cover image The Story of Golf in Fifty Holes

The Story of Golf in Fifty Holes

Tony Dear. Firefly, $29.95 (223p) ISBN 978-1-77085-528-1

Like a perfectly placed 250-yard drive down a long fairway fraught with peril on a blustery day, the latest golf book from Dear (Every Golf Question You Ever Wanted Answered) meets the formidable challenge of trying to tell the 600-year history of golf. The unaccompanied text would have gotten mired in a sand trap, but numerous images%E2%80%94photos and illustrations of many featured holes, shots of key golfers and moments from history%E2%80%94add to the fascinating details to make for a dream game. Readers will be inspired to hit the links. Alongside descriptions and pictures of various hazards%E2%80%94including ancient sheds, railroad tracks, rolling hills, and vegetable gardens%E2%80%94the author provides tidbits on inspired course architects, maddeningly placed bunkers, the origins of golfing terms, and intriguing people at every level of the game. The book is fittingly international in scope, too, going from Scotland to Australia to Japan and all over North America. The only penalty stroke, perhaps, would be for lack of attention to women in golf, but then women weren't allowed to play golf professionally until the 1950s. The book is a touch melancholic, lamenting changes made to particular holes that had meant so much at certain points in history, but overall it is a Masters-level celebration of the game. (Oct.)