Pat Ruddy's self-published memoir of his years spent creating his course at the European Club, is everything anyone who has ever had contact with the man would expect. Funny, touching, iconoclastic and terrifying, Ruddy's text, along with a series of photographs by his son Gerard, exemplifies the personal vision behind the club, one of very few genuine links courses built in recent years.

It's perhaps appropriate that Fifty Years in a Bunker is self-published. Maybe Ruddy's book would have been polished a little more by another publisher, but would it have lost something of what makes it – and him, and his course – unique? Perhaps the same could be said for the European Club itself. This is a story of vision, bravery, and even a little madness. Ruddy Golf Library, €25.00 www.theeuropeanclub.com