Golf Architecture – A Worldwide Perspective: Volume 3

 

In Bill Coore’s foreword to Golf Architecture – A Worldwide Perspective: Volume 3, the well-respected one half of the Coore-Crenshaw design company pens the following: “At its worst, golf architecture has produced courses both harsh in appearance and lacking in appeal, merely fulfilling a need for the sport. At its best, it has created courses that have become works of art showcasing their natural surroundings, exuding a sense of peace and harmony with their environment and giving pleasure to those fortunate enough to partake of them.” Not surprisingly, this beautifully detailed book celebrates the best of the latter.

This is the third volume in Paul Daley’s golf architecture series and joins his other impressive publications The Sandbelt: Melbourne’s Golfing Heaven and Links Golf: The Inside Story which have won many accolades overseas (both titles were runners-up in the USGA’s International Golf Book of the Year awards). As with the previous offerings in this series, Daley has brought together some of the industry’s most respected architects and golf writers to examine the principles and practices of the golf course architecture industry. The 350-plus page book contains 47 essays accompanied by over 350 stunning photos, covering courses from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany and even China.

While the majority of the book looks at prestigious overseas courses, particular mention is given to a number of Australian courses. In fact the very first essay is on one of Victoria’s newest courses – The Golf Club, St Andrews Beach. The par 3 sixth on the Gunnamatta course at St Andrews Beach graces the front cover, while Tom Doak’s other Australian creation Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania is also featured prominently.

Other Australian courses to feature include Stuart Appleby’s The Sands, Torquay, The Victoria Golf Club, Western Australia’s The Cut, Port Bouvard, while Scott Dowdle, whose name will be familiar with Queensland superintendents, writes about the upgrade of the Dunk Island Golf Club. A special chapter is also set aside for Australia’s oldest known golf course Ratho Golf Links.

For AGCSA members who have an appreciation for golf architecture and its principles then at the special member price of $60 this book is an absolute steal.