Customer Reviews

Evangelist of Golf: The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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 "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".

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

This is an awesome review of C.B. MacDonald but is mainly a book about the road to creating the National Golf Links.

Of course, there's a healthy dose of Raynor as well, but this makes complete sense. Whereas MacDonald would create the course designs and plans, Raynor would most often turn around and handle the course development.

I think the research and the writing behind this from Bahto is most excellent + no sugar coating. Simple honest unbiased delivery of what happened and how, but even more importantly you will "know" the National.

Picture wise, I thought the historical pics were very interesting. However, I thought it was rather difficult to match up any "pre" and "post" pics for any of the changes that took place to any of the holes being described. Furthermore, there were several recent color pics that were repeated in various sections. Unfortunately, I didn't think several of the pictures conveyed what the text was trying to explain at times. Few angles were used to show by pictures what was making each and every hole so special.

Other than that, I highly recommend this book for its content. Very well done overall. Above all, the description of each hole and how they work together to create a seamless golfing experience is the best I've read thus far. The supporting hole drawings help as well to complete the course visualizing. I just think I could visit the National tomorrow and would be as ready as possible to play it from a course management perspective. You just sense you'd know what to look out for and appreciate.

There's also a strong review of the Yale course and I think the Lido review, although brief, was most interesting. What a course the Lido must have been to play.

Excellent.

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".

This is one of the best books out there for those that are interested in golf architecture or even just want to know a bit more of the evolution of golf in the U.S. It is not a coffee table book meant to be read cover to cover, but a proper textbook with great photos and hand-written drawings. It is a fun and informative read. Buy the book. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

If you have an interest in golf course architecture, this book is a wonderful stop on your journey. Thanks to unstinting research from George Bahto and brilliant editing from Gilbert Papazian, the book is full of accurate historical information, told in an interesting and clear manner. But more important than the easy to read historical perspective, the author draws you into to the world of MacDonald's architecture. When you venture out, you will see the courses around you with fresh eyes. Buy it!

The Evangelist of Golf is one of the greatest books I own concerning golf. It might pay to also read the story of C.B. McDonald 'Scotland's Gift : How America Discovered Golf'. These 2 books will give you the background of Mr McDonald and how he really got the ball rolling in terms of developing golf in the US, and the formation of the USGA.

CB McDonald was a very wealthy man who went to Scotland to study all the great golf courses. He studied the best holes, made detailed notes and drawings, and developed the best methods for designing golf courses. With Seth Raynor, he built
one of the greatest courses in the country, by taking the best that Scotland had and putting them together to make the National Golf Links. It is too bad the public
cannot play this course, but the designs of the Eden, the Redan, the Cape, etc., laid the groundwork for the likes of Robert Trent Jones, Tom Fazio, and Pete Dye.

This is how golf courses should be built. Not the cookie cutter designs that we see all over the country. Obviously, it would be too expensive to build and maintain classic courses, but we can dream can't we. After reading this book, you will know what makes a great golf course.

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.