Books

The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses

by Tom Doak The ultimate golf course book. As a student of golf course architecture Tom Doak, now a world renowned golf course architect, gives his unvarnished opinion on hundreds of golf courses around the world. This is a must have for any lover of golf courses and golf travel. That said the book is out of print and can be very difficult to find. First editions copies are very valuable, but later editions occasionally pop up on Amazon and can be had for a more reasonable price. This is the one book no golf course aficionado should miss.

A Golfer’s Dream

This book certainly resonates with me on a very personal level. Not long before I began my quest to play the Top 100 Larry Berle completed his own Top 100 journey and wrote a book chronicling his adventures. In the fall of 2007, when I was a mere five courses into my Top 100 odyssey this book was recommended to me by a friend. It’s a fun and easy read that gives me a little inspiration to keep after my goal even when the odds were stacked against me.

Club Life: The Games Golfers Play

An entertaining look at life as a golfer. If you have spent any time around golf clubs and like a good chuckle this is the book for you. I was able to finish it over the duration of a couple of flights so its a quick and easy read.

My favorite line from the book is one that the author overheard between two golfers talking finances . . . “This year has really been a tough one, but Mumsie died so things are looking up.” You just can’t make this stuff up!

Legendary Golf Clubs of the American East

A wonderful profile of twelve of the greatest golf clubs located on the East Coast. Covering Seminole Golf Club down in Florida all the way up to Myopia Hunt Club in Massachusetts (and every thing in between) this book is loaded with color photos of profiles of the clubs and their histories. It’s currently out of print so its a little tough to find, but well worth it.

America’s Linksland: A Century of Long Island Golf

This book is a detailed look at golf on Long Island. From the late 19th century to modern times in the 21st century Quirin covers the history of the game on the golf mecca of Long Island in splendid detail. Both modern and historic photos give the reader a glimpse of the way things were and the way they look today.

Planet Golf USA: The Definitive Reference to Great Golf Courses in America

This book is near and dear to my heart being that it focuses on the the greatest golf courses in the US. Darius Oliver profiles over 140 courses and compliments his writing with beautiful full page modern photographs. The course profiles are brief which makes the book a very easy and enjoyable read for golfers who may not be quite as golf course obsessed as some of us.

World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played

Rowlinson touches on 6 continents and more than 75 courses in this literary world tour of golf courses. One of the things I really liked about this book that I’ve not seen in many others is the inclusion of routing maps for all the courses so readers can get a feel for how the course flows. A genius touch in my opinion and what really makes this book special.

Alister MacKenzie’s Cypress Point Club

This is the only book I know of publicly published about the infamous Cypress Point Club. Loaded with historic black and white photos from the early days at the club, this is the detailed story of the club, the founders, the course and the legend. An absolute must have for any fan of great golf courses.