Product Description

To a majority of the millions of golfers around the world, the subject of golf course design often seems foreign and intimidating. Yet, the overwhelming reason cited for playing golf is an attraction to the beautiful and often ingeniously designed courses where the game is played. Grounds for Golf is distinct from other golf design-related books in that it covers a wide variety of topics in an informative, flowing nar-rative that will interest all golfers. Noted golf writer Geoff Shackel-ford's text is supplemented with photography, classic anec-dotes, famous quotations, and informative hole depic-tions by architect Gil Hanse. Readers finally have a course design primer that adds to their enjoyment of golf's lore while also introducing the fundamentals of golf architecture in an interactive format that will help their games.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52871 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

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

About the Author
Geoff Shackelford is the author of several golf books, and his writing has appeared in Golf Magazine, Links, Golf World, the Los Angeles Times, and Golfdom magazine. While writing Grounds for Golf, Shackelford codesigned Rustic Canyon Golf Course in Moorpark, California, with Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner. Golf Digest recently named Rustic Canyon the Best New Affordable Public Course in America. Geoff lives in Santa Monica, California.

Gil Hanse has a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Cornell and is the architect of several acclaimed courses, including Craighead Golf Links in Scotland, Applebrooke Golf Club near Philadelphia, and Rustic Canyon. Hanse has overseen restoration work at classic courses originally designed by Donald Ross, A. W. Tillinghast, and William Flynn. Gil and his wife, Tracey, live in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with their three children Chelsea, Tyler, and Caley.

Customer Reviews

So, that's why playing at the Riviera was so much fun!
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.

Grounds For More Great Golf Books Like This
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.

A great book for the uninitiated
Books on golf architecture are begining to appear in huge numbers. The interest in golf course architecture, as opposed to only the swing, is something the author will no doubt see as the coming of a new recognition of golf as a thinking sport, rather than the "ape with a club smacking a ball" sport it is devolving into.

This sumarizes the main point the author seeks to make: architecture is important because it is what makes us stop and scratch our head on the course. When we no longer are selecting clubs in order to navigate a course in what appears the best rout for ourselves, and are merely seeking to blast the ball down the fairway as if on a driving range with a hole, architecture and the sport itself is lost.

As is made clear from this, a great deal of lamenting on the state of the game is done between the covers. This may irk a number of readers, particularly those who do not care too much about the professional game, and not obsessed with scores. It may be even more irritating to those who believe the purpose of the game is to hit 300 yard drives on every hole and leave people who can only hit to 200 on the granny tees.

All the woes aside, the book gives what is probably the best introduction to architecture one is likely to find. It covers all the bases: the history of architecture, its various schools, strategic layouts, the basics of course maintanence, and lots of examples of famous holes and layouts to learn from. Some of the holes may have been copied on the courses readers frequent, and may shed some light on how to apporach a hole and why it was designed the way it was.

Aimed more towards the golfer rather than the aspiring architect, it gives the reader everything needed to look anew at the game and the field on which it is played. This will be a particularly useful book for someone with the World Atlas of Golf, as they will be able to see why so many courses have earned their reputations.