Best Club Books

[Steve_Roths]

I was going through my golf books over the weekend with plans to start in on the Seminole book and was wondering if there are any truly great ones out there to grab?


I currently have:


- Pacific Dunes
- Shadow Creek
-Fisher Island
- Seminole
-Sebonack


I am hoping to add NGLA's this year. 


What other great ones are there?  I know Lido has one coming. 

[Tommy Williamsen]

Of the ones I ownChicago Golf Club
Pine Valley It is a little old but a great read. Also, the book written for the Walker Cup.
Scioto
East Lake
Winged Foot
Pasitiempo
Estancia
The Golf Club
Royal North Devon

[John Kavanaugh]

Anything by Shackelford is top notch. I was given the Riviera book after a round and it remains at the top of my collection.

[Tim_Weiman]

Not to hijack the thread, but some club books can be disappointing. IMO, the Royal Melbourne book is a good example: there is way too much about the club and too little about the courses themselves, our real interest as golf architecture junkies.


Geoff Shackelford’s Cypress Point book is far better. The focus is on the course, not the club.

[Steve_Roths]

Is the Winged Foot one readily available in their pro shop?

[Philip Gordillo]

Not to hijack the thread, but some club books can be disappointing. IMO, the Royal Melbourne book is a good example: there is way too much about the club and too little about the courses themselves, our real interest as golf architecture junkies.


Geoff Shackelford’s Cypress Point book is far better. The focus is on the course, not the club.

Tim - Regarding Royal Melbourne, have you seen the John Green book from 2011 titled “Royal Melbourne Golf Club, History of the Courses?”  As the title suggests, it’s almost exclusively about the design evolution of the two courses.  It has a good amount of writing, photos, and maps.  Might be worth a look if you haven’t seen it.

[Philip Gordillo]

I was going through my golf books over the weekend with plans to start in on the Seminole book and was wondering if there are any truly great ones out there to grab?


I currently have:


- Pacific Dunes
- Shadow Creek
-Fisher Island
- Seminole
-Sebonack


I am hoping to add NGLA's this year. 


What other great ones are there?  I know Lido has one coming.

[/size]“An Awakening at Sleepy Hollow” is one of my favorites and served as an inspiration for the Metairie CC that we did in 2022.  Lots of great photos and illustrations.  The Newport CC is another excellent one that you might enjoy reading and having in your personal library.

[Michael Wolf]

Finally a GCA thread I might be qualified to comment on!


Collecting and reading club histories has been a hobby of mine for several decades. I'm always searching for books on interesting courses and clubs from around the world. Presently I have about 1,600 different club histories from 80 countries on my shelves. Some personal favorites that I think would appeal to the GCA crowd:

Bringing Ross Back - The Restoration of Oakland Hills South Course
National Golf Links of America by Chris Millard
Royal Melbourne GC - History of the Courses by John Green
The History of the Misquamicut Club by John Steinbreder
Rye Golf Club, The First 90 Years by Denis Vidler
The 3 volume history of the R&A by Peter Lewis and others
Calcutta GC 1829-1979
The Evolution of Muirfield by Richard Latham
The Riviera CC by Geoff Shackelford
Swinley Special by Nicholas Courtney
An Awakening at Sleepy Hollow by Jon Cavalier and Jason Way
The Golf Course and Grounds of Yeamans Hall by Charlton deSaussure
The History of the Newport Country Club by Frederick Waterman
The Creek by Thomas Dunne

Please keep me in mind if you have any club histories you wish to sell or trade, or if you hear of a Club that's issuing a new book. Along with my personal collection I'm also trying to help keep the USGA's library complete.

Michael

[John Foley]

From a how the course was developed, a few that I've enjoyed:


Creating Calusa Pines - John Strawn
Desert Forest - Brad Klein
Building Sebonack - Brad Klein
At The End Of The Oaks - Sea Island - Gary Galyean
Where Stone Walls Meet The Sea - Sakonnet Golf Club - Chris Rawson
Making of Pacific Dunes - Tom D
The History of Newport - Fredrick Waterman
The Story of Seminole - James Dodson
Chris Millard's book on National & Andrew Mutch's Pine Valley are second to none.


The next one to dive into is the Tara Iti book - looks amazing.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Finally a GCA thread I might be qualified to comment on!


Collecting and reading club histories has been a hobby of mine for several decades. I'm always searching for books on interesting courses and clubs from around the world. Presently I have about 1,600 different club histories from 80 countries on my shelves. Some personal favorites that I think would appeal to the GCA crowd:

Bringing Ross Back - The Restoration of Oakland Hills South Course
National Golf Links of America by Chris Millard
Royal Melbourne GC - History of the Courses by John Green
The History of the Misquamicut Club by John Steinbreder
Rye Golf Club, The First 90 Years by Denis Vidler
The 3 volume history of the R&A by Peter Lewis and others
Calcutta GC 1829-1979
The Evolution of Muirfield by Richard Latham
The Riviera CC by Geoff Shackelford
Swinley Special by Nicholas Courtney
An Awakening at Sleepy Hollow by Jon Cavalier and Jason Way
The Golf Course and Grounds of Yeamans Hall by Charlton deSaussure
The History of the Newport Country Club by Frederick Waterman
The Creek by Thomas Dunne

Please keep me in mind if you have any club histories you wish to sell or trade, or if you hear of a Club that's issuing a new book. Along with my personal collection I'm also trying to help keep the USGA's library complete.

Michael

Wow. I have had a book obsession most of my life. I like yours. What a great collection you must have.

[Jeff Schley]

Finally a GCA thread I might be qualified to comment on!


Collecting and reading club histories has been a hobby of mine for several decades. I'm always searching for books on interesting courses and clubs from around the world. Presently I have about 1,600 different club histories from 80 countries on my shelves. Some personal favorites that I think would appeal to the GCA crowd:

Bringing Ross Back - The Restoration of Oakland Hills South Course
National Golf Links of America by Chris Millard
Royal Melbourne GC - History of the Courses by John Green
The History of the Misquamicut Club by John Steinbreder
Rye Golf Club, The First 90 Years by Denis Vidler
The 3 volume history of the R&A by Peter Lewis and others
Calcutta GC 1829-1979
The Evolution of Muirfield by Richard Latham
The Riviera CC by Geoff Shackelford
Swinley Special by Nicholas Courtney
An Awakening at Sleepy Hollow by Jon Cavalier and Jason Way
The Golf Course and Grounds of Yeamans Hall by Charlton deSaussure
The History of the Newport Country Club by Frederick Waterman
The Creek by Thomas Dunne

Please keep me in mind if you have any club histories you wish to sell or trade, or if you hear of a Club that's issuing a new book. Along with my personal collection I'm also trying to help keep the USGA's library complete.

Michael

HI Michael.  That is some collection.  Do you happen to have a spreadsheet of your library?  If so I'd appreciate it to help view what is out there.
Thanks

[James Reader]

Finally a GCA thread I might be qualified to comment on!


Collecting and reading club histories has been a hobby of mine for several decades. I'm always searching for books on interesting courses and clubs from around the world. Presently I have about 1,600 different club histories from 80 countries on my shelves. Some personal favorites that I think would appeal to the GCA crowd:

Bringing Ross Back - The Restoration of Oakland Hills South Course
National Golf Links of America by Chris Millard
Royal Melbourne GC - History of the Courses by John Green
The History of the Misquamicut Club by John Steinbreder
Rye Golf Club, The First 90 Years by Denis Vidler
The 3 volume history of the R&A by Peter Lewis and others
Calcutta GC 1829-1979
The Evolution of Muirfield by Richard Latham
The Riviera CC by Geoff Shackelford
Swinley Special by Nicholas Courtney
An Awakening at Sleepy Hollow by Jon Cavalier and Jason Way
The Golf Course and Grounds of Yeamans Hall by Charlton deSaussure
The History of the Newport Country Club by Frederick Waterman
The Creek by Thomas Dunne

Please keep me in mind if you have any club histories you wish to sell or trade, or if you hear of a Club that's issuing a new book. Along with my personal collection I'm also trying to help keep the USGA's library complete.

Michael

All of Richard Latham’s books are very good. As well as Muirfield, he’s written similar course (rather than club) histories on Hoylake, Royal County Down and Woodhall Spa.

[Ken Moum]

I like Cliff Roberts' book about ANGC, "The Story of Augusta National Golf Club."

[Tommy Williamsen]

Finally a GCA thread I might be qualified to comment on!


Collecting and reading club histories has been a hobby of mine for several decades. I'm always searching for books on interesting courses and clubs from around the world. Presently I have about 1,600 different club histories from 80 countries on my shelves. Some personal favorites that I think would appeal to the GCA crowd:

Bringing Ross Back - The Restoration of Oakland Hills South Course
National Golf Links of America by Chris Millard
Royal Melbourne GC - History of the Courses by John Green
The History of the Misquamicut Club by John Steinbreder
Rye Golf Club, The First 90 Years by Denis Vidler
The 3 volume history of the R&A by Peter Lewis and others
Calcutta GC 1829-1979
The Evolution of Muirfield by Richard Latham
The Riviera CC by Geoff Shackelford
Swinley Special by Nicholas Courtney
An Awakening at Sleepy Hollow by Jon Cavalier and Jason Way
The Golf Course and Grounds of Yeamans Hall by Charlton deSaussure
The History of the Newport Country Club by Frederick Waterman
The Creek by Thomas Dunne

Please keep me in mind if you have any club histories you wish to sell or trade, or if you hear of a Club that's issuing a new book. Along with my personal collection I'm also trying to help keep the USGA's library complete.

Michael

All of Richard Latham’s books are very good. As well as Muirfield, he’s written similar course (rather than club) histories on Hoylake, Royal County Down and Woodhall Spa.

I will second Richard's books on Woodhall Spa and Royal Country Down. I spent a very nice day with him at WS, a course that he loves.

[Pete_Pittock]

Prestwick Golf Club by David Smail

[Mark Pritchett]

Crooked Stick Golf Club by GCA’s Chris Wirthwein is really well done. 

[Joe Bausch]

Two books by Jeff Silverman are superb: one on Merion, the other on Gulph Mills.

[Bill Gayne]

Not a book published by a club, I do enjoy Anthony Edgeworth book series "Legendary golf ...."

[David Amarnek]

I'll second Joe Bausch's post.

[Cal Carlisle]

These books can be a mixed bag. Depending on who's in charge of the project they can be really good or really bad.


Some of my favorites


"Crump's Dream - The Making of Pine Valley 1913-1936"
[Not a "club history" per se, but a very nice book.


"National Golf Links of America Club History"
[Easily my favorite]


"Scioto Country Club: 75 Years of Club History"
[A really good local effort that is mostly golf, but isn't too heavy on the "Club Tennis Champ" type stuff]


"Alistair MacKenzie's Cypress Golf Club"
[I've never been, but very well done book]


"Piping Rock Club 1911-2011"
[Same people that did the NGLA book, I recommend]


The one I was most disappointed with was "The Country Club 1889-2014" This the TCC in Cleveland. A LOT of rando stuff, grainy photos, pics of every room in the clubhouse, recipes.....it's all in there. Someone named "Taber" is listed as the author, but it looks like a vote was taken on every single page of the book.


Speaking of The Country Club, one book I've never been able to get my hands on is "The Story of Golf at The Country Club" to even see it.

[PCCraig]

Not a book published by a club, I do enjoy Anthony Edgeworth book series "Legendary golf ...."

100%


The best.


They did do other full club histories (TCC-Brookline, etc.) and they are all very good but the above series is terrific.

[Philip Gawith]

Brad Klein’s history of St George’s golf and country club on Long Island is as good a club history as I have seen/read.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Mark Rowlinson did a great book on Alwoodley.

[Kyle Casella]

I love a good club / course history. 1,600 books on just that topic is an impressive collection, well done Michael!


A couple more that I think are quite excellent and not mentioned:


Bel-Air Country Club, A Living Legend (~1993). Very nice, not too dense with a good synopsis on history of both the course and the club. Of course, it could use an update given the recent restoration.


Mount Bruno Country Club (2018). Published in conjunction with the club's centennial celebrations. Excellent early history on the WPJ course and club with detail on the changes to the course throughout the years.


Boston Golf Club (~2019). Not often do you get a club history published within 15 years of a club's founding. As a result, this is an extremely interesting book filled with rich detail on the founding of the club, site selection, architect selection process, iteration on the routing (including multiple alternative routing maps), and construction. A great memorial to John Mineck.

[Michael Felton]

Color me biased (should probably say colour), but Heather and Heaven by Phil Pilley is pretty good. Walton Heath for the centenary in 2003. It pops up second hand here and there sometimes. I don't know if you can get an original one still though.