Rick Shefchik has written “The Book” on classic golf courses in Minnesota – the definitive article as it were. “From Fields to Fairways” is a highly-detailed, thoroughly researched, encyclopaedia of classic Minnesota private country clubs and their architectural histories.
“Minnesota has more golfers per capita than any other state in the union,” gushed no less a personage than venerable golf course architect Pete Dye. “They really love their golf up there,” and he’s right. It shows every time 50,000 fans come out to see their Sunday heroes. The PGA Championships in 2002 and 2009 saw well over a quarter of a million fans for the week and the Ryder Cup to be held there in four years should be just as smashing a success.
Now Gopher State golf fans can find all the information they need on their favorite courses in one volume. The coffee-table sized tome includes histories, maps, and photos of such historic courses as Minikahda, Interlachen, White Bear Yacht Club, Somerset, Rochester, Somerset, Edina, Hazeltine National, and more.
As always, Shefchik tells a good story, and the photos take you right into a world close on a century ago. From the old ticket to the 1929 U.S. Open won by Bobby Jones, to the pictures of men playing golf in Susquahanna hats surrounded by women in bonnets and long skirts, it’s a terrific recap of golf history through the Golden Age straight through to the dawn of the modern era. Moreover, Shefchik provides excellent theories to golf design mysteries such as the participation of Donald Ross at White Bear Yacht Club (more than what Willie Watson fans will concede, but slightly lees than Ross disciples would argue).
Golf architecture junkies will love it just for all the old aerial photographs of courses – I’ll bet there’ll be a post on GolfClubAtlas.com of the overhead of Seth Raynor’s Somerset Country Club to see how many template holes they can identify.
If there are any drawbacks, one would be the quick and cursory treatment both public and modern golf get, (but perhaps that’s a second book) and also the sheer size of the volume makes it cumbersome to carry around. A paperback would be most welcome – for the beach or for golf trips. I can’t throw the one-foot square, eight pound, 359 page hardcover in my carry-on!
Still, Shefchik is a pro’s pro. He writes novels, was an ace sports reporter, and now has golf history and architecture as an added area of expertise. This book will be a useful addition to any golf library as it’s the go-to book on Minnesota – the leader in the clubhouse as it were. Now if he can just get Sam Skarda on the case to solve who really designed Merion, we might get somewhere in time for the 2013 U.S. Open:):) ***KIDDING! KIDDING!***
From Fields to Fairways
by Rick Shefchik
Forty Dollars U.S.
359 pages
U. Minnesota Press
ISBN No. 978-0-8155-7732-0
