Author Joel Zuckerman has produced a reverential tribute to the work of golf's greatest living designer.

Profiling 130 courses and focusing closely on the role played by wife Alice in Dye's illustrious career, the book is arranged by decades. Readers will see how his style has developed, from the restrained, low profile look of The Golf Club, built in the 1960s, to the frankly over the top visuals of later projects such as Whistling Straits.

While Dye's aesthetic may not always be to everyone's taste, no-one can question his ability to make golfers think, or his impact on course design. But the former insurance salesman is a complex figure: he is the direct progenitor of the revival of classical design principles we see nowadays, yet he is also the key influence on the TPC design philosophy – how many courses of the last 50 years have been more influential than Sawgrass? Zuckerman's book won't solve the conundrum of Dye, but it will provide great reading nonetheless.

Abrams, £19.99/US$29.95

This article first appeared in issue 14 of Golf Course Architecture, published in October 2008.