Grounds for Golf: The History and Fundamentals of Golf Course Design

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.


Grounds For More Great Golf Books Like This   May 11, 2003
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

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.


Doggedly Pedestrian   May 8, 2003
 3 out of 7 found this review helpful

Geoff Shackelford likes golf courses you can walk. Perhaps that is why his book is so doggedly pedestrian. He re-quotes the quotable, starting his first chapter with well worn saws from Tom Simpson and Bobby Jones, and then leading a slog through 18 chapters (cutely called holes) of largely derivative commentary. The opener is "What is Golf Architecture?" The closer: "Appendix and Acknowledgments."

If the penultimate hole is an appendix, you might rightly anticipate being put on a bland diet. In this, Mr. Shackelford does not disappoint. Little here is original, most has been said before. If Golf Digest (for whom he writes) were to rate his "course," it might get three stars. Since Golf Digest's rankings are gathering suspicion of favoring insiders and aggressive promoters, I give it two.

One howler deserves special mention. Describing the 354 yard 18th at St. Andrews, he says: "As a finishing hole on any other course, it would be a letdown. However, playing against the backdrop of medieval buildings to a green guarded by the `Valley of Sin,' the `Home' hole may be the greatest stage in all of golf."

Careful, Mr. Shackelford. The 18th at St. Andrews is called "Tom Morris," not "Home," and there's nary a medieval building to be seen. They are mostly 19th Century.

There is the Valley of Sin. But for Mr. Shackelford, it turned out to be the Valley of Syntax.

Is the course playing itself?


Doggedly Pedestrian   May 8, 2003
 0 out of 6 found this review helpful

Geoff Shackelford likes golf courses you can walk. Perhaps that is why his book is so doggedly pedestrian. He re-quotes the quotable, starting his first chapter with well worn saws from Tom Simpson and Bobby Jones, and then leading a slog through 18 chapters (cutely called holes) of largely derivative commentary. The opener is "What is Golf Architecture?" The closer: "Appendix and Acknowledgments."

If the penultimate hole is an appendix, you might rightly anticipate being put on a bland diet. In this, Mr. Shackelford does not disappoint. Little here is original, most has been said before. If Golf Digest (for whom he writes) were to rate his "course," it might get three stars. Since Golf Digest's rankings are gathering suspicion of favoring insiders and aggressive promoters, I give it two.

One howler deserves special mention. Describing the 354 yard 18th at St. Andrews, he says: "As a finishing hole on any other course, it would be a letdown. However, playing against the backdrop of medieval buildings to a green guarded by the `Valley of Sin,' the `Home' hole may be the greatest stage in all of golf."

Careful, Mr. Shackelford. The 18th at St. Andrews is called "Tom Morris," not "Home," and there's nary a medieval building to be seen. They are mostly 19th Century.

There is the Valley of Sin. But for Mr. Shackelford, it turned out to be the Valley of Syntax.

Is the course playing itself?