Golf Book Collectors

[wingedfoot97]

[quote name='guisician' timestamp='1393532982' post='8759860']
[quote name='teevons' timestamp='1393477717' post='8755618']
UH, Byron, can we talk about your pants??
[/quote]

"These...cuffs...are...NOT...getting...wet!"
[/quote]

Haha!

[wingedfoot97]

Darsie L. Darsie

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[wingedfoot97]

Caring For Walton Heath (small booklet with details about the ecology on and around the golf course)

Royal St. Georges (small booklet with a history of the course. I got it signed by Bill Rogers who won there many, many moons ago)

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[wingedfoot97]

Book about the Honors Course and the Am that was played there...

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[wingedfoot97]

http://valuablebook.wordpress.com

The link above is a blog with articles about the golf book field. They have an incredible catalog too.

[TomWishon]

Nice thread here that caught my eye as I was eating lunch and doing some fun surfing before getting back to work.

It's interesting that no one has really listed, mentioned very many of the truly classic old golf collectors books that when I began collecting in the 80s were the nirvana of a serious book collector's trove. All which were published pre 1900.

Simpson's The Art of Golf
Tulloch's The Life of Tom Morris
Hutchinson's British Golf Links and the Badminton Golf Library
CB MacDonald's Reminiscences of St Andrews
Seymore Dunn's Golf Fundamentals
Darwin's Golf Courses of the British Isles

And one of the very best references for old golf books, The Game of Golf and the Printed Word, 1566 to 1985 by Richard Donovan and Joe Murdoch (who was one of the co founders with Bob Kuntz of the Golf Collectors' Society)

[jackdupp]

"Reminiscences of Golf on St.Andrews Links"was written by James Balfour and published in 1887,and Charles Blair Macdonald wrote"Scotland's Gift-Golf",published 1928.
The type of books you mention,and many other collectible titles,are readily available from used booksellers at a cost most WRXers would considerable reasonable-just look for the"Classics of Golf" reprint series.
Might I say, as a Canadian,that C.B.Macdonald-the"father of American Golf" was actually born in Niagara Falls,Ontario,and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame as a Canadian(as well as the fine lady amateur,Marlene Stewart Streit.
Incidentally,my library contains three titles co-authored by Mr.Wishon,each of which I have found informative and well-written.

[profsmitty]

Anyone who doesn't believe that this is one of the great websites dedicated to any sport need only to look at this thread. The quality of our members is second to none.

[Ironmaster Oddities]

Welcome back, professor Smitty

[stixman]

And yet, I found it odd that when I listed and reviewed Seymour Dunn's 'Golf Fundamentals' on here it received no comment at all. I was so disgusted that after a month I removed the post!
Surely it must be the foundation of modern teaching and club fitting.

[profsmitty]

Stixman,

Thank you for your review. Remember, many scholarly entries, particularly if they are very well done, break significant ground, etc may not receive any comments. Generally, IMHO, we use this kind of work as educational. They broaden our understanding of a unexplored area of golf (in this instance), and encourage others to repeat our efforts.

One of the challenges of being a scholar is that many times our work may not have any discernible effect for years after we right them.

Thanks for expanding our understanding of an unexplored area of our sport.

[profsmitty]

[quote name='Ironmaster Oddities' timestamp='1400733066' post='9344919']
Welcome back, professor Smitty
[/quote]Thanks IO, I have been on the IR for a few months. I am recovering nicely and am glad to be back home. This forum was of great comfort to me. As you know, this forum is very dear to me and I am extremely gratified at its growth.

Thank you for your wonderful contribution to my favorite forum. smitty

[Texsport]

Nice posts - brings back my book collecting days.

Sold many autographed books in the past - Hagan, Bobby Jones, Nicklaus, and Snead amount them..

Still have quite a few auto books- Doak's Confidential Guide (Original and Revised Editions), Hogan's Five Lessons, Snead, Nicklaus, Palmer, Snead, Locke, P Stewart, etc.

Can't collect everything - where would you put it?

However, I tried to collect many things at different times. Collecting has been a great joy to me.

Lately in the process of identifying which grand kids have an interest, and passing the collections on - golf and baseball books, fishing lures and I D books, cameras, photography books and photos, auto baseball's, photos and game used bats, golf auto photos and famous player used clubs, etc -

The three fun parts of collecting are (1) finding (2) showing (3) giving collections to children and grand children.

Texsport

[wingedfoot97]

I just got a couple of Tony Jacklin signed books back that I sent him a couple of years ago. The poster above was right that the Classics of Golf titles are affordable and I have a few but because of time constraints have only listed "original" stuff.

I have a couple more of Nick Faldo's books to get signed and I will have all of his signed. As for Palmer and Nicklaus I have quite a few more to go.

Golf club history books are by far my favorite to collect and read. Its so cool to read about the course, then play it. Its even cooler to remark to a member yeah Ive read that book (book about their club) only to have them look shocked that I either took the time to track the book down or that I even took the interest in their club/course.

Story:
Prob everyone knows that former PGA Champ Dow Finsterwald is on one of the Masters committees every April. Several years ago I got a copy of his Fundamentals of Golf, read it, and tracked him down while I was at the Masters, and got him to sign it. He was very surprised to be asked to sign it and to have someone under the age of 30 who had read it was prob over the top. I think he was impressed. Either way he was very nice to talk to. Loves to talk about Arnie as well.

Im glad this thread is taking off.

[pga43]

I just bought 4 new books off of e bay, after not buying any books for over 3 years (when you have of 800+, you get to the point where you really don't need anymore).

The Golf Courses of Harry Colt

The Hartford Golf Club 1896-1996 Club history

The Royal Belfast Golf Club 1881-1981

York Golf Club 1890-1990

I also have one other that I have a bid in on but has 5 more days to go.


Greg

[profsmitty]

It probably goes without saying, but if anyone comes across a book of poetry related in any way to golf, please get in touch with me immediately. I have a few but I am always looking for more.

[saltcity]

Great topic!
I just recently got into collecting older golf books. I inherited some from my Dad and like to browse second hand/used book stores when I can. Dan Jenkins first editions make up most of my collection but my favorites are the two below:

'The American Annual Golf Guide' 1925 & 1928 Editions
Very cool little books. They have everything:course info by state, championships, association(s), rules, you name it.
Great photos and advertisements too.

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Great old ads. Some things haven't changed
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Photo's of past and current champs
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...how to calculate handicaps
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...all for $3.00. What a deal.
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[Ironmaster Oddities]

Great books, saltcity. it is great to look at something almost ninety years young. It gives us insight into the game and the culture of the game at the time.
something for everyone who had any interest in golf back then.
Kind of a Farmer's Almanac for golf.

[xgolfx]

I just finished a great book about the 1975 Masters. It includes great info on the clubs used by Jack, Johnny Miller, and Weiskopf. The author is Gil Capps. The title is "The Magnificent Masters". I did not know that Weiskopf used a Powerbilt driver he got from Bobby Nichols;Johnny Miller used heads cut down by Lou Ortiz at Orlimar; or that my good friend , Phil Greenwald,( pro at Jupiter Hills) , gave Jack a 1930's R-90.

CHARLEY PENNA

[oldschoolrocker]

All this talk of books Mr. Penna has me, speaking for myself, but I am sure I could insert us, hoping to one day read one from you. At least one.
This new age of communication we live in, with it's Facebook, Tweeter, and instant messaging has I believe somewhat desensitized our collective ability to take the printed word from script and transform it into visual imagery. Reading the details of a great sporting event, or listening to a radio broadcast of one allows the receivers mind to become fully engaged and that action plants untold minds eye images for a lifetime that one cannot get otherwise.
Let us not entirely lose this fading art.

[tembolo1284]

Wow I love this thread!

[xgolfx]

[quote name='oldschoolrocker' timestamp='1403094552' post='9522367']
All this talk of books Mr. Penna has me, speaking for myself, but I am sure I could insert us, hoping to one day read one from you. At least one.
This new age of communication we live in, with it's Facebook, Tweeter, and instant messaging has I believe somewhat desensitized our collective ability to take the printed word from script and transform it into visual imagery. Reading the details of a great sporting event, or listening to a radio broadcast of one allows the receivers mind to become fully engaged and that action plants untold minds eye images for a lifetime that one cannot get otherwise.
Let us not entirely lose this fading art.
[/quote]

I agree about imagery.

Money has changed golf. Here is a picture of the December 15,1940 Miami Herald. As you can see I was 5 years old,. The tour wives socialized together. The spouses of major tour winners of today , especially Americans, do not care to do so. Gone are the days of playing for the trophy and splitting the money in case of a tie. No shared car rides to the next venue, giving a club to a guy who broke his driver, or splitting the dinner check.

CHARLEY PENNA[attachment=2281837:Image (9).jpg][attachment=2281839:Image (10).jpg]

[HoganApexBlades]

Charley - Very cool, thank you for sharing with us!

[Woodridge]

One of my prized golf books is a biography of the great British amateur champion John Ball. I don't think that many were printed in when it was done in the 1980's and it's the only biography of Ball that I know of. My office is covered with photos of late 19th century am's like Ball, Freddie Tait and Harold Hilton.

[profsmitty]

Not only this thread but there are several threads active in the Classic Golf Forums that are wonderful.

[i][b]I hope that I can count on all of you to help keep these threads free from nonsense. Please don't fear using the "Report" button to make the moderating team aware of any activity that is not consistent with the serious nature of these threads.[/b][/i]

Thanks friends.

[guisician]

Outstanding additions to an already amazing thread; thanks all!

[pga43]

[quote name='xgolfx' timestamp='1403109191' post='9524659']

............The tour wives socialized together.[u][b] The spouses of major tour winners of today , especially Americans, do not care to do so.[/b][/u] Gone are the days of playing for the trophy and splitting the money in case of a tie. No shared car rides to the next venue, giving a club to a guy who broke his driver, or [u][b]splitting the dinner check[/b][/u].

CHARLEY PENNA
[/quote]


I would have to disagree about the Tour Wives, especially the Americans, not socializing or the players not splitting dinner checks.

I see the wives walking together during rounds at tournaments also see players, caddies and wives out to dinner socializing all the time.

Plus the PGA Tour Wives Association holds an event in just about every tour stop where they do charity work.


Greg

[profsmitty]

Couldn't agree more. i've also seen one wife tending to other wive's children, then swapping out, just to let everyone have a chance for a little peace and quiet doing a tournament. May not happen as much when husband golfer hits it big, but young families seem to be pretty close. JMHO

[profsmitty]

I was looking through my Kindle Book shelf the other day and came across this.

http://www.amazon.com/Golf-Dreams-Writings-John-Updike-ebook/dp/B004G60AXG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403190251&sr=8-1&keywords=golf+john+updike

I can't say enough about the quality of writing. I am alway humbled when I read a real pro like Updike. Enjoy!

[xgolfx]

[quote name='profsmitty' timestamp='1403190554' post='9531911']
Couldn't agree more. i've also seen one wife tending to other wive's children, then swapping out, just to let everyone have a chance for a little peace and quiet doing a tournament. May not happen as much when husband golfer hits it big, but young families seem to be pretty close. JMHO
[/quote]

When do Tiger, Phil, Kaymer, Bubba,and Adam Scott have a beer together? Pick any 2 and choose an occasion aside from the Ryder or President's cup. They sure do not ride on each other's G-5. Does Phil play in Tiger's tournament? No guarantees, courtesy cars( forget net jets or a personal g5) , million dollar ball deals, fostered friendships that the Americans do not know today.

CHARLEY PENNA