America’s Linksland: A Century of Long Island Golf
This coffee-table style book is not only impressive for the beautiful photographs by L.C. Lambrecht that grace its pages.
Long Island also has a remarkable historical heritage in American golf, and William Quirin does a good job of explaining how and why this spit of land was so influential.
The Island is blessed with linksland that made Scottish golfers think they were back home, as well as rolling tree-lined hills that helped develop the parkland style of golf course architecture.
The fact that Long Island was a haven for rich New Yorkers who sunk their money into creating these courses probably didn’t hurt, either.
The book includes a nice mix of old and new photographs, as well as hole-by-hole descriptions of some of the more famous layouts such as The National.
One picture of the fifth green at Bethpage Black was taken from nearly the exact spot we stood during most of the third round of this year’s U.S. Open.
Review Date: December 15, 2002