The classic history of golf in America from the sport's poet laureate Widely regarded as the definitive account of America's love affair with the world's greatest game, this magisterial volume is Herbert Warren Wind's masterpiece. From John Reid, the expatriate Scotsman who imported a set of clubs and balls from St. Andrews in 1888 and built a three-hole course on a cow pasture in Yonkers, New York, to Alan Shepard's six-iron shot on the surface of the moon, The Story of American Golf documents the iconic moments in the sport's first century in the United States. Wind captures legendary players, including C. B. Macdonald, Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus, in all their glory, and expertly analyzes the developments in style, equipment, and technique that created the modern game. Encyclopedic in scope and intimate in detail, The Story of American Golf is both a fitting tribute to the beautiful and fickle game that inspired a national obsession and a testament to Herbert Warren Wind's incomparable talents as a journalist and historian.
"Golf's most respected and authoritative writer . . . if you would know golf in this country, you should acquaint yourself with the book The Story of American Golf."
New York Observer
"A quite extraordinary book . . . written with a graceful, easy, authoritative and frequently amusing style . . . Mr. Wind has found the grooved swing at his typewriter which permits him some exquisite shots to the literary greens. He scores exceedingly well."
The New York Times Book Review
"[A] great book, the closest our game has to Gibbon's Decline and Fall in sweep, eloquence and magnificence of subject."
