primarily because it had been written by GCA contributors with a much better “eye” towards course design.


It seems that editions of the World Atlas of Golf goes through trends just as golf course rankings do.