Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design [Hardcover]

Geoff Shackelford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2003

Golfers dream of playing the legendary courses of the game: St. Andrews, Augusta National, Pinehurst, Pebble Beach. And anyone who has played the royal and ancient sport is an armchair architect at heart. From alterations for their home course to visions of their very own backyard dream course, most golfers would love to test their hands at course design.

What makes certain courses timeless? Unlike the venues of other popular recreational sports like tennis and racquetball, whose playing fields are bound by strict measurements that do not vary, each golf course is unique. Offering an endless topographical variety, from short to long, flat or hilly, wet or dry, every course represents a compelling blend of risks versus rewards, with decisions and challenges to test every golfer’s game and mental toughness.

Combining Geoff Shackelford’s informative narrative with detailed illustrations by architect Gil Hanse, Grounds for Golf explains the fundamentals of golf course design in an understandable and entertaining style. Modern photographs, anecdotal sidebars, and witty quotations augment a course design primer that will enhance readers’ enjoyment of golf's lore while introducing the fundamentals of course design. By explaining the golf course from the ground up, Grounds for Golf will not only help readers in their understanding of the game, but will help their games themselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Shackelford is a golf journalist and traditionalist worried that equipment and television are degrading golf into a sport played by thrashers rather than thinkers. In this enjoyable effort to spread appreciation for golf-course architecture, Shackelford preaches a simple dogma: a course should be naturalistic, replete with tempting, playable shot options. Knowing that golf aficionados can sense the difference between playing an assembly-line course built during the 1970s and a mature one from the 1920s, Shackelford puts flesh on the bones of their intuition with a review of design schools. He extols the "strategic" school, exemplified by St. Andrews or Augusta National, which he justifies with detailed assessments of the famous Road Hole and Amen Corner, respectively. Caustic about designs he disdains, Shackelford is more than an armchair critic because he helped create a new public course in Southern California, illustrated, as are his other topics, with a profusion of sketches and photographs. An insightful instilling of knowledge, Shackelford's history and analysis will score low with the cerebral segment of golfdom--and, remember, low is good. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Back Cover

Advance Praise for Grounds for Golf

“Geoff's book is great. In fact, Grounds for Golf explains the basics of course architecture better than any other book—ever. But this is no snooze—Shackelford remembers to entertain while he informs.”—Curt Sampson, author of Chasing Tiger and Hogan

“Geoff Shackelford’s primer on the fascinating world of course design will help golfers understand and appreciate why some courses succeed in holding their interest while others fail to do so. His work is both insightful and approachable. Readers will never look at a course the same way again.”—Lorne Rubenstein, author of A Season in Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands.

“I don’t know anyone more knowledgeableæor passionateæabout golf course architecture than Geoff Shackelford. His Grounds for Golf is a terrific primer for those who want to know why architecture is an important, but misunderstood, part of the game. And if it helps them play better, well, that’s just a nice bonus.”—James A. Frank, editor of Golf Magazine

“Geoff Shackelford’s dedicated enthusiasm for the study of golf course architecture comes across beautifully in this lovely book. I highly recommend the book to all golf enthusiasts.”—Peter Oosterhuis, CBS commentator, six-time Ryder Cup player, and former director of golf at the Riviera Country Club

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (April 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031227808X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312278083
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #896,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So, that's why playing at the Riviera was so much fun!, May 12, 2003

By 

"sheffer17" (San Dimas, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design (Hardcover)

If you've ever wondered why some golf courses are interesting and fun to play, while others are boring and unsatisfying, you are likely to find the answers in Grounds for Golf. Shackelford brings valuable insights to the subject he calls "the most interactive art form alive." A book on golf course design could get bogged down with technicalities and engineering jargon; instead Grounds for Golf is entertaining, amusing, revealing and written for a wide golfing audience. You will have some "Aha!" moments as you realize that the best course designers, it turns out, aren't trying to punish you or trick you. They are trying to 1. Give you choices (some of which depend on how good a golfer you are or what type personality you are) and 2. Give you a way out or a way back when you make a bad shot. They're on your side, though it sometimes doesn't seem that way. If you are a golfer who gets to play many different courses (through business or vacations) you will find yourself not only beginning to notice the good and bad design aspects of a course, you will also find yourself asking, "Who designed this course?" And you will start seeking out courses designed by good architects in the same way that detective story readers seek out their favorite authors. You will become, painlessly, somewhat of a golf course design expert without having to read all the old classics on the subject. Shackelford has distilled them for you. The book is also liberally sprinkled with quotable quotes, handy for repeating in the appropriate situation. There is a fun "list" section in the back with the author's bests, favorites, etc. Also a good index. I highly recommend this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grounds For More Great Golf Books Like This, May 11, 2003

By 

"sandybarrensjr" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design (Hardcover)

With this his 8th published book on Golf, Geoff Shackelford masterfully gives us a inside look on how and why golf holes are great; their strategy and construction.

Pictures, diagrams, insightful thoughts, as well as Shackelford's excellent writing set in a unique layout of 18 chapters--hence 18 holes of golf, educates the reader in not only "hands-on", (a chapter or "hole" is devoted to laying out your own golf hole) but brings him up to snuff in modern terms and methods of golf course design and construction.

I recommend this book so highly, that I have purchased 12 seperate copies for gifts throughout the year, and the next time I'm visiting in Los Angeles, I will go out of my way to play his and co-contributor to this book, Gil Hanse's Rustic Canyon Golf Club, which is presented as a chapter in the book.

Also, one of my favorite characterizations of this book is that Shackelford has a "no holds barred" attitude in letting the reader understand that many of the golf holes we play today are far and away detrimental to the art of design. It's this fresh and honest take which allows the reader to understand that there is little substance going on beyond that $125.00 green fee.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great For Novice and Expert, May 11, 2003

By 

DK Smith (Marco Island, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design (Hardcover)

Not since Tom Doak's The Anatomy of A Golf Course has a book come along that does such a thorough job of acquainting both newcomers and serious fans with the art, science and business of golf course design. Attractively laid out and beautifully illustrated (especially the many famous hole drawings created by architect Gil Hanse), Grounds For Golf covers its subject from A-Z, profiling architecture's history and evolution, its multitude of styles, its greatest practitioners and many of their elite courses and holes.

Beyond all of this, however, it also provides rare insight by taking the reader through the design and construction of a brand-new golf course (Mr. Hanse and Mr. Shackelford's award-winning Rustic Canyon) and offers hundreds of interesting and amusing quotations, the sources of which range from Horace Hutchinson and Bernard Darwin to Dan Jenkins, Pete Dye and characters in Caddyshack. The Bobby Jones opener - "Every golfer worthy of the name should have some acquaintance with the principles of golf course design, not only for the betterment of his game, but for his own self enjoyment" - seems especially perfect for a volume which may need to explain to some novice readers why they should be interested in the subject of architecture in the first place.

For those with so critical an eye for detail, I particularly enjoy the penultimate chapter The Future (penultimate meaning "next to last", not "last") as it neatly sums up Mr. Shackelford's thoughts, which have long been on display in magazines like Golfdom, Golf, Links, Golf World and, on two whole occasions, Golf Digest.

Already heavily praised by industry insiders and reviewers, Grounds For Golf will be an architectural standard for years to come.