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Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald |  | Author: George Bahto
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
Buy New: $257.87
as of 9/5/2010 03:13 CDT details
Seller: GR8 BUYS 4U
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 812964
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 280
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.5
Dimensions (in): 11.1 x 10.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 1886947201
Dewey Decimal Number: 712.5092
EAN: 9781886947207
ASIN: 1886947201
Publication Date: November 29, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
George Bahto's "The Evangelist of Golf" is the definitive work detailing the course layouts and historical contributions of two of the great masters of the craft. Charles Blair Macdonald and his protege, Seth Raynor, are widely recognized as two of the 20th century's greatest golf course architects, and "The Evangelist of Golf" is a compelling study of their work and their lasting influence on the game. With an impressive array of stunning original images, this pictorial is as comprehensive as it is attractive.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
Absorbing and enlightening February 4, 2006
3foot1 (Lakeville, CT United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Not QUITE the usual coffee-table sized book, this rich volume taught me more about golf course architecture - really, the thought behind a thinking-player's course - than anything else I've read. Yes, it's a professional biography of one architect, with a lot about his protege, Seth Raynor, but MacDonald was the consummate perfectionist, studying the subject and contemplating his creations perhaps more deeply than anyone else.
The result of his research and reflection was a career marked by the quality rather than the quantity of his work. His courses are timeless, incorporating a similar "menu" of classic holes modified and improved to fit the local terrain and prevailing conditions.
Bahto's account of MacDonald's life and work is refreshingly frank and conversational. He makes no attempt to gloss over MacDonald's cranky arrogance, perhaps because such a temperament is so often linked to genuis. In my opinion this gives the text extra credibility, as do Bahto's wonderfully precise schematic diagrams of so many of MacDonald's creations.
My only complaint is that the quality of the photographs is very uneven and often poor. It's a shame that the publisher couldn't have waited a year or two and sent a professional to shoot the holes with a high-res camera in good light. I wouldn't have wanted to see calendar-style glossies, but I would have enjoyed higher contrast, less grainy photographs to match the clear and illuminating prose.
Despite this minor quibble I'm giving the book a top rating, for it illustrates the Purpose behind deliberate, elegant - yet always playful - golf course design at its highest level. If you can, give this to someone who loves golf and takes it seriously. It would be a wonderful way of showing them how much you appreciate their passion for the game.
the evangelist November 29, 2002
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
great read and terrific reference! a must for any serious student of architecture.
what term describes "beyond must read" December 30, 2002
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The "Evangalist" should be sufficient to re-direct the path of contemporary golf course design from its current preoccupation with window dressing and waterfalls to the structural soundness and strategic integrity inherent in Macdonald/Raynor's work. Devotees of this book will require hospitalization the next time they hear the hot architect of the day say that he doesn't want to adapt old principles when there are "so many new strategies yet to be developed".
what term describes "beyond must read" December 30, 2002
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The "Evangalist" should be sufficient to re-direct the path of contemporary golf course design from its current preoccupation with window dressing and waterfalls to the structural soundness and strategic integrity inherent in Macdonald/Raynor's work. Devotees of this book will require hospitalization the next time they hear the hot architect of the day say that he doesn't want to adapt old principles when there are "so many new strategies yet to be developed".
Evangelist of Golf January 2, 2003
William P. Bunning (Navarre, FL USA)
A wonderful work by Mr. Bahto. A must read for any serious golf architecture student. The photos and drawings are amazing. The chapter on National is worth the price of the book alone. Great read.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
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