Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald [Hardcover]

George Bahto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 2002

Charles Blair Macdonald may very well be one of the most influential persons in American golf history. In this visually stunning book, author George Bahto presents a compelling look into Macdonald’s, Seth Raynor’s, and Charles Banks’ work and includes an impressive array of rare vintage photographs, detailed course layouts, and sketches of many of their most highly regarded hole designs. In the tradition of recent architectural classics, The Evangelist of Golf joins Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and His Golf Courses and The Life and Work of Dr. Alister MacKenzie to form a rare and beautiful triumvirate.

Editorial Reviews

Review

""Charles Blair Macdonald and his seminal achievement, the National Golf Links of America, in one fell swoop, inaugurated the evolution of golf course architecture in America. All of golf paused to marvel at Macdonald's magnificent creation."

From the Inside Flap

Charles Blair Macdonald may very well be one of the most influential persons in American golf history. He was instrumental in the establishment of the United States Golf Association, but more importantly, he brought into existence some of America's greatest golf course designs -- with the National Golf Links of America on Long Island, New York, being his most acclaimed work. His protégé, Seth Raynor, has also been recognized as one of America's great architects of the twentieth century. In this visually stunning book, author George Bahto presents a compelling look into the work of Macdonald, Raynor, and associate Charles Banks. The book includes an impressive array of rare vintage photographs, detailed course layouts, and sketches of many of their most highly regarded hole designs.

For the golf architecture historian, this is a treasure trove of information that includes a composite listing of all their courses along with a detailed time line of events that chronicles the rise and eventual decline of this group's monumental effort in design. In the tradition of recent architectural classics, The Evangelist of Golf joins Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and His Golf Courses and The Life and Work of Dr. Alister MacKenzie to form a rare and beautiful triumvirate. Sit back, read, and enjoy.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886947201
• ISBN-13: 978-1886947207
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 10.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #749,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing and enlightening, February 3, 2006

By 

3foot1 (Lakeville, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald (Hardcover)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what term describes "beyond must read", December 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald (Hardcover)

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".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the evangelist, November 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald (Hardcover)

great read and terrific reference! a must for any serious student of architecture.