Skip to footer

7 books for golfers and fairway fans

Spring sunshine glints off golf clubs once again, stirring those who play, enjoy watching, or simply communing with the game through the printed word. Here are excerpts from seven books that range from a young caddie's perspective to a closeup of a famous course architect.

1. “The Kingdom of Golf in America”

  • By Ross Atkin Staff writer

By Richard J. Moss

University of Nebraska Press

388 pages

“If we look at sport spectating as an extension of theater, it is clear that the nature of the venue is crucial. In all the major sport venues, except golf, the spectator’s vantage point is fixed. A stadium or an arena is simply very different from a golf course. The site of the action is clearly fixed to a prescribed area and in contrast to a golf course, the area is relatively small. The typical golf fan may wander for miles as he or she watches the action, or they may simply take up a position and watch the event pass before them. Finally, a golf fan may be at the event to see a course and a club that is ordinarily closed to the public. In the twenties, and even today, a golf tournament’s attraction may include the chance to wander the grounds and see the famous holes at Augusta, Merion, Oakmont, Baltustrol, Winged Foot, or Pebble Beach.” 

1 of 7
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.