When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
I just caught a glimpse of Bob Labbance's new books and both look excellent. The impressive biography and history of architect Wayne Stiles' career is now available through the Stiles Society, while his look at Harry Vardon's historic 1900 tour of America has been published by Ann Arbor Media Group and is available through Amazon.com.
Bo Links looks at how factual Mark Frost's The Match is while also sharing some fun tidbits on a rematch of sorts that took place a week after the original.It sounds promising...
Stanley Thompson is one of golf's most acclaimed course architects. Almost a half-century after his death, Thompson's genius is still recognized by the notable position of the courses he crafted in the list of Canada's top-100 courses. He still has more of designs on the list than any other architect.
In honoring Canada's most famous golf course architect, Photoscape Publishing has just released a 192-page, full-color, coffee table-style book. The stories and pictures in "The Golf Courses of Stanley Thompson" provide insight into the methods, techniques and genius of the fabled designer.
Thompson is responsible for four of Canada's top-10 golf courses, twice as many as the next architect. The book provides details on 25 of his courses, including: St. Georges, Highland Links, Jasper Park, Banff Springs, Capilano and Westmount. Each course is showcased in a six-page layout with stories by noted Canadian golf writers and the photography of Mike Bell.
In addition, the book contains a series of 11 two-page mini-essays on the eccentricities of Thompson and the timelessness of his work as described by industry writers. The book is a must for any golf aficionado's library.
Thanks to reader John for this nice Kevin Stevens story on the passing of Dick Donovan, one of the great collectors and friend of golf authors around the globe.
Bill Dwyre remembers Jim Murray in his Friday column:
When it was time to get to know a new young sports editor in 1981, Murray set up a golf game at Riviera. The new kid didn't play much then and was fairly overwhelmed just standing on the first tee at Riviera. Soon, on the par-five first hole, the group found itself on the green with everybody else putting for five or six and Murray somehow lying three.
His birdie putt was about 50 feet, with one of those Riviera double breaks to start and then a break to the left before flattening out at the hole. Murray, in his late 50s then, but always a bit feeble after battles with eye problems and a malfunctioning heart valve, hunched over his putt, stroked it and watched as it went left, then right, then left again before straightening into the cup. Slowly, he walked to the hole and picked the ball out, then stood silently as the others focused on staying out of double figures.
When all had putted out, he quietly walked to the cart, sat down and waited for his guest to join him. The drive to the second tree was short, but by then, Murray could stand it no longer.
"Sometimes, I miss those left," he said. His huge grin foreshadowed what was to come. He shot 112.
Now posted is a Golfobserver column on some of my favorite 2006 books.
It's been a while since I've read some of that epic New York Times intellectual horsepuckey, but I got a nice pile of it while reading Charles McGrath's Sunday review of David Cannon's $195 coffee table book:
Many of the courses were photographed, moreover, either at dawn or at dusk, when most golfers never see them. The deepness of the colors — reds and yellows and shadowy greens — together with the lushness and grandness of the whole book and the great number of panoramic and aerial views, suggests that Cannon is less interested in the traditional aim of golf photography, which is to show you what it looks like from the tee of any given hole, than in evoking what the Romantics called the Sublime: an experience so dizzying it verges on the spiritual.
Or, maybe that's just the best time to photograph a golf course? Oh no, big metaphor coming. See if you can read this without rolling your eyes:
His photographs are a little like the nude paintings of Bouguereau: they’re erotica that aspires to the condition of art.
Thanks to readers John and Jeff for the link to this John Paul Newport WSJ column on Jim Finegan.
Bob Verdi was the only correspondent to write about the shower situation at a Ryder Cup hotel, following up on his stellar reports from Hoylake. So I guess he's pretty much a lock to win the the GWAA writing contest's first ever Bad Shower Division.
I promised on my last trip over here that I would never again complain about showers, but I must relate one more incident. The other night, the shower pipe wiggled loose from its mooring and attacked me. It was my most frightening shower event since Anthony Perkins and his knife went after Janet Leigh in "Psycho." The pipe, with a mind of its own, wrapped around my neck and I had a decision. Do I continue blowing 400 pounds per night here at the O'Bates Motel, or do I just die right here? I've said mean things about showers in Europe, and it's obvious they talk among themselves when I'm not around. I chose to put the pipe in its place and live. You know what they say. Another day, another Euro.
Jeff Silverman interviews John Updike for the Wall Street Journal's weekend edition. A few highlights:
WSJ: But you do have that big-headed driver.
MR. UPDIKE: Occasionally, a sweet hit will go farther than my drives usually do. I just don't have enough of them. We all like technology when we can use it, but the best club in the world and the farthest flying ball in the world aren't going to straighten out your drives for you.
WSJ: Do you think that far-flying ball goes too far?
MR. UPDIKE: Not when I hit it. It can never go too far for me. I would think if you're going to make an adjustment in the game the ball is much easier to tinker with than the clubs. I don't think it should go any farther than it does now. And already, the fact that the pros miss so many fairways indicates to me that the ball may just be flying too far.
WSJ: Technology and its costs -- both in dollars and cents and how it's made some of the classic courses obsolete -- are aspects of the game that many complain about. What irks you?
MR. UPDIKE: There's a certain agony in waiting. It takes the best part of the day to play a round.
And...
WSJ: You've written quite movingly about golf in its simplest form vs. the flower beds, cart paths, breaches of etiquette and excessive costs. Is it getting worse?
WSJ: Where have you liked playing over there?
MR. UPDIKE: I don't see it shrinking. When you do go to Scotland or Ireland and play on the unnamed, unknown courses, you realize what a simple and charming dip this is into the countryside. It's too bad that American courses trend the other way, becoming more manicured, ergo more expensive, more fuss about getting into the clubs, more and more a rich man's sport, where in Scotland and Ireland it began as a poor man's sport.
MR. UPDIKE: I went up to Dornoch, and that's really worth it because there you really see a majestic, natural course up there in the twilight zone. I played St. Andrews once in the twilight serendipitously. My wife was with me. I rented clubs and she walked around with me and we joined up with a twosome, father and son, and had a lovely round that ended in the gloaming. That was a great lyrical experience. They're all kind of fun and shaggy and no fuss, and I like that kind of golf.
WSJ: You witnessed the 1999 Ryder Cup at the Country Club in Brookline as a marshal. Another cup is coming up. You've observed that the event gets our blood boiling. Is that good for the game?
MR. UPDIKE: You hate to see the partisanship become so extreme that the crowds heckle the golfers. The game is meant to be a gentleman's game in which you call rule infractions on yourself, and you shake hands before and after, never show hostility, and I think in the Ryder Cup there's the danger of all those manners being suspended. The Ryder Cup I was at was the one where Justin Leonard sank an amazingly long putt and suddenly we went from being losers to being winners and they mobbed him and trampled all over the green [before the match was completed]. That left a bad after-feeling.
WSJ: Do you read much about golf?
MR. UPDIKE: I follow the newspaper accounts. I don't read everything written about the game because it detracts from my writing, but my first acquaintance with golf was through writing -- in murder mysteries. English murder mysteries often have a golf course with a corpse on it.
WSJ: Why is golf such a writer's game?
MR. UPDIKE: It's contemplative. You kind of think your way out of corners. Often you find yourself both in plotting and in golf in an awkward situation of your own making and you try to get out of it. And I think both writing and golfing involve a patient temperament that can be content with slow progress. And you can play golf very happily and hardly talk to anybody for four hours. All those things are appealing to a writer.
WSJ: What do you see as the cornerstones of the golf library?
MR. UPDIKE: I would put certainly one or two of P.G. Wodehouse's golf tales. They're so funny and yet so vivid and you really come to understand golf. And Bernard Darwin's accounts of the British courses and British tournaments. A book that I learned from was Tommy Armour's "How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time," which I find more helpful than Hogan's.
WSJ: If you could fix one thing about the game what would it be?
MR. UPDIKE: You can't really do much about attitude except maybe try to emphasize the basic principles of golf etiquette. Beyond that, it would be nice if you could disconnect golf and money. You lose something when it becomes a privileged sport. It was nice when everybody was out there swinging away with their lessonless, self-taught swings.
Ah, the benefits of a GWAA membership...
Chicken Soup for the Soul is heading back out to the golf course and this time it’s all about women's golf!
Today's LPGA stars are building on the solid foundation made by the game's female pioneers. It is the most exciting time for women's golf in the history of the game and we want you to be a part of it.
Chicken Soup for the Women Golfer's Soul is set to tee off in early 2007 and we want to solicit every GWAA member for your best female theme golf stories. Here is a look at the chapters we are considering:
It's Our Time! Theme: The changing face of women's golf
I think that's where they'll put my ode to Carolyn Bivens.
More than a Game Theme: Self revelation and insight
Gosh, I have so many in the portfolio to submit for that chapter.
A Game for All Generations Theme: Friends and Family and Life PartnersOh okay, I added the Life Partners part to see if you were reading.
Golf is a Beautiful Walk Theme: Inspiration
Unforgettable Moments Theme: The game's ability to be a vehicle for transcendence
Joy and Sorrow Theme: Golf causes us to experience a full range of emotions
Tomorrow's Tee Time Theme: Golf is a game of constant renewal, learning and unending optimism
Oh that just screams me. Or Dan Jenkins. Frank Hannigan, I know you have material for that chapter!
Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen will be joined by Jeff Aubery, coauthor of multiple Chicken Soup books, including Chicken Soup for the Golfer's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Golfer's Soul, a 2nd Round. Jeff has literally grown up in the game of golf. Completing the foursome will be Matthew Adams. Matthew is also a coauthor of multiple Chicken Soup books including Chicken Soup for the Soul of America and Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul. Matthew is a twenty-year veteran of the golf industry and a regular on The Golf Channel in addition to being the author of Fairways of Life, Wisdom and Inspiration from the Greatest Game.
We’re looking for inspirational, true stories, 1000 words or less that will touch the souls of our readers and make them laugh, cry, sigh or just say, “Wow!” Stories should be positive, hopeful, universal, and non-controversial. The “point” or “message” should be evident without preaching. No essays, eulogies, commentaries, tributes, sermons, philosophical or biographical pieces will be accepted.
What about Hootie Johnson's letter to Martha Burk? Oh okay...just a thought.
Here's where we learn how the Chicken Soup authors make their money...
You may submit more than one story. For each story selected in the book, a 50-word biography will be included about the author and a permission fee of $200 will be paid. The submission deadline is June 30, 2006. Providing you own the copyright to your work, previously published work is Okay.
Gee, so big of them. A whopping $200 and a 50 word biography!
Please submit your story through the Chicken Soup for the Soul website at www.chickensoup.com. Please be sure to select the correct book title.
Yes, we wouldn't want your award-winning piece on Meg Mallon to end up in the highly anticipated 9th Serving of Chicken Soup For The Soul.
Due to the volume of stories we receive, we are unable to respond to each contribution. Finalist, only, will be notified prior to publication. Thank you for being apart of what will surely be the most important book for women's golf ever published!
Until I put the finishing touches on my own book of heartwarming essays, Inspirational Stories from The Forward Tees, featuring a Foreword by Linda Hartough and an Afterword by Carolyn Bivens.
A nice move by the USGA...
USGA BOOK AWARD TO BE RENAMED IN HONOR OF HERBERT WARREN WIND
Far Hills, N.J. – The United States Golf Association has announced that its top literary prize, previously known as the USGA International Book Award, will be renamed in honor of famed writer Herbert Warren Wind.
The Award, which will henceforth be known as the Herbert Warren Wind Book Award, was established in 1987 to recognize and honor outstanding contributions to golf literature while attempting to broaden the public’s interest and knowledge of the game of golf. The Award is presented annually by the USGA Museum and Library Committee.
Wind, who passed away in May of 2005, is the only writer to win the USGA’s highest honor, the Bob Jones Award. He received the honor in 1995, during the Association’s centennial celebration. For nearly 30 years he was a volunteer on two USGA committees dedicated to celebrating the best values of the game: the Bob Jones Award Committee and the Museum and Library Committee. His portrait hangs in the UGSA Library, where one can also find his 14 books, countless essays and articles, and numerous introductions to reproductions of the classic literature of the game. He was a long-time essayist for both The New Yorker and Sports Illustrated. Among his many contributions to golf, he is credited with naming “Amen Corner” at Augusta National Golf Club, site of The Masters Tournament.
The first winner of the USGA Book Award was Al Barkow’s Gettin’ to the Dance Floor in 1987, and the most recent recipient was John Strege, for When War Played Through: Golf During World War II.
The Wall Street Journal's Carrick Mollenkamp considers the cult status that Tom Doak's Confidential Guide to Golf Courses has attained:
In the book, Mr. Doak reviewed the design features of more than 800 courses, from little-known links to some of the world's most famous and exclusive courses. He gave each a ranking of zero to 10 on what he called the Doak Scale. A zero, Mr. Doak wrote, is "a course so contrived and unnatural that it may poison your mind." But a 10 is "nearly perfect.... If you haven't seen all the courses in this category, you don't know how good golf architecture can get."
Mr. Doak never imagined it back then, but the book has become a cult classic -- a haven of bluntness in a sport that is often so clubby that it rarely criticizes itself. Its fame stems in part from the fact that only about 13,000 copies were printed back in the '90s and the book has been out of print for years. Due to the scarcity, available copies of the most recent edition are going for as much as $350.
But while Mr. Doak's strong opinions resonate with golfers, they also have put him in somewhat of an awkward spot: Mr. Doak is now a high-profile part of the establishment he once unabashedly critiqued. And it's that reality that keeps him from reprinting or updating the sought-after book.
"I pulled no punches at all," Mr. Doak says in an interview. "I'm not sure I want to put myself in that position now."
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
