Product Description

Alister MacKenzie was one of golf's greatest architects.  He designed his courses so that players of all skill levels could enjoy the game while still creating fantastic challenges for the most experienced players.  Several of MacKenzie's courses, such as Augusta National, Cypress Point, and Pasatiempo, remain in the top 100 today.  In his "lost" 1933 manuscript, published for the first time in 1995 and now finally available in paperback, MacKenzie leads you through the evolution of golf--from St. Andrews to the modern-day golf course--and shares his insight on great golf holes, the swing, technology and equipment, putting tips, the USGA, the Royal & Ancient, and more.  With fascinating stories about Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, and many others, The Spirit of St.  Andrews gives valuable lessons for all golfers as well as an intimate portrait of Alister MacKenzie, a true legend of the game.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #726159 in Books
• Published on: 1998-03-02
• Released on: 1998-03-02
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 9.00" h x .50" w x 6.00" l, .84 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From Amazon.com
In 1933 Alister MacKenzie put on paper his considerable golfing knowledge. One of the game's most revered course designers--he conceived Augusta National, site of the Masters, and served the hallowed links of St. Andrews for years as consulting architect--MacKenzie synthesized his thoughts on golf's history, its equipment, its personalities, and his musings on what makes a great course and what makes a great hole, into a manuscript that lay hidden for more than 60 years. Finally available, it stands as one of the most courtly and cultivated treatises ever written on the royal and ancient game. His concepts of the psychology of design are as apt today as when he penned them, and his anecdotal spinnings on his own golfing trials should inspire anyone who's thought of picking up a club.

From the Publisher
"If golf has had a true renaissance man, surely it was Alister MacKenzie....MacKenzie's prose sparkles as much today as it did 60 years ago."
--GOLF Magazine

"The Spirit of St. Andrews may have been written sixty years ago, but much of its content is timeless. MacKenzie never minces words, and his views on golf, golfers, and courses remind us that he was not only a brilliant architect but one of the most provocative characters the game has produced."
--George Peper, Editor-in-Chief, GOLF Magazine

"Alister MacKenzie believed that the chief object of a golf architect should be 'to imitate beauties of nature so closely as to make his work indistinguishable from Nature herself.' He showed us the way in this regard....I am lucky to have the book in my library."
--Michael Murphy, author of Golf in the Kingdom and The Kingdom of Shivas Irons

"In golf-as-religion circles, [the publication of The Spirit of St. Andrews] might be likened to the discovery of another Dead Sea scroll....It's a large dose of common sense about what makes a golf course interesting and fun."
--Wall Street Journal

About the Author
Alister MacKenzie was born in England.  He practiced medicine and served as a civil surgeon in the Boer War, beginning his career in golf-course design shortly after returning home.  He died in 1934.