One of the finest golf courses in America in the early 1900s was the revered Pinehurst No. 2, designed by the legendary Donald Ross and first opened in 1907. Physically and mentally demanding, the course gave players options on every hole and required them to envision and execute recovery shots from the sandy perimeters and the pine forests as well as think creatively around the intricate greens. As a result, No. 2 became a favorite of the nation's top amateurs and professionals. Unfortunately, a modernization of the course over the last four decades stripped it of much of its character. In The Golden Age of Pinehurst, Lee Pace chronicles the breathtaking restoration of No. 2 from its recent slick and monochromatic presentation back to a natural potpourri of hardpan sand, wire grass, and Sandhills pine needles. The restored No. 2--accessible for amateur play, yet challenging enough for the professional--once again stands apart for its beauty, strategic appeal, and Old World flavor.

Air fragrant with the pungent scent of pine straw and freshly mown grass. Stately architecture from days gone by. A gently rolling terrain that inspires golfing dreams. Echoes of Richard Tufts, Donald Ross, and Payne Stewart. This is Pinehurst! Almost 100 years ago, when Americans began taking to the road in ever-growing numbers in search of spectacular vacation destinations, Pinehurst, like no other place, made golf the most rapidly growing pastime of the day. With many never-before-published photographs from Tufts Achives, Pinehurst: Golf, History & the Good Life celebrates the community's place in golf's Golden Age.

Literally hundreds of classic courses from golf’s pre-World War II Golden Age have vanished over the years, including nearly 200 designed by legendary architects like Donald Ross, A.W. Tillinghast and Dr. Alister MacKenzie. In this sister volume to his award-winning book, The Missing Links, historian Daniel Wexler profiles more than 70 of the ver y best courses and holes in America, bringing them back to life with detailed histories, color maps and period photographs. Within Lost Links, the reader can walk William Flynn’s sand-strewn North course at Boca Raton, skirt towering Pacific cliffs at Billy Bell’s mysterious Royal Palms, retrace Seth Raynor’s footsteps at the Greenbrier and revisit George Thomas’s legendary lost holes at La Cumbre.

This book celebrates the beauty, tradition, and variety of golf across the Carolinas, featuring eighteen beloved courses as experienced by the walking golfer. One of golf's earliest appeals was its health-giving benefits, with players walking some four miles over varied terrain, making stamina and endurance an important part of the sport. Most recreational players today choose motorized carts. But Lee Pace believes that the slower pace and on-the-ground view associated with walking gives one an opportunity to savor the experience, understand the nuances of course design and landscape architecture, and appreciate the small touches that make our region's best clubs and courses special. The Carolinas are a cradle for the game in the United States, making walking its courses an ideal way to connect past and present. Attractively illustrated with full-color photography, each essay tells the story of a course and how it is experienced on foot. Guiding readers around fabled courses like Pinehurst No. 2 and new classics like Kiawah Island's Ocean Course, private clubs and municipal courses, resort destinations and urban gems, Pace reflects on legendary course architects, famous tournaments, notable players, ties between the game's founders and the Carolinas, and more. Whether you're a committed traditionalist or new to the game, this book will inspire you to slow down and enjoy the best of what golf has to offer.

Just in time for Father's Day and a new golf season, Classic Shots showcases the best 250 photographs of the sport from the 1920s to the present day, culled from the USGA's archive of more than half a million images. While some of these photos have appeared in print over the years, many have never been published before. Among the many highlights are a single image showing the great Bob Jones' swing sequence... Payne Stewart's 1999 U.S. Open-winning putt at Pinehurst Country Club... Arnold Palmer's 1960 win at Cherry Hill... dramatic shots of Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Michelle Wie, and other golf superstars. The photographs are organized into five geographic regions: Northeast, South, Mid-Continent, West, and International. Accompanying essays introduce each region, examining particular images and telling the stories behind them. An essay by New York Times columnist and best-selling author Thomas L. Friedman underscores the unique qualities of the game of golf and its enduring impact upon its players and fans. From memorable moments of the game to casual portraits of legendary players, from striking landscapes of world-renowned courses to fascinating artifacts and memorabilia, Classic Shots is a unique visual treasure that will delight and inspire golfers of all ages.

“A rollicking tale that is one part The Sting, one part The Great Gatsby, and one part The Devil in the White City.” —Karen Abbott, author of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy In a time of unregulated madness, nowhere was it madder than in Chicago at the dawn of the Roaring Twenties. It was the perfect place for a slick, smooth-talking, charismatic lawyer named Leo Koretz to entice hundreds of people to invest as much as $30 million--upwards of $400 million today--in phantom timberland and nonexistent oil wells in Panama. It was an ingenious deceit, one that out-Ponzied Charles Ponzi himself. In this rip-roaring tale of greed, financial corruption, dirty politics, over-the-top and under-the-radar deceit, illicit sex, and a brilliant and wildly charming con man on the town and then on the lam, Empire of Deception proves that the American dream of easy wealth is truly a timeless commodity. “Captivating . . . Dean Jobb tells the story of Leo Koretz, a legendary con artist of Madoffian audacity, with terrific energy and narrative brio.” —Gary Krist, author of Empire of Sin “A brilliantly researched tale of greed, ambition, and our desperate need to believe in magic, it’s history that captures America as it really was--and always will be. A great read.” —Douglas Perry, author of Eliot Ness “Reads like a Gatsby-Ponzi mashup . . . Kudos to Jobb for unearthing this overlooked story and bringing to life a charming, witty, naughty, iconic American crook.” —Neal Thompson, author of A Curious Man “The granddaddy of all con men, Leo Koretz gives Jobb the opportunity to exhibit his impressive research and storytelling skills . . . A highly readable, entertaining story.” —Kirkus Reviews

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Globe-trotting golfer Tom Coyne has finally come home. And he’s ready to play all of it. After playing hundreds of courses overseas in the birthplace of golf,​ Coyne, the bestselling author of A Course Called Ireland and A Course Called Scotland, returns to his own birthplace and delivers a “heartfelt, rollicking ode to golf…[as he] describes playing golf in every state of the union, including Alaska: 295 courses, 5,182 holes, 1.7 million total yards” (The Wall Street Journal). In the span of one unforgettable year, Coyne crisscrosses the country in search of its greatest golf experience, playing every course to ever host a US Open, along with more than two hundred hidden gems and heavyweights, visiting all fifty states to find a better understanding of his home country and countrymen. Coyne’s journey begins where the US Open and US Amateur got their start, historic Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. As he travels from the oldest and most elite of links to the newest and most democratic, Coyne finagles his way onto coveted first tees (Shinnecock, Oakmont, Chicago GC) between rounds at off-the-map revelations, like ranch golf in Eastern Oregon and homemade golf in the Navajo Nation. He marvels at the golf miracle hidden in the sand hills of Nebraska and plays an unforgettable midnight game under bright sunshine on the summer solstice in Fairbanks, Alaska. More than just a tour of the best golf the United States has to offer, Coyne’s quest connects him with hundreds of American golfers, each from a different background but all with one thing in common: pride in welcoming Coyne to their course. Trading stories and swing tips with caddies, pros, and golf buddies for the day, Coyne adopts the wisdom of one of his hosts in Minnesota: the best courses are the ones you play with the best people. But, in the end, only one stop on Coyne’s journey can be ranked the Great American Golf Course. Throughout his travels, he invites golfers to debate and help shape his criteria for judging the quintessential American course. Should it be charmingly traditional or daringly experimental? An architectural showpiece or a natural wonder? Countless conversations and gut instinct lead him to seek out a course that feels bold and idealistic, welcoming yet imperfect, with a little revolutionary spirit and a damn good hot dog at the turn. He discovers his long-awaited answer in the most unlikely of places. Packed with fascinating tales from American golf history, comic road misadventures, illuminating insights into course design, and many a memorable round with local golfers and celebrity guests alike, A Course Called America is “a delightful, entertaining book even nongolfers can enjoy” (Kirkus Reviews).

Sand and Golf: How Terrain Shapes the Game explores what makes golf, and golf course architecture, so special on sandy terrain. Golf was born on sandy ground and the features of the game are a direct product of that terrain. Fairways and greens were derived from the naturally occurring areas of short grass found among the coastal dunes of Scotland. The original sand traps were areas of bare sand that can be found scattered throughout any dune landscape. As the game spread beyond the coastal dunes it took these features with it, and while they have been incorporated into a variety of landscapes they have always fit best on sandy ground. For this reason each major expansion in golf has begun with new courses on sandy ground. Even the best courses of the modern era are products of sandy terrain. The reason golf works so well on sandy ground is that it quite literally belongs there. This book explores the unique features of sandy ground that make it so suitable for golf, studying the similarities and differences among sandy courses in a wide variety of environments. The courses of Melbourne's Sandbelt may not bear much resemblance to the fantastic sandy courses of America's Great Plains, but they actually have a great deal in common. The firm turf that is a product of free draining soils, rugged bunkers carved directly into the sandy soils, and a style of play suited to firm, often windy sites. Golf on sandy sites is a game played as much along the ground as through the air, and creative shotmaking is required to deal with the challenges of sandy terrain. The creativity required to succeed when golfing on sandy ground is a big part of the enduring popularity of these courses and the reason why people travel around the world to seek them out. Golf on sandy terrain is something special because golf itself is a product of that terrain. Sand and Golf looks at all aspects of the relationship between sand and golf, from golf's earliest days to the spread of the sport across the globe. Golf and golf course architecture on sandy sites is explored in every detail, using examples and illustrations from the best sandy courses in the world.FEATURED GOLF COURSES: United States of America 1. Bandon Trails Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Oregon 2. Chambers Bay University Place, Washington 3. Cypress Point GC Monterey, California 4. Friars Head GC Baiting Hollow, New York 5. Garden City GC Garden City, New York 6. The Maidstone Club East Hampton, New York 7. The National Golf Links of America Southampton, New York 8. Pacific Dunes Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Oregon 9. Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links Pacific Grove, California 10. Pinehurst Number 2 Pinehurst, North Carolina 11. Pine Valley GC Clementon, New Jersey 12. Sand Hills GC Mullen, Nebraska 13. Sebonack GC Southampton, New York 14. Shinnecock Hills GC Southampton, New York 15. Streamsong Golf Resort Streamsong, Florida 16. Wild Horse GC Gothenburg, Nebraska 17. Yeamans Hall Club Hanahan, South Carolina Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe 18. Ballybunion Golf Club Ballybunion, Ireland 19. Carnoustie Golf Links Carnoustie, Scotland 20. Cruden Bay GC Cruden Bay, Scotland 21. Falsterbo GC Falsterbo, Sweden 22. Ganton GC Scarborough, England 23. Lahinch GC Lahinch, Ireland 24. Machrihanish GC Campbeltown, Scotland 25. Muirfield Gullane, Scotland 26. North Berwick (West Links) North Berwick, Scotland 27. The Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland 28. Pennard GC Swansea, Wales 29. Prestwick GC Prestwick, Scotland 30. The Renaissance Club at Archerfield Dirleton, Scotland 31. Rosapenna Golf Resort Downings, Ireland 32. Royal Cinque Ports (Deal) Deal, England 33. Royal County Down Newcastle, Northern Ireland 34. Royal Dornoch Dornoch, Scotland 35. Royal North Devon (Westward Ho!) Bideford, England 36. Royal Portrush Portrush, Northern Ireland 37. Royal St. George's Sandwich, England 38. Royal Troon Troon, Scotland 39. Rye GC Rye, England 40. St. George's Hill GC St George's Hill, England 41. Sunningdale GC Sunningdale, England 42. Swinley Forest GC Ascot, England Australia 43. Barnbougle Dunes Bridport, Tasmania 44. Kingston Heath GC Melbourne, Australia 45. Royal Melbourne Melbourne, Australia

A celebration of three legendary golfers describes how the sport deteriorated into virtual non-existence before the trio revitalized its popularity by setting records while transforming how the game was played and regarded.