Most critics assert this is Bernard Darwin’s best book. Since much of his literary output was columns and articles for newspapers and magazines, many of his popular golf books are anthologies. Golf Between Two Wars was conceived and written as a whole, covering two of the most interesting decades in the history of the game. The 1920s and ‘30s were a time when, Darwin realized upon reflection, “almost everything happened.” Darwin was from the old school of reporting, dashing about during tournaments, seemingly everywhere at once, trying to witness it all. The author says he wrote Golf Between Two Wars from memory, “not purely from laziness but because the memory retains most clearly the striking things.” Only first-hand recollections energize a book, making it “likely to have less monotony” than a dry, chronological history. Darwin moves from this subject to that in his will-o-the-wisp way, ignoring temporal sequencing as it suits. The result is a book that is factual, peculiarly cohesive and eminently readable.

Although a learned man from a family of authors, Darwin was capable of being a fan. He loved the people in golf as much as watching their battles, and he had many heroes. As a youth he marveled at Mure Fergusson and Horace Hutchinson, then Johnny Laidlay and Leslie Balfour entranced him. In later years, his idols were the Great Triumvirate of James Braid, Harry Vardon and J. H. Taylor. Without being maudlin, Darwin laments the passing of the generation whom, after five years of war, were past their golfing zeniths. Fortunately, new favorites replace old, and the handsome, talented Walter Hagen was in the vanguard of the 1920s American invasion. Consider that Hagen and Bobby Jones won all but one of the British Open Championships from 1924 through 1930 (and the two did not come every year). If the next three (Tommy Armour, Gene Sarazen and Denny Schute) are added, Americans won the coveted Claret Jug ten years on the trot. Dutifully impressed, Darwin narrates the achievements of these foreign champions, including an unforgettable chapter on the immortal Bobby Jones.

Personages attract attention, but Darwin also chronicles events proportionately and with equal skill. The Walker Cup Matches began officially in 1922 at the National Golf Links of America with the strongest home team ever assembled; all eight Americans were or would be U. S. Amateur champions! Darwin traveled over with the British team as a reporter, but implausibly assumed the role of captain and team player when Robert Harris fell ill. (Darwin won his singles match and lost in the foursomes with Cyril Tolley against Francis Ouimet and Jessie Guilford.) The recollection of the trip is riveting, as are the accounts of the event through the winless years (the team of Great Britain and Ireland lost the first eight encounters), and the glorious win at St. Andrews in 1938. Darwin, as did many from the old school, always had a special reverence for the amateurs. The chapter on The President’s Putter reveals that affinity. The Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society play the tournament, begun in 1920, at Rye every January; the number of good players who turn out is a fine testament to University and amateur competition. You can almost feel the bone chilling wind on the links and the fire’s warmth in the Dormy House when you read Darwin’s tributes. The Ryder Cup was another institution established during this period and warrants a chapter. One of the interesting sidebars concerns Leo Diegel, whom in 1929 Darwin called “the most alarming player on the American side.” Diegel was driving straight and long, but more importantly, was deadly with the putter. If you remember, his style with the short stick was chicken-winged, with the elbows pointing along the line of the putt, fore and aft. Quips Darwin: “Within a week hundreds of British golfers were assiduously conjugating the verb “to diegel” and trying to attain what they believed to be his pose.” A hilarious thought.

The period between the two wars was tumultuous, both in the world at large and in the world of golf. The professional golfer had gained long overdue recognition; odd old wooden shafted clubs gave way to graduated steel shafted clubs; the wound ball was balanced and offered cover options; golf course design had developed into a legitimate profession. These topics and more make for interesting reading, especially when presented by the best and most reflective of all the golf writers, Bernard Darwin. One final note: unlike too many golf books, Golf Between Two Wars is indexed, which makes it a viable reference tool. If any, this is a book you will find yourself re-reading.

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