Description:
Not many magazines last long enough to celebrate their fifth anniversary, let alone their 50th, so when Golf Digest hit the half-century mark, it commemorated the achievement by teeing up a gift: a big, brassy, classy volume any golfer would be proud to display on the coffee table. Culling from its considerable archives, Golf Digest delivers a bagful of good writers and good writing on golf's most hallowed grounds, fascinating characters, significant events, and important tips and lessons, all of it illustrated with some arrestingly beautiful photography. The lineup is certainly impressive: Herbert Warren Wind on Seminole, Peter Dobereiner on Irish links, Charles Price on Bobby Jones, Dan Jenkins on Arnold Palmer, Michael Bamberger on caddies, and Marcia Chambers on golf's "grass ceiling" are just a sample, plus there's stroke-saving advice from Jones, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, and Bob Toski. There are even selections from 50 years' worth of letters to the editor, and the positive ID on the single worst golfer in America. (You know who you are!) Given its status and longevity, Golf Digest naturally weighs in on some of the bests that it's witnessed: best courses, holes, and shots, along with the 50 people who've most shaped the game during the magazine's tenure. It's a noble performance from one of the royal and ancient game's steadiest--and after 50 years, sturdiest--voices. --Jeff Silverman
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