Books on the History of Golf

joxer1988

Hi folks, looking for a few books on the history of golf.

Could be stuff about the actual development of the game in it's early stages... Or about the history of the Open.

Basically 1800s-1950s.... Let me know if you've read anything good!

BrandNewMedium

joxer1988 wrote: »

Hi folks, looking for a few books on the history of golf.

Could be stuff about the actual development of the game in it's early stages... Or about the history of the Open.

Basically 1800s-1950s.... Let me know if you've read anything good!

You want to get your hands on Tommy’s Honour:

https://www.amazon.com/Tommys-Honor-Morris-Founding-Father/dp/1592403425

It’s a fabulous read. Another of my favorites:

https://www.amazon.com/Grand-Slam-Bobby-Jones-America/dp/1401301088

You’ll come away wanting to go to the FedEx final is my bet.

joxer1988

Brilliant, thanks. Both ordered on Amazon for 8 euro each!

Adiaga 2

Another Mark Frost book - The Greatest Game Ever Played - is well worth a read. It's about the 1913 US Open. It has a lot of historical detail about early Open Championships as well as the US Open. There's also lots of biographical info on the main protagonists Harry Vardon, Ted Ray and of course Francis Ouimet. It's also just a really well written, enjoyable book - just like Grand Slam.

Jawgap

Not exactly the era you're after but this, imo, is one of the best books about the Open.....worth reading with YouTube open to review the action!

lowelife

Adiaga 2 wrote: »

Another Mark Frost book - The Greatest Game Ever Played - is well worth a read. It's about the 1913 US Open. It has a lot of historical detail about early Open Championships as well as the US Open. There's also lots of biographical info on the main protagonists Harry Vardon, Ted Ray and of course Francis Ouimet. It's also just a really well written, enjoyable book - just like Grand Slam.

And the 3rd in the series would be The Match.
All 3 are great books and well worth the read.
Will have a scour along my shelf this evening as I love reading about golf history and biographies. And see if I can recommend others.

Eric the Eagle

I would agree, all three Mark Frost books are good and worth a read.

joxer1988

Great stuff folks. Looking forward to getting stuck in to these.

lowelife

Another quick look at the book shelf and I came up with 2 other gems in my opinions

https://www.amazon.com/Sir-Walter-Hagen-Invention-Professional/dp/1476711216

The pro's these days have a lot to thank this guy for

https://www.amazon.com/Bobbys-Open-Jones-Defined-Legend/dp/1906850283
Bobby Jones, need I say more really the guy is a legend

moycullen14

This is a great book. Covers the inter-war years - Jones, Sarazen, Hagen at al.

Some fabulous writing in it.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Golfer-Herbert-Warren-Wind/dp/0940889315

paulos53

Not a book but a long article about JJ McDermott entitled "America's Greatest Forgotten Golfer"

A good followup to the The Greatest Game Ever Played book mentioned earlier in the thread.

http://read.nxtbook.com/global_golf_post/longform/america_s_greatest_forgotten_/index.html

frink

I started reading the Majors by John Feinstein recently. I'm only about 30% in so far and it tends to drift off to discuss individual player's backgrounds abit too often for me but otherwise its an enjoyable read