10) Following the Leaders

By Al Laney

The important golf tournaments are covered of course and covered with real zest, but the centerpiece in Following the Leaders is always the personalities of the stars – how they react to pressure, how they conduct themselves when they are behind or ahead, how they prepare for championships, what their life is like off the course, how they see the world and each other. I think we probably get to know Jones, Sarazen, Collett, Wethered, Hagen, Hogan, Venturi, and Nicklaus better in these pages than other golf books. Laney knew them all. Bob Jones became one of his closest friends.

9) A Round of Golf Courses

By Patric Dickinson

In this book, Patric Dickinson selects 18 of his favourite golf courses for analysis. He examines in detail the origins of courses including Ganton, Hoylake, Little Aston, Portrush, Sunningdale and Walton Heath, and also considers the effects inventions such as the rubber-cored ball had on course design. Dickinson’s approach conveys to the reader both the delights and the hazards of each of the courses, adding touches of humour to his commentaries makes this an easy entry into the Top 10 Best Golf Books list.

8) Darwin Sketchbook

By Bernard Darwin

A selection of Darwin’s incomparable portraits of the early champion golfers, including a brief autobiography.

Afterword by William Campbell, the exemplary amateur champion.

7) To The Linksland

By Michael Bamberger

Published to universal acclaim a decade ago, To the Linksland is the story of Michael Bamberger’s search for golfing nirvana in Europe, from the rough-and-tumble courses of the Continent to the hallowed fairways of Scotland. In 1991 Bamberger, a lifelong golfer whose game had stagnated, quit his sportswriting job and went to Europe with his wife in search of the true soul of golf.

6) The Bogey Man

By George Plimpton

Plimpton hit on the formula of an amateur thrown among the best pros in various sports. He is, in fact, one of America’s leading humorists, and has graciously written a new foreword for this edition.

Foreword by George Plimpton

5) Scotland’s Gift Golf

By Charles B. Macdonald

One of the masterpieces of golf literature by America’s first official golf champion and one of its foremost golf architects.

Afterword by Alister Cooke.

4) The Complete Golfer

Edited by Herbert Warren Wind

Odds are against you in most games of chance. But if you ever wanted a sure bet, give this book to any golfer as a gift. It is similar to lunch at Muirfield; many choices through many courses, all worthy of the finest table, and all shared convivially. As such, it is sure to satisfy every palate. Open The Complete Golfer anywhere and you are very likely to find something you enjoy. The reason is due largely to the wonderful choices made for this anthology by editor Herbert Warren Wind. A quality miscellany requires good selection by the compiler, a success often determined by their breadth of knowledge on the subject.

3) Down the Fairway

By Robert T. Jones, Jr., and O.B. Keller

How would you feel if, as a first-time participant, you were leading the United States Amateur Championship field after the initial qualifying round? Kids dream themselves into those roles, but one kid found himself living that dream: Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., age-14*. With a storybook beginning like that, you know this golf book is going to be a bestseller. Here is Jones’ life story, full of more drama than a paperback thriller, written at the ripe old age of 24.

2) Dogged Victims of Inexorable Fate

By Dan Jenkins

Jenkins at his most incisive and hilarious, investigates the world of the pro tour.

Foreword by Herbert Warren Wind, Afterword by Dave Marr.

1) Story of American Golf

By Herbert Warren Wind

Wind’s masterpiece is one of the great books in golf and the easiest choice for number one on our Top 10 Best Golf Books list.

In the second half of the twentieth century, Wind contributed as much to golf as the force of nature with which he shares a name. He helped Ben Hogan codify his knowledge of the swing and Gene Sarazen and Jack Nicklaus tell their life stories in riveting fashion. (He also gave Amen Corner its name.) And, like a certain famous Englishman, he took golf reportage to a new level of specificity, insight and narrative grace, writing primarily for the New Yorker.