Customer Reviews

World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played

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3 star:		(1)
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as a golf-obsessed adolescent, the first edition of this book was one of my prized possessions. i spent many hours poring over the lovingly hand-painted layouts and reading about the history of all the famous courses i hoped to play one day.

a few years ago i discovered that the book had been updated several times since i was a kid, and i bought a copy of the 2005 edition. on the whole, i was pretty disappointed. i was pleased that the book had been updated, but the craftsmanship that went into the new layout diagrams -- which, for me, were the key feature of the book -- had declined noticeably. on the whole, the new additions looked rushed and cheap.

given that, i approached the new version with some apprehension, but it exceeded my expectations. the hand-painted layouts have been replaced by enhanced aerial/satellite photographs, and the new edition includes a number of courses which have not been featured before.

i think there is still some room for improvement -- if the publisher reads this and wants some feedback from a lifelong fan, please don't hestitate to contact me! :-) -- but on the whole this is a great return to form. the gazetteer section is gone to make room for expanded entries, and i'd love to see a second volume in this new format which includes some of the courses which didn't make it into this one.

Most of the courses featured in this wonderful work will never be graced by my cleats but that does not matter. I have enjoyed every page of this new addition. The satellite and aerial shots of the courses give you an excellent overview of what you will be faced if playing these courses. I love the helpful and entertaining comments. As I said, I will play only a few of these courses (only two so far, but hey, I am still young) but even if I do not get the opportunity, I still like to read about them and dream. This makes a wonderful gift for the golfer in your life.

Apparently Mark Rowlinson's material was changed when it got out of his hands. What this means, I don't know.

But I do know that the green mentioned as Merion's 3rd is actually Merion's 13th.

Who edited this volume ?