The 1999 Holiday Gift Golf Book Selections
December 3, 1999
It’s time once again for holiday gift book buying. Here’s a fresh batch of selections for golfers of all types.
George Peper, Editor-in-Chief of GOLF Magazine, wrote The Story of Golf (TV Books, Inc., $45 SRP).
This is the companion piece to the fine Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary that ran earlier this year.
Peper put together a well-done collection of stories, pictures, and anecdotes, covering the history of golf from its earliest beginnings to the present. Its outsize dimensions and at least 200 illustrations make this a coffee table book, but with more than enough substance to go beyond the normal meaning of the term.
The publishers really meant it when they came up with the title to David Gould’s new book, Spectacular Golf: The Courses, People, and Stories That Made the Game Great (Hugh Lauter Levin Assocs., $75 SRP).
This classic coffee table book includes huge, beautiful photographs that spread out to nearly four feet from end to end. The Golf Digest Magazine photographers who shot these pictures should be pleased with the care the publisher took to make their work so stunning.
The usual suspects are there, such as Augusta National, Shinnecock Hills, and St. Andrews.
In addition, however, new courses such as Ben Crenshaw’s Sand Hills in Nebraska also provide a visual feast for the winter-bound golfer.
Golf history buffs and those with a keen interest in golf course design will love The Golden Age of Golf Design, by Geoff Shackelford (Sleeping Bear Press, $65 SRP).
This is a beautifully produced book of vintage photographs, drawings, and biographical sketches of the early masters of golf course architecture. There are also several full-color prints of gorgeous oil paintings by Mike Miller, former Director of Golf at Riviera Country Club.
Even the non-golfers in my family were deeply impressed by this one.
A good little stocking stuffer is Golf Rules Plain and Simple (HarperResource, $10.95 SRP).
Mark Russell, a PGA TOUR official and former club pro, put together a practical primer on over 35 common rules problems, helped by popular golf writer John Andrisani.
Each section includes a short description of a typical situation, the common mistakes made, and the correct way to handle it.
For something a bit more fun, take a look at The Complete Office Golf (Workman, $14.95 SRP).
In deadpan prose, this humorous concoction is an instructional manual for playing golf literally in the office, using a mix of standard golf equipment and routine office supplies.
The 100 pages or so include 12 color cardstock pages, 9 of which are punch-out, actual size golf holes.
Readers also obtain an official Office Golf Association membership card and bag tag.
Office Golf is a nice gag gift for golfers that can’t yet retire from the job that keeps them off the golf course.
Finally, for golfers who either retired or won the lottery, and therefore wouldn’t be interested in Office Golf, The Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses You Can Play (Harry Abrams, $49.50) should have enormous appeal.
Brian McCallen, a GOLF Magazine senior editor, gives a detailed guide to 100 top U.S. golf courses open to visitors. As with that magazine’s regular series, readers will learn what it takes to play the courses. They also receive a useful guide to accommodations, dining, side trips, and nearby places to play.
Enticing photographs grace this large format offering, which should be routinely updated in later editions to be really useful for golfers blessed with wanderlust and serious disposable income.
Have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy shopping for your favorite golfer!