A monumental book in the library of golf this title was the best history of golf authored by an American when it was first published. Charles Blair Macdonald was a physically large, intelligent, strong-willed person rightly referred to as one of the fathers of American golf. His life and the growth of the sport in the U. S. are inextricably intertwined: these first-hand accounts are insightful, probing and important. There is no golf club in America that can afford not to have this book on their shelves.

The introduction of the general history of Scottish golf, transitions specifically to the Old Course at St. Andrews. There Macdonald knew all the players—the greatest golfers of their time—such as Old and Young Tom Morris, David Strath, Jimmy Anderson, Tom Kidd, Andra Kirkaldy, and Bob Martin. Surprisingly little had been written on golf at St. Andrews (See the Classics of Golf selection Reminiscences of Golf on St. Andrews Links (1887) by James Balfour), and Macdonald’s accounts are a rare repository of facts and personages. The focus then shifts to the American scene. Macdonald chronicles the growth of the game through biography, personal remembrances and golf course development. Destined to be in a unique position at the dawning of golf in America, Macdonald was totally familiar with a game few knew much, if anything, about. American golf benefited from the fact that Macdonald learned the game from Old Tom—becoming a steadfast devotee in the honorable and ancient tradition.

Macdonald returned from his education in Scotland in 1875. For the next 17 years, he barely touched a club. Imagine his frustration and loneliness as he sat in Chicago with great memories of the grand old game, but without an opponent or a course to play on! He learned immigrant Scots had formed The Saint Andrew’s Golf Club in New York in 1888, and by 1892, Macdonald finally brought golf to Chicago in the guise of a seven-hole course, eventually becoming the Onwentsia Club.

Trademarks of early American golf were the rawness of early courses, the rough and ready approach to the “new” game, and the desire to conquer all despite lack of pedigree. Tales of the earliest tournaments, how and why the USGA was formed, its principle proponents and subsequent success, are a few of the topics detailed. There is a fascinating section on early implements, including a photograph of the original set of clubs Macdonald used, made by Old Tom in 1873 and 1874. Here also are uncommon first-person recollections regarding the distance and playability of the feather ball versus gutta percha ball versus the wound ball (invented by Macdonald’s friend Coburn Haskell).

Golf is unique among sports due to its infinite variety of terrain: the more interesting the links, the more interesting the game. The true genius of Macdonald would best exhibit itself in his course work; similarly, the main focus of Scotland’s Gift-Golf centers on golf courses and golf architecture. It is both a primer and a treatise. Only as the game expanded past the natural links over which golf had been played for centuries did the need for course design arise. Macdonald recognized the dire need for good courses in America. He labored over what the ideal golf course would be like, and then studied the best known holes in Great Britain, cataloging their features through his drawings and later incorporating them into his own designs. The planning, development, and construction of his masterpiece, The National Golf Links of America set the bar for all other projects to come: America now had a world-class course and club to be emulated. Macdonald also recounts other famous courses he designed and built with help of Seth Raynor as engineer of construction, each a story unto itself. Courses which are described in detail in the book include the Mid Ocean Club and the Yale Golf Club.

The final section of Rambling Remarks reveals a softer man beneath the hard exterior. Golf gave Macdonald great pleasure, a reason to live, and ultimately, contentment. He gave back: the turf we play on, the rules we play by, and an umbrella over all. He talks about Bobby Jones and Johnny Low, about one-armed golfers and ball-stealing caddies, about steel shafts and slow play. His satisfaction of 55 years spent in golf is clear in this summary of the state of the game.

“When one considers how golf has been introduced on virgin soil 3,000 miles from the fountainhead, among people who had been taught from the time of the Revolution that they were a law unto themselves and resented any enthrallment which might be dictated by the mother country, it is really extraordinary how well the game has established itself in harmony with most that was best in it in its Scotch home.”

Scotland’s Gift, Golf: Reminiscences 1872-1927 by Charles Blair Macdonald
New York: Scribners, first edition 1928, 340 pages, illustrated, cloth.
Stamford, CT: Classics of Golf, 1985, 340 pages, illustrated, cloth. Foreword by Herbert Warren Wind, Afterword by Alistair Cooke

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