Bernard Darwin On Golf [Paperback]

Bernard Darwin (Author), Jeff Silverman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2004 | Series: On

A collection of classic essays on golf, from one of the most brilliant writers ever to cover the game.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best golf book ever."--Travel & Leisure Golf magazine

"One can open a book of Bernard Darwin's to any page, find any line, and be entertained by it."--Ben Crenshaw

"Nobody ever knew more about golf than Darwin or wrote about it so intuitively."--Herbert Warren Wind

From the Back Cover

Bernard Darwin could easily have settled into a privileged life as a respected lawyer, one who just happened to be the grandson of Charles Darwin.

But his conventional upbringing didn't prevent him from choosing a different path, abandoning the relative security of the legal profession to follow his first and only passion-the game of golf. While Darwin was no slouch on the links-he was captain of his golf team at Cambridge and twice reached the semifinals of the British Amateur Championships-he achieved far greater notoriety with his pen than with his club.
Starting as a weekly columnist, and then a regular contributor, for The Times of London, he was soon acknowledged as one of the finest essayists in Britain (always signing his columns "Our Golf Correspondent"). He also contributed to Country Life for almost fifty years. Bernard was the first writer ever to elevate the discussion of golf beyond a simple reportage of events.
This collection gathers the finest of Darwin's writing, and is a celebration of a life devoted to a love for the game of golf.

Bernard Darwin was the golf game's most revered writer. He was a prominent authority on Charles Dickens and was the editor of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; 1st edition (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592286283
• ISBN-13: 978-1592286287
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #587,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute gem, June 15, 2005

By 

Classic Golfer (Brookline, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bernard Darwin On Golf (Hardcover)

I've long heard about the wonderful golfing essays of Bernard Darwin, the grandson of Charles Darwin, but I've never been able to find a collection. I have now. This excellent anthology covers the breadth of Darwin's long and honored career. It is filled with writing to be savored, and how fortunate we golfers are that there exists prose of such quality, heart, intelligence and wit on the game we love so much. Whether he's profiling great golfers he saw play like Bobby Jones, Frances Ouimet, and Ben Hogan, touring courses like St. Andrews, offering a strategic tip, or just weighing in on the small, seemingly insignificant things we all think about over a round -- like why can't the group ahead move faster, or when is this string of good shots I've just hit going to end -- Darwin's words are moving, funny, lyrical and insightful. I'm thrilled someone's finally put a book like this together. Having just finished the copy I bought for myself, I've purchased another three to hand out to the rest of my regular foursome before we tee off next weekend. This is a perfect addition to every golfer's library.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Darwin on Golf, August 7, 2007

By 

Stanly W. Conner (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bernard Darwin On Golf (Paperback)

Bernard Darwin lived through, played in and wrote about the Golden Age of golf. Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Bob Jones, Glenna Collett, Joyce Wethered, Ben Hogan and beyond - he knew them all. He wrote about golf from the perspective of an accomplished player but all his stories are gems, whether about the immortals and the classic tournaments and matches or about the mere mortals who populate the game of golf. This is a wonderful selection of golf literature and I am indebted to Mr Darwin for creating it and to Mr Silverman for bringing it to us.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Darwin Book, January 2, 2006

By 

Tom (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bernard Darwin On Golf (Paperback)

Jeff Silverman's compliation of Darwin stories is a must have for any library. Long one of the Game's more overlooked heroes, Darwin's legendary writing style spells out in great detail of golf's most definitive years, where the purity and passion ruled the Sport.