Much like SI’s offerings for baseball, basketball, and football, this oversize history of the game in essays and pictorials is much more than just a coffee table conversation piece. It is the seminal review of where the sport of golf came from, where it’s been, and where it is going, seen through the eyes of the world’s greatest sporting magazine. While the photos alone are a treasure trove of history, the essays showcase the work of the Mount Rushmore of golf writers: Bernard Darwin, (a descendent of the eminent naturalist), Herbert Warren Wind, Grantland Rice, and Dan Jenkins.
Rice’s piece recounts Bobby Jones’s victory in the 1929 U.S. Open at Winged Foot: an event that history now recalls as the impetus for his Grand Slam the next year, still the only Grand Slam achieved ever in pro golf. Wind recalls the famous “free drop” incident at the 1958 Masters that propelled Arnold Palmer to victory. Jenkins has several pieces, properly reflecting his long and venerable tenure, but my favorite is his retelling of Tom Watson’s miracle chip-in on the 71st hole at Pebble Beach during the ’82 Open, which was the third time he stole a major from a thunderstruck Jack Nicklaus.
Modern writers shine just as brightly. Gary van Sickle’s review of a round of golf with Caddyshack’s Bill Murray is a laugh-a-minute romp. Two more iconic Masters tournaments are reverently recalled: Phil’s tremendous comeback to win in 2004 by Alan Shipnuck, and Jack’s miraculous 65 on Sunday in 1986 by Rick Reilly. I only wish we got an offering from editor Kevin Cook. After “Driven,” his mesmerizing depiction of life at Leadbetter Academy, fans await his next work with great excitement.
The photos are equally enchanting. For touring pros, there is Jack Nicklaus from 1967 wearing shades and smoking a cigarette, looking very much the rebel punk. There is Constantino Rocca in both the Valley of Sin and the Road of the Road Hole at St. Andrews, and Lee Elder dancing a jog as he secures a Masters berth. There’s Watson in plaid at Turnberry in ’77 and the best Swilcan Bridge photo ever, peppy Paula Creamer turning a perfect cartwheel.
There are also terrific photos of golf as part if our everyday lives: clubs, balls, and tees from the dawn of golf, a hilarious Masters scoreboard emblazoned with the words “Play Suspended” while an ocean of umbrellas hides patrons, caddies at Pinehurst enjoying a card game, and golf at the Great Pyramids of Egypt. There is even a great picture of the 1951 Masters media tent, which looks more like the set of M*A*S*H, than a workplace of legendary scribblers. Sadly, they also insisted on including a picture of golf’s great parasite, Donald Trump. His cheap and crass countenance and all his despicable simony towards the game of golf should have been left on the cutting room floor on general principle.
Finally, there are breathtaking photos of many of the world’s great courses: Tom Doak’s modern cliff-top course at Cape Kidnappers, Pebble Beach, The Old Course at St. Andrews and Oakmont to name a few. “Thank you” especially for the especially rare aerial shot of Shadow Creek. If there is a drawback, some of the photos are too small: everyone should meet Sand Hills and Friars Head up close, not in a thimble sized thumbnail. And hello??? Ballyneal and National Golf Links of America?! Garrity and Van Sickle, I’ll race you to Colorado so you can be initiated into golf’s newest holy cloister.
Nevertheless, the book admirably traces the history of the game, its courses, its equipment, and its colorful personalities, touching upon nearly every milestone achievement in golf and reminding us how much the game means to us as a part our collective societal fabric. It needs a little more on courses and on architects, the focus is a little too much on touring pros and major championships, but for $29.95, you get a lot.
Writing: 6.5 stars (all ratings out of 7)
Pix: 6.5 stars
Value: 7 stars
Overall 6-6.5 stars. You need it for your golf library: end of story.
296 pages
ISBN No. 1-60-320-0854
