Really? “The Story of Golf at The Country Club” Wins 2009 USGA Herbert Warren Wind Book Award**

According to the USGA Museum website, The Herbert Warren Wind Book Award...

recognizes and honors outstanding contributions to golf literature. Named in honor of the famed 20th-century American golf writer, the award acknowledges and encourages outstanding research, writing, and publishing about golf. The award attempts to broaden the public’s interest and knowledge in the game of golf.

With that in mind, we learned today that John de St. Jorre's “The Story of Golf at The Country Club” won the 2009 prize. Now, I've never seen the book, know nothing about it and have little doubt that it's a wonderful piece of work worthy of some form of recognition.

But is a book not available for sale to the general public really broadening the public's interest and knowledge in the game of golf? Is a club history something that has the power to advance the public's passion for golf literature?  Of course not and I don't think it's a stretch to say that the selection committee has done the USGA much of a service here (then again, there should be an annual club history award just to prevent this kind of thing from happening).

It's also rather sad that an award designed to bring awareness to quality research, writing and publishing about golf not only picks a privately published volume, but fails to recognize some of the other finalists on the off chance someone would like to know what other worthy efforts were published. You know, on the off chance they aren't invited to The Country Club and given a free copy as a guest of a member.

Update on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 06:43 AM by Geoff

**I have confirmed that George Kirsch's excellent Golf In America was a 2009 book and eligible for the award. Any other worthy books you all would like to recognize in the first annual GeoffShackelford.com, Bernard Darwin Book Award for title that the USGA book committee sadly overlooked?

Comments

[DMazza]

Something about this smacks of elitism, though I'm sure it's a good book with lots of neat stuff about the famous plumbing leak of 1928, the legendary 25-hour gin game between two fourth-generation members, controversial changes in the dining menu, the episode where a drunk member lost control and mispronounced "escargot," the time John Kennedy shot 38 for nine holes but couldn't tell anyone because he was supposed to be in Washington D.C., the riveting 1954 caddie tournament in which the winner was given a small cup and $20 in pro shop credit, worry about inadequate parking on the eve of the 1963 U.S. Open, the time-honored tradition of coloring the draft beer green on St. Patrick's Day, the time a priest shouted an epithet after bogeying the 18th, and the scandal that ensued after a local firefighter played without proper authorization after saving the the membership chairman's son from a dorm-room fire at Harvard, the 1972 charity tournament that netted $500 donation to a local Catholic orphanage despite an economc recession raging in the background, and of course, deep insights into the character of Eddie Lowery, Clyde Squirrell and Francis Ouimet.
I'm keeping an eye out on eBay for this.

[DMazza]

Clyde Squirrel, lol.

[Boyer]

Good laughs DMazza. Nice!

[OB]

Was George Kirsch's Golf In America eligible? Amazon says it was released December 23, 2008, though I know I had pre-ordered it and the book didn't arrive until well into January 2009. If so, what a shame this wasn't recognized but a club history was?

Then again, this is the USGA we're talking about.

[DavidC]

I thought this was an outrage until I saw some of the books that have won in the past. Golf's Magnificent Challenge by R. Trent Jones is one of the all-time worst glorified brochures ever, complete with backwards photos, terrible text, glaring mistakes (George Morris instead of George Thomas!!!!!) and crappy binding that had my copy falling apart within days of buying it.

The USGA should be ashamed to give this award to a country club history, no matter how wonderful the club in question might have been for amateur golf. Outside of a tiny circle of wannabe bluebloods and other elites, no one will be impacted by this book.

[sir real]

Geoff, Bang on with the separate category for club history books! Your other comments ring true as well. I have tremendous respect for The Country Club and the history there. Sad that our USGA isn't more on the pulse with the greater good of more widely available offerings. Someday?

[Pickworth]

It is an indication of a myopic view of the world that the obvious has been missed here. The purpose of a club history is self-promotion of one sort or another. It's a very limited brief when you look at the endless boundaries of the game.

And isn't it a tad inconsistent with the "we're looking after the game for all golfers, not just the upper echelons and pros" line which get trotted out in the equipment debate.

There should be an award for the best golf book never written.

Over to you DMazza. I'm all ears.

[DGS]

I'm thinking that IMG has orchestrated this tome as a restricted sale because there are a couple of paragraphs commenting on a certain #1 golfer bopping a couple of waitresses and the Greens Chairman's wife in the parking lot.

You heard it here first...........

[Jenna Talls]

While the greens chairman watched ...

[Old Hornet]

I'm with you on this one Geoff, makes one wonder if there's a dearth in golf literature. Does the USGA in it's selection process give equal weight to each of the baseline qualifications noted ?

[F. X. Flinn]

DMazza, great bit. Starting my dad with a big laugh.

[The Real History of Country Clubs]

Do you know what really goes on when a bunch of nice country club members charter a plane and go to Cabo Del Sol to play golf for a week? Do you think their wives and girlfriends and mothers and rabbis know? Well, one participant thought it would be nifty to put together a photo album of the trip and show it to the loud mouth assistant pros when he got back. So, of course, now we all know!

[RM]

DMazza, I've been a loyal reader here for many years...and that was one of the best posts ever. Hilarious, brilliant and, of course, splendid.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

DMazza, that was simply outstanding! I'd especially like to read the chapter about those Ryder Cup shirts designed by Crenshaw's wife.

[bsoudi]

The USGA giving props to a private country club tome? NO WAY!

Can't wait to see this book in the US Open merch tent for $750. Or in my AMEX bill next month...Or as a spiff in the next Lexus promotion!

[The Vagabond Golfer]

The USGA Book Award given in 2008 went to a book that only printed 500 COPIES, for crissake...and had a cover price in excess of $1,000! (Some exqusite, obviously limited-edition book on the life of old Tom Morris)

Don't be looking for it at the local B&N.

Once again, the USGA shows it's "populist roots."

[Steven T.]

Was the classic "How to Line Up Your Fourth Putt" eligible?

www.4putt.com

[The American Triumvirate]

I agree with The Vagabond Golfer. Hard to believe a solidly written -- and supremely well researched -- book such as the late Bob Labbance's The Vardon Invasion was not deemed more impactful in 2008 than a book that is rarer than a Robertson featherie.

[Mike T.]

Kudos to DMazza. Them's some wicked words.

If anyone from the USGA is reading, and cares what the golfing public thinks, this was like whiffing a tap-in putt. Bad. Really bad.

To quote Woody Allen from the courtroom scene in "Bananas," It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham."

[PT]

well done DMazza!

[Orchardist]

I'm sure Herbert Warren Wind would be so proud......

[The Real History of Country Clubs]

On the day a guy comes out to make a decision to join the club, nervously hoping he’ll be accepted, what are the odds that he’ll accidentally slice the palm of his hand wide open and nearly bleed to death in the locker room bathroom and finally get rushed to the emergency room by some wide-eyed assistant golf professional? For that matter, what are the odds that instead of joining the club, he sues the hell out of the place?

[Joe Blow]

Caddyshack DVD is more informative.

[tlavin]

I'll join the queue lining up to shake DMazza's hand. Well done!

[jb]

Mr (or Ms.) Orchardist - "I'm sure Herbert Warren Wind would be so proud...... "

of the book on TCC or on DMazza's comments?

jb

[The O]

I understand an early front-runner for the 2010 prize is a collection of golfing stories from the members of Skull and Bones. Available only to members of Skull and Bones. The name of the book is itself secret.

But, becasue the USGA is not an organization run by pompous east coast elitists, they wish to remind us that they will be attending the US Open at Pebble Beach, which is a public access facility. Anyone with the cash for the $500+ greens fees can play it.

[Tighthead]

USGA memorandum:

Let's all go to J. Press and get some new blazers, then go have a circle jerk.

[R. Pryde]

Recommend GOLF AT YALE for the first "Darwin"

[jstiles]

The USGA could have skipped the award this year. Maybe the book is worthy, but I just cannot imagine how.

2008 - David Malcolm & Peter E. Crabtree, Tom Morris of St. Andrews: The Colossus of Golf 1821-1908
2007 - Kevin Cook, Tommy’s Honor
2006 - James Finegan, Where Golf Is Great
2005 - John Strege, When War Played Through
2004 - James Dodson, Ben Hogan, An American Life
2003 - Phil Pilley, Heather and Heaven
2002 - Mark Frost, The Greatest Game Ever Played
2001 - Bradley S. Klein, Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and His Golf Courses
2000 - Stephen Lowe, Sir Walter and Mr. Jones
1999 - David Owen, The Making of the Masters
1998 - Lawrence Donegan, Maybe It Should Have Been a Three-Iron
1997 - Davis Love III, Every Shot I Take
1992 - Rhonda Glenn, The Illustrated History of Women’s
1991 - Bobby Burnet, The St. Andrews Opens
1990 - Robert Trent Jones Sr. with Larry Dennis, Golf’s Magnificent Challenge
1989 - Phil Pilley, Golfing Art
1987 - Al Barkow, Getting to the Dance Floor

No award was given in 1988 or from 1993-1996.

[Ted]

DMazza- wonderful satire! I put my vote in for Sports Illustrated's Golf Book- a great history of the game in a digestable format for the casual reader.

I can't believe The Match didn't win in the year it was published. I reread that wonderful book every six months and reccomend it to all golf groups I play with. I imagine if you are reading the comments on this site, you probably are familiar with it- in the oft chance you haven't read it- stop reading this and go to Borders now!

[Tighthead]

Ted - by all reasonable accounts (i.e. people brighter and more informed than myself), Frost took some pretty large liberties in his account. It was a great read, but he may have been docked points for fudging.

[Brad Ford]

Next year, they will have to give it to the first good book about Tiger's sexcapades.

[Media driven]

Frost is practicing a sort of fictionalized history but it was still a good read.

Wonder if all the Tiger scandal rip-off books due out soon will be next nominees? Doubt there's a decent one in the bunch.

Surprised Feinstein never won for The Open or The Majors, etc.

[Tighthead]

Media Driven,

Good point about Feinstein. He sure stroked the USGA hard in the Open book - maybe they were embarassed?

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Bernard Darwin Book Award candidates:

Jenkins and the Majors. Yeah, reprints that many of us read in the original, but a nice book nevertheless.

Sports Illustrated: The Golf Book. Excellent anthology.

But, there is the Irv Klar (oops, that would be John Feinstein) book about Tiger and Rocco sittin' in a tree, a Torrey Pine, k i s s ...

[John de St Jorre]

Concerning your comments about my book, The Story of Golf at the Country Club, I have two pieces of advice.

First, it is always a good, if old-fashioned, idea to read a book before you criticize it. Second, it is also a good idea to check with the publisher of a book before you give an opinion about its diistribution. My book is available to the public. Alll you have to do is call the publisher (The Country Club) at: 617-566-0244, extension 602. This is the direct line to the Glolf Shop where you can order the book on the phone and have it put in the mail the next day.

As for the USGA's decision to give my book the HWW Award, all I can say is that the decision by the 9-person judging panel was unanimous.

John de St. Jorre

[F. X. Flinn]

John: that's reasonable -- wouldn't it have helped if the USGA included this information in its award release? Not that you had any control over that, but it's a very unusual situation -- TCC is not usually thought of as a publisher -- so I think you can understand the eyeball rolling in this thread. I for one am looking forward to buying and reading the book.

[Geoff]

John,
As you will note in the post above I did not criticize your book, I criticized the decision to give the award to a club history that is privately published. With all due respect, The Country Club is not a publisher selling its products wherever fine books are sold. I'm sure it's a wonderful book, though so far I haven't found anyone who has actually seen it, including members of The Country Club. In fact, you don't even list it on your own website.

http://www.johndestjorre.com/works.html

[george b. kirsch]

MODEST PROPOSAL: I will certainly also order John de St. Jorre's book and I look forward to reading it. I hope that he will also buy and read my book, "Golf in America." I am sure that we can both learn a lot from each other's works. I would also hope that all who follow this blog will buy and read both of our books and decide for themselves which one best achieves the goal of the USGA book prize to "broaden the public interest and knowledge in the game of golf."

[John de St Jorre]

F. X. Fein::

Yes, it would have helped a lot if the USGA had noted the way the book could be obtained and I should have mentiolned it to them. The Country Club has been slow about marketing and diistribution but will, I hope, soon be putting the book on its website and, possibly, on Amazon too. I will also be listing in on my website. Thanks for your useful comment.