Scotland's Gift

One of the real masterpieces of golf literature... Joseph S.F. Murdoch   First published in 1928, Charles Blair Macdonald's Scotland's Gift is arguably the most important book ever written on early American golf. Macdonald, known as the father of golf course architecture, nearly single-handedly elevated American golf to world-class status when he built his masterpiece, National Golf Links of America on Long Island. Macdonald, instrumental in the rise of American golf, chronicles how golf grew from being a little-known Scottish oddity with a mere handful of American courses in 1890 and spread like wild fire to some 4,000 courses by 1927. Macdonald captures the drama surrounding the U.S.G.A.'s early days, and how it unified a game once on the perilous verge of splintering into myriad forms and factions. This classic volume is also a seminal work on golf course design. Macdonald shares his theories on golf course architecture, and how he successfully- though amid great controversy-transplanted classic holes of the British Isles to American soil. Macdonald also details the creations of the National Golf Links of America as well as his other masterstrokes including Yale University, Chicago Golf Club and Mid Ocean in Bermuda. This new edition of Scotland's Gift marks the first time in over 70 years that this work has been published for the general retail market. It includes the illustrations of the original edition, as well as some new vintage photos-some of which are published here for the first time.