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Golf

Golf is by its very nature an obsessive game. Once bitten by the golf bug, there is usually no limit to what a golfer will do to get out and play. Golfers are also by their nature collectors. Who among us can't claim even a modest collection of score cards from courses we have played or ball markers or balls? A natural extension of this is collecting golf books. For the golfer in winter climates, a golfing library has the added attraction of holding you over until the weather again permits you to be out playing again.

To quote from Arnold Haultain in his The Mystery of Golf written in 1908: "Three things there are as unfathomable as they are fascinating to the masculine mind: metaphysics; golf; and the feminine heart. The Germans, I believe pretend to have solved some of the riddles of the first, and the French to have unraveled some of the intricacies of the last; will some one tell us wherein lies the extraordinary fascination of golf?"

To give an indication of the delights of reading and collecting golf books, we only have to quote from the legendary Bobby Jones who wrote in his 1927 book Down the Fairway in a section where he is discussing how he prepares for tournament golf. "I have a good dinner in the evening in my room, prefaced by two good, stiff highballs, the first taken in a tub of hot water; the finest relaxing combination I know; and then a few cigarettes and a bit of conversation, and bed at 9 o'clock." Almost makes you want to draw a bath!

Listed below are some of the highlights of Golfing literature. We provide these lists as a service to our clients. Please check our inventory as we carry some of these titles as well.

Rare and Valuable Golf Books

Rare and valuable golf related titles sell for large sums of money. Below is a representative list of some of the more expensive titles to sell either at auction or for sale privately in the last 10 years.

1. Harold Hilton. 1912. The Royal and Ancient Game. From the limited edition of 100 for subscribers, $23,000.
2. George Cunnell. 1824.  Rules of the Thistle Golf Club. Out of an edition of 100 limited. $23,000.
3. Dr. Stone, A member. 1891.  Duffers Golf Club Papers. $18,400.
4. George Fullerton Carnegie. 1842.  Golfiana or Niceties connected with the Game of Golf. $18,000. The first edition of this title was published in 1833 and is ever rarer.
5. Rev A. Lawson. 1889. Letter on Golf by A Parish Minister. $18,000.
6. Robert Clark. 1885.  Golf: A Royal and Ancient Game. Signed, large paper edition of 50.  $15,000.
7. Bobby Jones. 1927. Down the Fairway. Limited Edition of 300. Signed. $8,500.
8. James Balfour. Reminiscences of Golf on St. Andrews Links. 1887. Referenced by Murdoch as "one of the rarest of golf items", $6,900.
9. Agatha Christie. 1^st edition, 1923.  Murder on the Links. $6,000 with the dust jacket.
10. John Kerr. 1896. Golf Book of East Lothian. Large paper, signed, limited edition of 250. $3,000.

For Show - Golf Books With Great Covers

1. The Golf Course Mystery. Chester K. Steele. 1919.
2. Muirfield and the Honourable Company. George Pottinger. 1972.
3. Taylor on Golf. J.H. Taylor. 1902.
4. Travers Golf Book. Jerome Travers. 1913.
5. Out of the Rough.  Joseph Shaw. 1934.
6. Golf for Women. Genevieve Hecker. 1904
7. The Clicking of Cuthbert. P.G. Wodehouse. 1922
8. On Many Greens: A Book of Golf and Golfers. Miles Bantock. 1901.

Fun to Read

1. Tom Doak. The Confidential Golf Guide. 1996
2. P.G. Wodehouse. Wodehouse on Golf. 1940.
3. Walter Hagen. The Walter Hagen Story. 1956
4. Robert Marshall. The Enchanted Golf Clubs. 1920
5. Anthony Edgeworth. Legendary Golf Courses of Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland.  

The Big Hitters

These authors published many titles and are all well worth reading.

1. Bernard Darwin
2. Harold Hilton
3. Bobby Jones
4. Horace Hutchinson
5. J.H. Taylor
6. Harry Vardon
7. Herbert Warren Wind
8. Henry Longhurst 

Cornerstones Of Any Golf Collection

1. George Thomas. Golf Architecture in America
2. Robert Hunter. The Links
3. Walter Travis. Practical Golf
4. Charles Blair Macdonald.  Scotland's Gift
5. Herbert Warren Wind. The Story of American Golf
6. Willie Park. The Art of Putting
7. James Lee. Golf in America
8. Francis Ouimet. A Game of Golf
9. Bernard Darwin. Golf Courses of the British Isles.
10. W.W. Tulloch. The Life of Tom Morris
11. H.S.C. Everard. A History of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club
12. Bobby Jones. Down the Fairway
13. Horace Hutchinson. Golf: The Badminton Library Large Paper Edition 

Golf Club Histories              

Below are some of the more collectible and hard to find course histories. Notice the correlation between the difficulty of getting to play the course and the value of books about them.

1. Crail Golfing Society. James Gordon Dow. 1936. Crail is the 7^th oldest golf course in the world, south of St. Andrews.
2. Minikahda Club, Twenty Fifth Anniversary. Minneapolis, 1923, limited to 130, host of the 1916 US Open won by Chick Evans.
3. History of the Royal Perth Golfing Society. Rev. T.D. Miller. 1935.
4. Rules for the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers 1891-1914.
5. Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Southampton, 1891-1966. Published in 1966.
6. Carnoustie, The New Championship Golf Course. 1931.
7. Prestwick Golf Club. A History and Some Records. James Shaw. 1938.
8. Royal Liverpool 1869-1932 by Guy Farrar. 

For a complete list of golf club histories published for the world's top courses please click here for a pdf version. 

Golf For the Ladies

1. May Hezlet Ladies Golf. 1904.
2. Babe Zaharias Didrickson. Championship Golf. 1948
3. Cecil Leitch. Golf. 1922. Ladies Open Champion
4. Samuel M. Peck. Golf Girl. 1899.
5. Glenna Collett. Ladies in the Rough. 1928.
6. Mabel Hostins. Golf for Women by a Woman Golfer. 1916.
7. Louie Mackern. Our Lady of the Green. 1899.

Golf Architecture

  1. Mackenzie. Golf Architecture. 1920

  2. Thomas. Golf Architecture in America. 1927.

  3. Sutton. Golf Course Design, Construction and Upkeep. 1933

  4. H.N. Wethered and Tom Simpson. The Architectural Side of Golf 1929

  5. C.H. Alison and H.S. Colt. Some Essays on Golf Course Architecture.

  6. Hutchinson. Golf Greens and Green Keeping. 1906.

  7. Schackelford. The Golden Age of Golf Design. 1999.

French Golf Titles

1. Massy, Arnaud. Le Golf. 1911, Paris
2. Baert, Raymond.. Adventures of Monsieur DuPont, Golf Champion. 1913
3. Gramont, Elizabeth De. Le Golf. Paris 1930
4. Col. A.T. Ball. Le Golf: Ce Quil Faut Savoir Sur Le Golf. Paris. 1950
5. Curely, A and R Perrier. Le Golf Paris. c.1920
6. Petitjean, Etienne. Golf: Queuques Pueriles et Honnettes. 1930

 Resources for Collectors

Joseph S.F. Murdoch The Library of Golf 1743-1966. A Bibliography of Golf Books, Indexed Alphabetically, Chronologically, & by Subject Matter. Published by Gale Research Company, Detroit, 1968.  Published with slipcase. Rare and expensive but indispensable since it offers editorial comments.

1. Richard E. Donovan and Joseph S.F. Murdoch The Game of Golf and the Printed Word 1566-1985. Published in 1987. This book is a bibliography of every book on the game the authors could find.
2. Daniel Wexler The Golfers Library published in 2004. A newly published title, but well done and worth the money.
3. Aspects of Collecting Golf Books. Published in 1996 by Grant, Droitwich. Limited to 425 copies. Quirky.
4. Cecil Hopkinson Collecting Golf Books, 1743-1938. Published in 1938 by Constable London. Also published in a reprint edition by Grant in 1980, but the reprint was limited to 250 copies.
5. Golf Antiques and Golf Collectibles both by John & Morton Olman. Covers balls, clubs, collectables, etc. Limited coverage of books.
6. Antique Golf Collectibles. A Price and Reference Guide. Published at various times. Chuck Furjanic. Extensively covers clubs, balls, and other memorabilia. Coverage of books is limited and pricing information is limited, although interesting for comparison purposes.

U.S.G.A. Award Winners

Each year the United States Golf Association awards one book the Herbert Warren Wind Book Award.

The 2006 award winner is Where Golf is Great: The Finest Courses of Scotland and Ireland written by James Finegan which we whole-heartedly endorse as a fantastic golf book.

The 2007 award winner is Tommy's Honor: The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf's Founding Father and Son written by Kevin Cook.

The 2008 award winner is Tom Morris of St. Andrews: The Colossus of Golf by David Malcolm and Peter E. Crabtree.

To see the full list of U.S.G.A. book awards click below

USGA Golf Book Award Winners