Golf architects Forrest Richardson and Mark Fine have written a comprehensive guide to the history, design and theory of hazards.

It is, as they say in the foreword, a book about inconveniences – but the inconveniences that make golf courses challenging and interesting. Richardson and Fine define a hazard broadly – natural vegetation, they and their interviewees point out, can challenge the golfer just as much as a deep bunker or a vast lake. With a foreword from Pete Dye and contributions from many leading contemporary architects, as well as a primer on the styles of leading designers of the past, this is a book both practical and conceptual – it will be as much use to the course manager looking to learn more about maintaining his bunkers as to the upcoming architect who wants to understand the psychological impact of hazards.

John Wiley & Sons, £50/€69 www.wiley.com

This article first appeared in issue 4 of Golf Course Architecture, published in April 2006.