Driving the Green: The Making of a Golf Course [Paperback]

John Strawn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 1997

In the tradition of John McPhee, a brilliant analysis of how a golf course is built and the people who build it.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Golf enthusiast Strawn contributes this account of the design of a golf course as an alternative to the recent proliferation of instructional and how-to literature. He writes about Alan Sher, a retired button magnate, who buys 350 acres of land in West Palm Beach, upon which he proposes to build the Ironhorse Golf Course. Sher hires Joshua Muss, a tough Washington developer, and Arthur Hills, an imaginative golf course architect, to oversee the construction. The story unravels, meticulously and slowly, with the development, construction, and shaping of the earthy landscape as it slowly evolves into Ironhorse. The rains hold off, the greens mature beautifully, and Ironhorse becomes a reality. For sports collections and libraries with avid golf fans.
- Eugene J. Millich, formerly with Univ. of Wisconsin at La Crosse Lib.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

A slow-driving account of the development and building of Ironhorse, a ``country club community'' in West Palm Beach. ``Designing a golf course,'' Strawn, a devoted golfer and former construction entrepreneur, is told, ``is five percent common sense and ninety-five percent drainage.'' The Ironhorse property, a flat 350 acres in the Florida wetlands, presented an array of challenges to golf-course architect Arthur Hills. The area was drained 20 years ago, prior to legal restraints aimed at maintaining ecological balance. Still, when Alan Sher, a wealthy button manufacturer, purchased an option on the property, he met resistance from ``tree huggers'' and the Audubon Society on the grounds that the course abutted a preserve area, threatening the well-being of the rare Everglade swail kite. Hills and the team of designers and landscape artists and technicians hired by general partner Joshua Muss, who bought control of the project, had to contend with a low water table and the moving or removal of a rich variety of plant life, including bald cypress, Australian pines, sabal palm, and wild myrtle. Legal maneuvering, financing, designing, clearing, selecting and planting fairways and greens, and shaping the 18-hole course took four years. While absorbing in small bites, Strawn's frequent asides and tangential anecdotes on golf literature, the history of golf-course design, botany, architecture, and the failure of the savings-and-loan industry become tiresome. Strawn also gets bogged down in the early financial stages and initial planning of Ironhorse--he's a third of the way through before ground-breaking. Too long by half or, as they say, ``uses a bit too much club.'' -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Burford Books (December 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558215557
• ISBN-13: 978-1558215559
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,169,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insight into modern golf course construction, December 2, 1997

By 

Jim from Columbus (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Driving the Green: The Making of a Golf Course (Paperback)

This book left me wondering! The access the author had to the developers, construction crew, and architects of the 'Ironhorse Resort' was complete. This is the book's major strength. Throughout I read a muted implicit criticism of almost all his sources. However the line of outright criticism is never crossed. The author becomes so close (he's an avid golfer and golfs with everybody) you wonder where he stands ultimately on issues he brushes against. For example, we get to know ruthless developers throwing their weight and money around as they make their deals. Environmental advocates and their concerns are introduced, then dropped. We see brief references to the Haitian migrant workers, and other hard working laborers, who toil on the irrigation systems of this luxurious playground for the rich. None of this is followed through, leaving the question open whether the author along the way abandoned the writing of a social commentary, or was just the consumate sycophant all along. This criticism aside, as a avid golfer I enjoyed the book. It might not appeal to the non-golfer. It is well written, and the anecdotes and asides into golf history that the reviewer below complains about I found fascinating. This book about the making of a modern golf course (notwithstanding the lost opportunities to educate on and explore in greater detail larger issues pertaining to the hitting a little white ball in a manufactured paradise that's replaced a natural one) is a one-of-a-kind.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Documents the ills of modern golf course architecture. Wow!, February 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Driving the Green: The Making of a Golf Course (Paperback)

CAUTION!!! The only book of its kind. John Strawn reports it as he sees and hears it. It's the perfect illustration of what is wrong with modern golf course architecture. If you're looking to hire an architect for remodelling, reconstruction, redesign or a new project... read this first. Then read Masters of the Links.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well-written account of the building of a golf course., May 20, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Driving the Green: The Making of a Golf Course (Hardcover)

Only a small % of the population has ever heard of the profession of golf course architect, but a large % of that group dreams of quitting the day job and designing golf courses for a living. For them, Strawn vividly describes all aspects of the building of an Arthur Hills golf course in Florida. Strawn is equally good at describing the golf strategy that goes into the course, the lives of the construction workers, and the hassles with bureaucrats. Certainly the best book ever written on the building of a single golf course. (Ok, it's probably the only book ever written on this topic, but it's still quite good in absolute terms). Steve Sailer [e-mail]