Books
  • Lines of Charm: Brilliant And Irreverent Quotes, Notes, And Anecdotes from Golf's Golden Age Architects
    Lines of Charm: Brilliant And Irreverent Quotes, Notes, And Anecdotes from Golf's Golden Age Architects
  • The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back
    The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design
    Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Art of Golf Design
    The Art of Golf Design
    by Michael Miller, Geoff Shackelford
  • Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
    Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Golden Age of Golf Design
    The Golden Age of Golf Design
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Good Doctor Returns: A Novel
    The Good Doctor Returns: A Novel
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • Masters of the Links: Essays on the Art of Golf and Course Design
    Masters of the Links: Essays on the Art of Golf and Course Design
  • The Captain: George C. Thomas Jr. and His Golf Architecture
    The Captain: George C. Thomas Jr. and His Golf Architecture
    by Geoff Shackelford
  • The Riviera Country Club: A Definitive History
    The Riviera Country Club: A Definitive History
    by Geoff Shackelford
Current Reading
  • Fifty More Places to Play Golf Before You Die: Golf Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations (Fifty Places Series)
    Fifty More Places to Play Golf Before You Die: Golf Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations (Fifty Places Series)
    by Chris Santella

    Follow up includes yours truly nominating Rustic Canyon. Shocking, I know.

  • Sports Illustrated The Golf Book
    Sports Illustrated The Golf Book
    by Editors of Sports Illustrated
  • Planet Golf USA: The Definitive Reference to Great Golf Courses in America
    Planet Golf USA: The Definitive Reference to Great Golf Courses in America
    by Darius Oliver

    The highly anticipated second volume comes to America for more design analysis and stunning photography.

  • St Andrews Golf Links: Six Centuries of Golf
    St Andrews Golf Links: Six Centuries of Golf
    by Tom Jarrett, Peter Mason

    Another St. Andrews book to warm us up for the 2010 Open.

  • Swinley Forest Golf Club
    Swinley Forest Golf Club
    by Nicholas Courtney
  • Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty Years of the World's Best Golf Writing, from Hogan to Tiger
    Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty Years of the World's Best Golf Writing, from Hogan to Tiger
    by Dan Jenkins
  • The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life
    The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life
    by Amy Alcott


  • The 19th Hole: Architecture of the Golf Clubhouse
    The 19th Hole: Architecture of the Golf Clubhouse
    by Richard Diedrich

    SI Golf Plus calls this the #1 golf book of 2008.

  • World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played
    World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played
    by Mark Rowlinson

    New and updated, including contributions from Ran Morrissett and Daniel Wexler.

  • Golf in America (Sport and Society)
    Golf in America (Sport and Society)
    by George B. Kirsch


    Fresh and well researched perspective on the history of golf in America

  • Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season
    Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season
    by Bob Smiley
  • Pebble Beach: The Official Golf History
    Pebble Beach: The Official Golf History
    by Neal Hotelling
  • Free: The Future of a Radical Price
    Free: The Future of a Radical Price
    by Chris Anderson
Classics
  • The Book Of Golfers: A Biographical History Of The Royal & Ancient Game
    The Book Of Golfers: A Biographical History Of The Royal & Ancient Game
    by Daniel Wexler


  • A Season In Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands
    A Season In Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands
    by Lorne Ruberstein

    A summer in Dornoch.

  • Emerald Gems:The Links of Ireland
    Emerald Gems:The Links of Ireland
    by Laurence Casey Lambrecht

    Beautiful images of the classic Irish links.

  • Golf Architecture in America: Its Strategy and Construction
    Golf Architecture in America: Its Strategy and Construction
    by Geo. C. Thomas
  • The Spirit of St. Andrews
    The Spirit of St. Andrews
    by Alister MacKenzie
  • Club Life: The Games Golfers Play
    Club Life: The Games Golfers Play
    by John Steinbreder
  • Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Golf Courses
    Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Golf Courses
    by Bradley S. Klein
  • Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald
    Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald
    by George Bahto
  • The Course Beautiful : A Collection of Original Articles and Photographs on Golf Course Design
    The Course Beautiful : A Collection of Original Articles and Photographs on Golf Course Design
    Treewolf Prod
  • Reminiscences Of The Links
    Reminiscences Of The Links
    by Albert Warren Tillinghast, Richard C. Wolffe, Robert S. Trebus, Stuart F. Wolffe
  • Gleanings from the Wayside
    Gleanings from the Wayside
    by Albert Warren Tillinghast
  • The Missing Links: America's Greatest Lost Golf Courses & Holes
    The Missing Links: America's Greatest Lost Golf Courses & Holes
    by Daniel Wexler
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Thursday
12Nov2009

"Hopefully Harry Colt is up there somewhere and looking down on us with a nod of approval"

Martyn Herman reports that a remodeled Wentworth is ready for the 2010 European PGA Championship. Unfortunately, Ernie Els violated the cardinal sin of restoration work: making major changes and declaring that the original architect would be pleased. He's just entered the Rees and Fazio division.

A new water hazard extending 90 yards down the 18th fairway and alongside a reshaped green will stiffen the challenge for competitors at the European Tour's flagship event won this year by Britain's Paul Casey.

First ugh. Second one:

New bunkers have also been added to "future proof" the course against the game's big hitters.

"Next year will be particularly exciting as it will be the first European Tour event on the Remodeled West Course," said European Tour championship director Jamie Birkmyre in a statement.

"The changes to the landscapes and the different challenges the greens will pose the players will surely make for a fantastic event."

And the killer:

The West Course, designed in 1926 by Harry Colt, has remained virtually untouched apart from alterations in 2005 and again this year which were overseen by South African triple major winner and local resident Ernie Els.

"Hopefully Harry Colt is up there somewhere and looking down on us with a nod of approval," added the record seven-times winner of the World Match Play at Wentworth.

First, the changes in 2005 were reviled by players and they usually don't notice much.

Second, adding a water hazard does not constitute "virtually untouched," so just maybe Harry Colt is not up there celebrating this. But that's just a guess.

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Reader Comments (4)

A lot depends on how the water hazard looks. Praise has been rightfully geaped upon Kingston Heath's "scruffy" bunker edges, and the 8th at Wentworth has one of the better looking "scruffy ponds", IMO. If it looks something like that, then it wouldn't be totally out of character, but then, hazards on the outside of a dogleg is seldom referred to as "good architecture"...
11.12.2009 | Unregistered CommenterHawkeye
Never been there so I'm no judge, and I agree with our host in principle. But from what other people say, Wentworth West was never considered one of Colt's masterpieces anyway--just the one that gets played the most by the pros. Instead of invoking Augusta or Bethpage, perhaps a better analogy is Firestone South. No one got angry about the history of changes there.

I understand the new water hazard on 18 is a faux creek, lined wih plank siding. I suppose it makes it more of a risk-reward hole. But it reminds me of a old Dan Jenkins parody of an architect offering his services to Augusta National--"No one will believe it's a real golf course if it hasn't got an island green!"
11.13.2009 | Unregistered CommenterTom
Colt was the "the lies are too damned good" curmudgeon from Mackenzie's book. A club secretary and lawyer. Yeah, I'm sure he's loving it Ernie.
11.15.2009 | Unregistered CommenterBoyer

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