Golf In New York City Blog

Published by National Geographic Books, 2007

Reviewed by: Bill Castner

The USGA has released a delightful golf photography book, Classic Shots: The Greatest Images from The United States Golf Association. The book illustrates the things that I believe make golf such a special game.

Marty Parkes, the senior director of communications at the United States Golf Association (U.S.G.A.), put the book together. The United States Golf Association (USGA) has served as the national governing body of golf for the U.S., its territories and Mexico since its formation in 1894. It’s a non-profit organization run by golfers for the benefit of golfers. The Association sponsors a variety of programs that benefit everyone who plays the game, from conducting 13 national championships each year, to writing and interpreting the Rules of Golf, to funding turf grass and course maintenance practices, to supporting grassroots programs through its For the Good of the Game initiative.

In the opening photograph of the book (cover page), John Murmett already treats us to a spectacular shot, with his two-page spread of the eighth hole at Pebble Beach. Your eye is treated to the obstacles the golfer faces –rough, bunkers, hills, gorse, cliffs, ocean, wind, length, and an undulating putting surface. The reader is already treated to some of the many special aspects of the golf course.

The next photograph, by J.D. Cuban, is an ankle-view photograph of the late great Payne Stewart. We see each sock that Payne is wearing, standing in the same pose as Payne did. It is apparent that Payne is standing on the putting green patiently watching another golfer putt. This photograph certainly illustrates the interaction between players and the etiquette - another special aspect of golf.

After a lengthy introduction and historical background (partially written by Arnold Palmer), the book’s photographs are divided geographically. From varying photographs that span many years, the book explores the golf in the Northeast, the South, the America’s Heartland, and the Western region of the United States. An additional section features photographs from outside of the United States.

When thinking about a favorite photograph, it is very hard to pick one out of such a great collection. One real stand-out is a staged photograph by John Mummert, with Sam Snead playing from a deep water hazard (see page 134).

Other highlights are golf’s great players and courses, including ones of Harry Vardon, several United States Open Champions, the Bridge at Binniekill, Jack Nicklaus chipping, Tom Watson with his caddie Bruce Edwards (who pasted away from ALS several years ago), Arnold Palmer, Tommy Armour, Tiger Woods, Natalie Gulbis, Glenna Collett Vare, Prairie Dunes Golf Course, Bob Jones, Mike Bell, the many trophies, and views of golf course construction.

If you are still not convinced, you should be. There are so many interesting, moving, and beautiful scenes that you must see this book. The book is available at local bookstores and also on-line.

Jack Nicklaus: Simply the Best! By Martin Davis

There have been many books written about the career of legendary Jack Nicklaus, but few are as informative and photographically outstanding as Martin Davis’ latest, Jack Nicklaus – Simply the Best!

Davis starts off the book with an overall tribute to Nicklaus’ many accomplishments. “Jack’s basic numbers are easy to remember. It’s just a straight arithmetic progression – 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 – as in one NCAA Championship, two U.S. Amateurs, three British Opens, four U.S. Opens, five PGA’s, six Masters and a member of seven winning Ryder Cup teams.”

From there, the book is basically divided into three sections, the first part filled with vignettes by some of Nicklaus’ better known on-course competitors, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson. Each speaks about the great respect that they have for Nicklaus, along with some his attributes, which really struck them.

“Jack was a different animal altogether, unlike anything I had ever chased” says Palmer. “It was uncanny how he could concentrate on the task at hand. I have never seen anyone who could stay that focused the way he did.”

Dave Anderson, the Pulitzer Prize winning writer from the New York Times, provides a lengthy biographical essay entitled “He Always Made the Putt (…Well, Almost Always).
Humorist Dan Jenkins talks about his “precautious” playing style, acknowledging his twenty second-place finishes in Majors. “Jack was first or second in 39 major championships. Think about that for a moment. How many more majors he might have won.”

“He had a way of knowing just how good he was and he never let his self-confidence, and often stubbornness, melt into arrogance,” adds broadcaster Jack Whitaker in his essay entitled “Always a Presence.”

The middle section of the book is filled with extensive photographs of Nicklaus’ swing and putting stroke, dating back to when he was 13 years old, with analysis by golf instructor Jim Flick.

The remaining two-hundred pages provides a complete reporting (both in writing and photos) of the major events in Nicklaus’ life, starting with the 1956 Ohio Open, and including his twenty major victories, a few misses, some team championships, his golf course design business, photographs from the Jack Nicklaus Museum and much more.
The finale comes with a 5-½ foot timeline of his life, folded into a two-page spread of Nicklaus being honored by the Ohio State University marching band during their football half-time tribute to him.

Between the well-written essays and more than 600 photographs, this coffee-table sized book is a “must-have” for any true historian of golf.
(Available at local books stores and also on-line. It is published by American Golfer, and retails for $60. It is the fifth book in a series on the world’s greatest golfers).