The funny thing is that there have probably been, I dunno, 500 books published on golf course architecture going back to the 1910 classic "Golf Courses of the British Isles" by golf writer Bernard Darwin, Charles Darwin's favorite grandchild.
It's a real field of aesthetic interest, a subsection of landscape architecture. But the thing is that there isn't much crossover between people interested in golf course art criticism and people interested in other types of art criticism: Adam Gopnik isn't going to write an article in The New Yorker about trends in golf course architecture.
The New Yorker did run some influential articles on golf course architecture trends in the 1950s by their general golf correspondent Herbert Warren Wind, but as part of his coverage of tournaments: e.g., I believe his article on the 1950 US Open at Oakland Hills began with a long segment on how Robert Trent Jones had renovated Donald Ross's design from three decades before as part of his coverage of the tournament.
“I, for one, welcome more of his essays about the architecture of golf courses.”
And I, for one, have been imploring Steve to consider fleshing out his numerous and informative articles on a wide variety of aspects of the great Scottish game—from architecture, history of the sport, the presence of black caddies (and why it had been greatly diminished over time), as well as the various original country clubs in the US that were solely devoted to golf (as well as why a certain ethnic started their own country club- not to play golf do much per se, but mainly to shoot the breeze, socialize, and scarf down on excellent food), and the list goes on and on.
Flesh these articles out by expanding them into chapters, add black and white, as well as color photographs for each chapter, make the book coffee table size, and you basically have a very original book that examines in depth various components of the sport that would be culled into one great time.
GOLF: What is it exactly?
Steve? The book is there, and basically writes itself.
There's no end to the way in which people noticing Noticing is nice. The only downside to having read you for a long time is not being able to experience the eye-opening thrill of discovering you. I hope it continues to sell steadily.
Time* has released its Athlete of the Year and to no one's surprise it is Caitlin Clark. As is the custom, Time included a long-form article on her and conservative commentators are upset that she talks about her privilege as a white woman. Now, we all know she is full of shit but she knows she has to deal with the angry black lesbians that populate her league so she is saying what she has to say.
As an aside, Time and Sports Illustrated were sister publications for most of their histories, so Time would name a Man of the Year while Sports Illustrated would name a Sportsman of the Year. Due to the decimation of print media, the two magazines are no longer related so Time is free to name winners in both categories in order to goose sales.
If one looks at youth and high school sports participation, black women are actually underrepresented. Single black moms and absent dad to not make the type of good helicopter parents who will work to help a daughter obsessively train for a sport.
I'll never read Guelzo's biography of Robert E. Lee. Guelzo hates the South. End of story.
Nice review. I’ve already bought your book but I’m considering a few mentioned here.
Dog of the South is a very good read.
Yep, me too. A nice reading list <3
I'm sure she's being sarcastic about wanting more lessons on golf architecture.
The funny thing is that there have probably been, I dunno, 500 books published on golf course architecture going back to the 1910 classic "Golf Courses of the British Isles" by golf writer Bernard Darwin, Charles Darwin's favorite grandchild.
It's a real field of aesthetic interest, a subsection of landscape architecture. But the thing is that there isn't much crossover between people interested in golf course art criticism and people interested in other types of art criticism: Adam Gopnik isn't going to write an article in The New Yorker about trends in golf course architecture.
The New Yorker did run some influential articles on golf course architecture trends in the 1950s by their general golf correspondent Herbert Warren Wind, but as part of his coverage of tournaments: e.g., I believe his article on the 1950 US Open at Oakland Hills began with a long segment on how Robert Trent Jones had renovated Donald Ross's design from three decades before as part of his coverage of the tournament.
But per my comment above, your golf articles combine various aspects of the sport that few if any books have directly approached. It would work.
“I, for one, welcome more of his essays about the architecture of golf courses.”
And I, for one, have been imploring Steve to consider fleshing out his numerous and informative articles on a wide variety of aspects of the great Scottish game—from architecture, history of the sport, the presence of black caddies (and why it had been greatly diminished over time), as well as the various original country clubs in the US that were solely devoted to golf (as well as why a certain ethnic started their own country club- not to play golf do much per se, but mainly to shoot the breeze, socialize, and scarf down on excellent food), and the list goes on and on.
Flesh these articles out by expanding them into chapters, add black and white, as well as color photographs for each chapter, make the book coffee table size, and you basically have a very original book that examines in depth various components of the sport that would be culled into one great time.
GOLF: What is it exactly?
Steve? The book is there, and basically writes itself.
Seriously
There's no end to the way in which people noticing Noticing is nice. The only downside to having read you for a long time is not being able to experience the eye-opening thrill of discovering you. I hope it continues to sell steadily.
O/T
Time* has released its Athlete of the Year and to no one's surprise it is Caitlin Clark. As is the custom, Time included a long-form article on her and conservative commentators are upset that she talks about her privilege as a white woman. Now, we all know she is full of shit but she knows she has to deal with the angry black lesbians that populate her league so she is saying what she has to say.
* https://time.com/7200904/athlete-of-the-year-2024-caitlin-clark/
As an aside, Time and Sports Illustrated were sister publications for most of their histories, so Time would name a Man of the Year while Sports Illustrated would name a Sportsman of the Year. Due to the decimation of print media, the two magazines are no longer related so Time is free to name winners in both categories in order to goose sales.
If one looks at youth and high school sports participation, black women are actually underrepresented. Single black moms and absent dad to not make the type of good helicopter parents who will work to help a daughter obsessively train for a sport.
Caitlin Clark is now groveling. That's pretty sad.
Thanks for noticing this great book list. I would have missed it. Now I have to talk my library into stocking (not banning) these titles.