Collecting Classic Golf Books

There’s an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on the hobby of collecting golf books. Author Jeffrey Trachtenberg writes:

Be warned: Golf bibliomania can become a consuming pursuit. Michael Hurdzan, a golf-course designer and partner in Hurdzan/Fry Environmental Golf Design, based in Columbus, Ohio, says he’s amassed 4,000 to 5,000 golf books and magazines; 300 comic-book covers with golf on them, and 140 pieces of sheet music related to the game. “The search hasn’t lost any of its intensity,” he says.

What should a novice collect? A good starting point would be “The Game of Golf and the Printed Word: 1566-2005” by Richard E. Donovan and Rand Jerris. After studying it, says George Fox, a golf-book specialist at PBA Galleries, a San Francisco auction house, readers should be able to narrow their focus. “Are you interested in the history of golf in America, or the history of the game itself?” he asks. “You could create a list of 100 titles, and then begin to collect.”

I’ve wanted to start a golf collection for some time now, but autographs, photos, and tournament memorabilia have never appealed to me. And I don’t really have the room for a club collection. Given that I’m a bibliophile, with thousands of books in the house already, a golf book collection would be a good place to start. I’ve already got a couple of older Herbert Warren Wind collections, and while I’m sure they’re not worth anything, that’s hardly the point. I like the idea of collecting golf material as a way of establishing my own personal link to the game’s great past.