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GOLF
TEACHING PRO MAGAZINE®
POSTCARDS FROM THE PAST: WHAT RARE GOLF BOOKS CAN TEACH US
By Brian Wooley
USGTF Contributing writer - London, England
As much of golf is
played between the ears, it is not surprising that the game should
have spawned more books than any other sport. A high proportion of
these books are instructional. The quest for the magic swing secret
is probably as old as golf itself.
But, what is a “rare”
golf book? As I always tell my clients, they are not making them
anymore. Over time books get lost, damaged or destroyed. Any book
printed before the Great War of 1914 qualifies as rare. Any book
published before 1940 with a still-intact dust jacket is relatively
rare, and the condition of that dust jacket will have a material
effect on its value.
Scarcity will
inevitably be reflected in high and ever-rising prices. In 1913
Aleck Bauer wrote a seminal book, Hazards. Not having appeared in
the open market for some time, this book recently achieved a price
of around $10,000 on an internet auction site. The value of this
book is not simply its rarity; it still has an enduring message for
today’s game. The subtitle of the book gives a distinct clue: “Those
Essential Elements in a Golf Course without which the Game would be
Tame and Uninteresting.” For Bauer, hazards should be intimidating,
punishing affairs. He would have little patience with the tournament
pro who complains if the rake marks in a sand trap inhibit the use
of a fairway metal! Nearly 100 years after its publication, his book
acts as a reproach and challenge for golf architects whose principle
solution to new technology is to design and remodel courses of
greater and greater length.
While rare golf books
can no longer be made, a market in reprints, reproductions and
facsimile editions has happily developed in recent years. However,
these books have often been printed in small print runs and are
themselves often becoming difficult to find and therefore increasing
in value.
Future rare books
need not be particularly expensive or old. Just a few years before
he died, Bobby
Jones published his last book, Bobby Jones on Golf, in collaboration
with the eminent sporting artist Anthony Ravielli. Ravielli was an
action artist of genius, most famous for his work in illustrating
Ben Hogan’s legendary instructional books. Ravielli’s sinewy,
flowing lines were able to capture the essence of a golf swing in a
manner which the freeze frame cannot. It appears this book had a
relatively small print run and is becoming difficult to track down.
But, it meets the other necessary criterion of the rare book – it
gives pleasure and its lessons endure.
Rare golf books are
postcards from history, and the only mechanism for the great
pioneers and champions of the game to communicate with posterity in
the pre-digital age. We will never hear their voices or properly see
their swings, but their books remain to entertain and teach us.
Brian Woolley runs
the internet- based bookseller “Rare Golf Books” at
www.abebooks.com/home/raregolf. He can be contacted at
raregolfbooks@hotmail.com.
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