32 TEE BOX The Evolution of Golf Course Design Colt & Alison in North America Keith Cutten’s history of golf course architecture has been long-awaited by many enthusiasts. Since his article on Horace Hutchinson in the pages of GCA two years ago, in which he revealed the long sought-after link between the nascent world of golf design and the Arts and Crafts movement (HGH’s studies in art under Symbolist master GF Watts), it has been clear that Cutten has a lot to tell us. This book is based on his thesis for the degree of Master of Landscape Architecture at the University of Guelph, and as that suggests, both the depth and breadth of Cutten’s research are remarkable. His painting of Hutchinson as, in many ways, the central figure in golf’s emergence in England, is radical and convincing. But the work covers much more than the emerging Golden Age; it goes right back to the 1840s and the very beginnings of golf design, such as Allan Robertson’s creation of the Road Hole green on the Old course at St Andrews, and right up to the present day too, a period on which Cutten is equally well informed. This is the most important work on golf architecture to be published in many years. It is a different beast to Jim Hansen’s majestic Robert Trent Jones biography, ‘A Difficult Par’, of a few years back, but it is just as impressive. Editor Paul Daley has brought his usual flair to work on the visuals. A part of me wishes Cutten had not tried to be so all-encompassing and given his remarkable research skills more room to shine, but this is a very minor quibble. Every regular reader of GCA should own a copy of The Evolution of Golf Course Design. C$90, cuttengolf.com Anthony Gholz Jr has been researching the work of Harry Colt, from his three pre-WW1 trips to North America, and his partner Hugh Alison, who spent much of the 1920s based in Detroit – for a good number of years, inspired by his discoveries of Alison’s role in the creation of Port Huron GC, his home club. Gholz’s book is another impressive piece of research. He has tracked Alison across the continent during the 1920s and identified the most comprehensive list of his courses yet produced, and his work on Alison’s American associate, Lynn Lavis, is especially new and informative. For anyone interested in Colt’s work, and that of his partner Alison, this is an essential read. US$75/US$95, blurb.com GOOD READ
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