Gleanings from the Wayside

$70.00
by Albert Warren Tillinghast

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Gleanings from the Wayside, a new book of A.W. Tillinghast essays, reveals more of the secrets of the legendary golf course designer. In this the third and final book of his writings and drawings, supplemented by photography of the courses he describes, the best is saved for last. Like the two earlier books in this series -- The Course Beautiful (1995) and Reminiscence of the Links (1998) -- Gleanings from the Wayside displays Tillinghast’s journalistic skills as well as the magic of his course design. Themed around Tillie’s widespread travels in designing and building golf courses, the book takes the reader from "Texas Getting Bent-Minded" to "Out of the Adirondacks" to "Down to Old Mexico for Golf." Along the way, Tillie weaves many a humorous tale and "tells all" his secrets for creating great golf courses. He notes, "During forty years I have probably trod as many golf holes as any man in the world, many of my own creation and many, many more designed by others. I know a good hole when I see one and I think I know a bad one, too." The 160 pages of Tillinghast essays, brought to life by the books editors with over 300 antique photographs, make for a fun and informative read. Geoffrey Cornish sets the stage with a foreword while the editors have penned a bonus – an afterword that recounts Tillie’s travels as a consultant for the P.G.A. of America during the Great Depression, a period of his life that hitherto has proved elusive to scholars of course design. Though best known today as the architect of many famed courses including Baltusrol, Bethpage, Quaker Ridge and Winged Foot, Tillinghast also wrote prodigiously about golf. In Gleaning, editors Richard C. Wolffe, Jr., Robert S. Trebus and Stuart F. Wolffe offer forty-eight of this master golf architect’s essays. The titles of his essays capture the Tillinghast flair – The Gimmie Guys, The Ugly Duckling of the Course, A Hole is as Long as it Plays, An Exception to Rule, The Tiny Tims of Golf, Sans Sand Pits, Old Ananias Par and many more. The essays include Tillie’s own analysis of some of his greatest designs such as Winged Foot, Five Farms and others. He also analyzes masterworks by his good friend Donald Ross – Pinehurst Number 2 and Oakland Hills. A work that will live" -- Geoffrey Cornish, Historian, Society of Golf Course Architects Terrific Photographs, Revolutionary Writing, and Astonishing Admissions. -- Bob Labbance, Editor, Golf Collectors Society A.W. Tillinghast (“Tillie”) designed and constructed golf courses throughout North America. He did so in a time before interstate highways and air transportation. From the early teens through the late nineteen-thirties, Tillie traveled the continent, primarily by automobile, designing and redesigning golf courses. Although his documented design record credits him with around 70 original designs and an equal number of redesign assignments, this book reveals that he accomplished a lot more. In fact, late in his life Tillie was quoted as saying, “I have been intimately in touch with the construction of holes of my design on more than a thousand golf courses in every part of the land.” In this third volume of essays, Tillie recollects many of his travels and humorous tales. He also recalls in detail his design principals and opinions on modern golf course architecture. Tillie was a “road warrior.” He lived to travel and traveled to lived. From Jacksonville to San Antonio, from Way out West in California to Way down South in Old Mexico, and from out Tulsa Way and back to his stomping grounds in the East, Tillinghast provides his unique insights and fine points of good golf course design. As Tillie notes, “During forty years I have probably trod as many golf holes as any man in the world, many of my own creation and many, many more designed by others. I know a good hole when I see one and I think I know a bad one, too.” The titles to Tillie’s essays themselves capture the Tillinghast flair – The Gimie Guys, The Ugly Duckling of the Course, A Hole is as Long as it Plays, An Exception to Rule, The Tiny Tims of Golf, Sans Sand Pits, Old Ananias Par and many more. The essays include Tillie’s analysis of some of his greatest designs, Winged Foot, Five Farms and others. Tillie also analyzes a couple of masterwoorks by his good friend Donald Ross – Pinehurst Number 2 and Oakland Hills. The insight or genius of Tillie on golf course design can be seen in the following passage: “Often there is the danger of trespassing into the freakish when the planning of a thoroughly original hole is attempted, but so long as the shots called for are sound, and fit well together, there need be no great reluctance to depart from the conventional types. Indeed, it is safe to assert that far more interesting golf would be the result if conventions were not followed so slavishly…Any course to be successful must be popular, and the architect who might persist in sticking stubbornly to features of his own personal fancy, eve

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