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Matt Waidmann

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Tom Doak's "Anatomy of a Golf Course"
« on: April 04, 2015, 11:11:19 AM »
Came across this book while cleaning the house today.  Forgot I had it, but when I was younger and wanting to immerse myself in how to build a golf course this book was my bible.  Really great illustrations of some of the best golf holes in the world.  For a teenager, this was a great education and helped fuel my passion for golf course architecture.  I'm sure there's been a thread on this book before, but did this book help influence anyone else's views? 

Peter Pallotta

Re: Tom Doak's "Anatomy of a Golf Course"
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2015, 11:45:54 AM »
Matt -- I'm no expert, but to me "Anatomy" is the single best and most cohesive primer about gca available. Ever since I read it, I've had this lurking question in the back of my mind, i.e. why do I continue to read and/or post on gca.com when anything relevant that can be meaningfully read or said about the subject has already been said (and read) in that book?

That's one of the reasons I do so much 'beard pulling' on here, i.e. it is the one aspect/approach that TD managed to avoid! What's left for me now is to ask questions like: "What are the Top 100 Courses (Modern) from the Perspective of Astronauts in a Space Station who have just ingested Mushrooms after having immersed themselves in Post-Jungian Transpersonal Psychology"....for whatever that's worth

Peter
 
« Last Edit: April 04, 2015, 11:53:11 AM by PPallotta »

Thomas Dai

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Tom Doak's "Anatomy of a Golf Course"
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2015, 12:06:21 PM »
When my son expressed a bit of interest in how golf courses were designed and built the first book I passed to him to read was..........TD's 'Anatomy of a golf course'. A belated thank you to TD for writing it!
Atb

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +1/-1
Re: Tom Doak's "Anatomy of a Golf Course"
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2015, 09:02:26 PM »
When I was in Argentina, a member at The Jockey Club gave me a Spanish-language translation of the book.  It has also been translated into Japanese, Korean, and Finnish (!) though I don't think there are very many copies of those.

The publisher still sells about 1000 copies per year of the book in English, 23 years after it was released.  It was a late bloomer.


Mike_Young

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Tom Doak's "Anatomy of a Golf Course"
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2015, 09:57:21 PM »
When I was in Argentina, a member at The Jockey Club gave me a Spanish-language translation of the book.  It has also been translated into Japanese, Korean, and Finnish (!) though I don't think there are very many copies of those.

The publisher still sells about 1000 copies per year of the book in English, 23 years after it was released.  It was a late bloomer.



It's a good solid well written book.....good job (and that does not make me a BB) ;D ;D
"just standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona"

James Bennett

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Tom Doak's "Anatomy of a Golf Course"
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2015, 05:53:30 AM »
It is a book where each copy gets read by several different people over time.
Its circulation is a multiple of the copies sold.
Bob; its impossible to explain some of the clutter that gets recalled from the attic between my ears. .  (SL Solow)

Garland Bayley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Tom Doak's "Anatomy of a Golf Course"
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2015, 07:27:30 PM »
It's #2 of my top 2. The Spirit of St. Andrews is my #1.

Tom, you just have to relate humorous stories ala Dr. Mac to raise your standing. ;)
"I enjoy a course where the challenges are contained WITHIN it, and recovery is part of the game  not a course where the challenge is to stay ON it." Jeff Warne

Mark Hissey

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Tom Doak's "Anatomy of a Golf Course"
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2015, 12:23:54 AM »
It's the best book on architecture that I've read by a country mile.

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +1/-1
Re: Tom Doak's "Anatomy of a Golf Course"
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2015, 07:24:16 AM »
Tom, you just have to relate humorous stories ala Dr. Mac to raise your standing. ;)


I wrote the book when I was 30 and had three courses to my name.  [That's one reason why it is the rare example of a book on design with lots of diagrams of other people's golf holes.]  I would have some more stories now, I guess, but I've never considered re-writing it; I doubt I could do as good a job again.

Garland Bayley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Tom Doak's "Anatomy of a Golf Course"
« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2015, 12:48:31 PM »
Tom, you just have to relate humorous stories ala Dr. Mac to raise your standing. ;)


I wrote the book when I was 30 and had three courses to my name.  [That's one reason why it is the rare example of a book on design with lots of diagrams of other people's golf holes.]  I would have some more stories now, I guess, but I've never considered re-writing it; I doubt I could do as good a job again.

The Spirit of St. Andrews was a later in career product of Dr. Mac. We'll look forward to the future edition where you tell the stories.
"I enjoy a course where the challenges are contained WITHIN it, and recovery is part of the game  not a course where the challenge is to stay ON it." Jeff Warne

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