The first history of Minnesota's celebrated golf clubs and courses, including rarely seen photographs and long-lost details about the game's most famous architects
Photographer David Cannon began his career in sports photography twenty-five years ago and is considered the premier golf photographer in the world. Having played at more than seven hundred golf courses in over fifty countries, Cannon photographs with a true golfer's eye, offering an extraordinary window into some of the world's most celebrated courses—with more than 40 in North America, dozens in Asia and the South Pacific, and several in both Africa and the Middle East. Savor a view from the 11th hole of the incomparable and historic St. Andrews's Old Course bathed in golden afternoon light; glimpse giraffes and elephants from any green at Leopard Creek, South Africa; vicariously experience Pirate's Plank, the harrowing 15th hole at Cape Kidnappers, New Zealand, which is set at the very end of the clifftop fairway surrounded by dramatic 500-foot drops to the ocean; and take in the serene sea view from the signature 18th hole of the very private Seminole Golf Course in Florida. Golf Courses stunningly captures the singular genius and beauty of golf courses. It is a comprehensive collection of the world's best courses by revered designers including Donald Ross, Pete Dye, and Robert Trent Jones, Sr., and such new talent as Steve Smyers and Tom Doak, among many others—all of whom skillfully orchestrate the exceptional union of nature and course design on five continents. This deluxe, limited-edition volume features over two hundred sumptuous color photographs of courses, some of which have never been photographed or published previously, in full spreads and gatefolds—some measuring over five feet in length—and includes a numbered print signed by the photographer. Golf Courses: Fairways of the World will be strictly limited to 5,000 copies.
In golf the playing field is also landscape, where nature and the shaping of it conspire to test athletic prowess. As golf courses move away from the "big business, pristine lawn" approach of recent times, Bradley S. Klein, a leading expert on golf course design and economics, finds much to contemplate, and much to report, in the way these wide-open spaces function as landscapes that inspire us, stimulate our senses, and reveal the special nature of particular places. A meditation on what makes golf courses compelling landscapes, this is also a personal memoir that follows Klein's own unique journey across the golfing terrain, from the Bronx and Long Island suburbia to the American prairie and the Pacific Northwest. Whether discussing Robert Moses and Donald Trump and the making of New York City, or the role of golf in the development of the atomic bomb, or the relevance of Willa Cather to how the game has taken hold in the Nebraska Sandhills, Klein is always looking for the freedom and the meaning of golf's wide-open spaces. And as he searches, he offers a deeply informed and absorbing view of golf courses as cultural markers, linking the game to larger issues of land use, ecology, design, and imagination. Purchase the audio edition.
With our fourth generation now making their home on Duffin Farms, family roots here run deep As the incessant growth of the City of Calgary continued to encroach we realized that some proactive planning was in order if we wanted to remain on the property The decision to "kick out the cattle and bring in the golfers" was one that was not taken lightly. The development of the Sirocco Golf Course and Clubhouse was a massive undertaking for our family This book documents a few of my recollections of how it came to be, how it affected Duffin Farms, and some other "sidebars" as seen through my lens
A passionate advocate and a charming storyteller, Finegan combines a writer's eye, a historian's knowledge, and a golfer's sense of wonder to provide an impossibly ambitious grand tour of this beautiful land.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Globe-trotting golfer Tom Coyne has finally come home. And he’s ready to play all of it. After playing hundreds of courses overseas in the birthplace of golf, Coyne, the bestselling author of A Course Called Ireland and A Course Called Scotland, returns to his own birthplace and delivers a “heartfelt, rollicking ode to golf…[as he] describes playing golf in every state of the union, including Alaska: 295 courses, 5,182 holes, 1.7 million total yards” (The Wall Street Journal). In the span of one unforgettable year, Coyne crisscrosses the country in search of its greatest golf experience, playing every course to ever host a US Open, along with more than two hundred hidden gems and heavyweights, visiting all fifty states to find a better understanding of his home country and countrymen. Coyne’s journey begins where the US Open and US Amateur got their start, historic Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. As he travels from the oldest and most elite of links to the newest and most democratic, Coyne finagles his way onto coveted first tees (Shinnecock, Oakmont, Chicago GC) between rounds at off-the-map revelations, like ranch golf in Eastern Oregon and homemade golf in the Navajo Nation. He marvels at the golf miracle hidden in the sand hills of Nebraska and plays an unforgettable midnight game under bright sunshine on the summer solstice in Fairbanks, Alaska. More than just a tour of the best golf the United States has to offer, Coyne’s quest connects him with hundreds of American golfers, each from a different background but all with one thing in common: pride in welcoming Coyne to their course. Trading stories and swing tips with caddies, pros, and golf buddies for the day, Coyne adopts the wisdom of one of his hosts in Minnesota: the best courses are the ones you play with the best people. But, in the end, only one stop on Coyne’s journey can be ranked the Great American Golf Course. Throughout his travels, he invites golfers to debate and help shape his criteria for judging the quintessential American course. Should it be charmingly traditional or daringly experimental? An architectural showpiece or a natural wonder? Countless conversations and gut instinct lead him to seek out a course that feels bold and idealistic, welcoming yet imperfect, with a little revolutionary spirit and a damn good hot dog at the turn. He discovers his long-awaited answer in the most unlikely of places. Packed with fascinating tales from American golf history, comic road misadventures, illuminating insights into course design, and many a memorable round with local golfers and celebrity guests alike, A Course Called America is “a delightful, entertaining book even nongolfers can enjoy” (Kirkus Reviews).
In this most recent addition to Assouline’s highly covetable and lauded Ultimate Collection, George Peper, former editor in chief of Golf magazine and 2016 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award winner for Journalism, takes readers on an incomparable golf journey as he travels the world detailing the 100 most significant, historically noteworthy, and architecturally paramount courses. Describing intricate holes that have confounded the game’s best, revisiting tournaments that have made and broken champions, and elucidating the unique and truly special characteristics of each course makes Peper the perfect golf partner as he walks readers through the clubhouses, fairways, and bunkers. From greens as old and hallowed as St Andrews to courses celebrating their first anniversary such as Nova Scotia’s Cabot Cliffs, from the island mountain course of China’s Shanqin Bay to the Hamptons’ Maidstone Club, Golf: The Impossible Collection is an unequivocal sensory treat for the golf fanatic, or the perfect feast to feed the wanderlust simmering in all of us.
If you didn’t experience rock and roll in Minnesota in the 1960s, this book will make you wish you had. This behind-the-scenes, up-close-and-personal account relates how a handful of Minnesota rock bands erupted out of a small Midwest market and made it big. It was a brief, heady moment for the musicians who found themselves on a national stage, enjoying a level of success most bands only dream of. In Everybody’s Heard about the Bird, Rick Shefchik writes of that time in vivid detail. Interviews with many of the key musicians, combined with extensive research and a phenomenal cache of rare photographs, reveal how this monumental era of Minnesota rock music evolved. The chronicle begins with musicians from the 1950s and early 1960s, including Augie Garcia, Bobby Vee, the Fendermen, and Mike Waggoner and the Bops. Shefchik looks at how a local recording studio and record label, along with Minnesota radio stations, helped make their achievements possible and prepared the way for later bands to break out nationally. Shefchik delves deeply into the Trashmen’s emblematic rise to fame. A Minneapolis band that recorded a fluke novelty hit called “Surfin’ Bird” at Kay Bank Studios, the Trashmen signed with Soma Records, topped the local charts in late 1963, and were poised to top the national charts in early 1964. Hundreds of Minnesota bands took inspiration from the Trashmen’s success, as teen dances with live bands flourished in clubs, ballrooms, gyms, and halls across the Upper Midwest. Here are the stories of bands like the Gestures, the Castaways, and the Underbeats, and the triumphs—and tragedies—of the most prominent Minnesota-spawned bands of the late 1960s, including Gypsy, Crow, and the Litter. For the baby boomers who remember it and everyone else who has felt its influence, the 1960s rock-and-roll scene in Minnesota was an extraordinary period both in musical history and popular culture, and now it’s captured fully in print for the first time. Everybody’s Heard about the Bird celebrates how these bands found their singular sound and played for their elated audiences from the golden era to today.
Columbia Business School professor Mark Broadie’s paradigm-shifting approach that uses statistics and golf analytics to transform the game. Mark Broadie is at the forefront of a revolutionary new approach to the game of golf. What does it take to drop ten strokes from your golf score? What part of Tiger Woods’ game makes him a winner? Traditional golf stats can't answer these questions. Broadie, a professor at Columbia Business School, helped the PGA Tour develop its cutting-edge strokes gained putting stat. In this eye-opening new book, Broadie uses analytics from the financial world to uncover the secrets of the game of golf. He crunches mountains of data to show both professional and amateur golfers how to make better decisions on the course. This eagerly awaited resource is for any player who wants to understand the pros, improve golf skills, and make every shot count.