Scotland’s Gift Golf is a fascinating read, but regards golf architecture, just two chapters stand out. First, Chapter Nine is called “Inception of Ideal Golf Course.” Second, Chapter Fifteen, entitled: “Architecture”.
Chapter Nine describes how an article in Golf Illustrated prompted the question of which holes were the most testing in the U.K. Armed with the responses from British golf royalty at the time, C.B. MacDonald set off to the British Isles in 1902, 1904, and 1906 to establish the collection. The holes compiled included examples from Sunningdale, North Berwick, Muirfield, St Andrews Old, Littlestone, Sandwich, Brancaster, Leven, Prestwick, and St Andrews New.
Chapter 15 includes musings on architecture and an interesting diagram for a triple green, single tee, nine-hole practice course. Elements taken from Short, Redan and Eden are used to replicate virtually every shot you’d encounter on the course.
Editions
First editions are dear, but Classics of Golf published this title in 1998 which was well received (IBSN 9780940889071). Scotland’s Gift Golf was re-published in 2007 (IBSN 9780966184761)
