December 4, 2006

CLASSICS OF GOLF MAKES AVAILABLE A RARE PEEK INSIDE THE CLUBHOUSE OF THE ROYAL & ANCIENT GOLF CLUB OF ST. ANDREWS

PEARL RIVER, NY--Michael P. Beckerich, owner and publisher of Classics of Golf, announced that the newest book it is making available to the golf community is "Art and Architecture of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club."

The 128-page, full-color, 8.5x11-inch hardcover provides a unique and privileged look at the astonishing collection of artwork inside the clubhouse of the R&A--and at the history and design of the famous and oft-expanded building itself. Price: $45

One of the most iconic structures in all of golf, the R&A clubhouse is well-known--but only on the outside. This book reveals the richness of the art collection within. The book includes the earliest known painting of golf on the Old Course, dating to around 1740.

Authors Peter Lewis (since 1992 Historian of the R&A), Fiona Grieve (an art historian and former Curator of the British Golf Museum) and Keith Mackie (Editorial Consultant to the R&A and a member of the voting body of the World Golf Hall of Fame) have written a lucid and engrossing text to accompany page-after-page of full-color reproductions. These include portraits of R&A captains, legendary figures in the game, maps and plans of the St. Andrews courses, landscapes, royal and group portraits, sketches, caricatures and cartoons.

"This book tells the story of the developing clubhouse and the growing art collection," writes Dr. A.M. Mathewson, Captain of the R&A 1997-8, in his Introduction, "revealing a wealth of hitherto unpublished detail about these lesser known aspects of the game's most widely recognized golf club."

Below, taken from the book, is a portrait of Andrew Kirkaldy, who succeeded Old Tom Morris and was the first of only four men to hold the title of Honorary Professional at St. Andrews. He held the post from 1910 until his death in 1934.