There is no better book for understanding golf in America during the boom period of the 1920’s (and into the 1930’s) than The American Golfer. Whether wrapping their arms around the whole of golf or focusing on minutia, a cadre of top writers produced tremendously keen monthly articles for the magazine of the same name, under the 16-year editorship of Grantland Rice. Charles Price selected articles for this book from Bobby Jones, Bernard Darwin, O. B. Keeler, Ernest Jones, Grantland Rice, Chick Evans, Jerry Travers, Walter Hagen, et al (28-by-lines). One article is as arresting as the next and there are 75-features to enjoy in this broad collection.

The unprecedented exploits and personality of Bobby Jones appear frequently as subjects. This is very much a book about him, as Jones captivated America, his was name commonplace on the lips of sport patrons and non-fans alike. The vast army of amateur golfers thought of him as “one of them” and looked to this golf magazine of the day to give them the real skinny. Bernard Darwin reported the enthusiasm when Jones won his second British Open Championship in 1928. Difficult to imagine, but there were 12,000-people around the last green when Jones sank the winning putt. “It really was an astonishing, almost terrifying scene…the crowd flung away stewards as if they were straws…in the twinkling of an eye the champion had disappeared.” At the other end of the spectrum, Grantland Rice, who in his lifetime would write 67-million words*, has a good analysis of the champion’s swing in A Close-Up of Bobby Jones. As for Jones himself, he offers several excellent instructional articles. He also tells about “the finest golfer I have ever seen,” Joyce Wethered. After playing with her from the championship tees at St. Andrews, Jones wrote “She did not miss one shot…I had never played golf with anyone, man or woman, who made me feel so utterly outclassed.” To add even more power to the punch, Jones made that statement in 1930, the year he won the four major golf titles of the world.

Not everything is as serious as a three-foot put for the club championship, and Ring Lardner and Rube Goldberg offer their brands of tonic in a meaningless travelogue on Bermuda and an appeal for left-handed golf courses. The Eight-Inch Golf Course by Eddie Loos sounds humorous, but it is a serious discussion on building mental patterns for our swings. Many of the articles are about personalities like Leo Diegel who said he never won the U. S. Open because “I’ve never yet come to an American Open Championship either keyed up or excited. I’ve got to be in a certain frame of mind…” Long drive champions, have you ever heard of Clarence Gamber? In 1927 at Oakmont's then 600+-yard 12^th-hole, “Gam” was on (attested) with a drive and an iron! Lawson Little won the “double double” in 1933-34 and 1934-35 (winning both the British and American Amateur Championships two years running.)

Walter Travis, founder of The American Golfer magazine in 1910 and its editor for the first ten years, cannot be forgotten. Travis was perhaps the most committed devotee ever to embrace the game and he used the written word as he did his clubs, with dexterity and purpose. He single-handedly created the publication and turned over the reins to Rice at a perfect time for the magazine and each man personally. An unabashed hero-worshiper, Rice prefers to remember Travis as a great and unique player: “Just consider, as a starter, these two facts. He won the first tournament he ever entered at the age of thirty-five, a month or so after he had hit his first golf ball. He won the last tournament he ever entered, the Metropolitan Championship (For many years, the Met Open was one of the major US tournaments. Ed.) at the age of fifty-four, in 1915, and on his way through he beat Jerry Travers, the United States Open champion of the same year.” Rice was a champion too. He took the magazine to a new level by attracting great talent for the sake of diversity and conviviality. He built on Travis’ foundation with personal charisma, promoting good sportsmanship and appreciation for the game they both admired. Enjoy The American Golfer like pizza or apple pie, a slice at a time.

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