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Augusta National a Mere Shadow of Past Glory, Claims New "Lost Links" Book Contact Brett Marshall CHELSEA, Mich. (March 18, 2003) - Golf enthusiasts who hang on The Masters' every drive, chip, and putt might not realize that Augusta National Golf Club, the annual tournament's revered site, has been drastically changed from its original design - and not at all for the better. So asserts golf historian Daniel Wexler in his new book, Lost Links: Forgotten Treasures from Golf's Golden Age ($45.00 from Clock Tower Press). The 240-page volume is Wexler's second on lost courses. The first, entitled The Missing Links, was released in June 2000 to award-winning acclaim. "The simple fact is," notes Wexler, a former golf pro, "that while Augusta's initial hole-routing plan remains largely intact, the present course bears little resemblance to its spectacular original. It has been methodically transformed into a less strategic, less exciting, distinctly modern affair." Lost Links gets to the historical heart of over 70 classic courses that have disappeared or have been dramatically altered from their original designs. Lavishly illustrated with course diagrams and archival photographs, the book builds on its sister volume to provide a thorough view of an American golfing landscape long ago demolished in the name of population growth and economic progress. The lead chapter of Lost Links - with its reproductions of Dr. Alister MacKenzie's original sketches of holes and greens for Augusta National - exemplifies the book's record of damage to classic course designs. And, as later chapters show, Augusta is far from the only golf mecca to have suffered a major design make-over since course architecture's pre-World War II Golden Age. Lost Links highlights Seth Raynor's original designs for the Palm Beach Winter Club, since radically restyled. Readers can also explore changes to 15 courses designed by Donald Ross, eight by Devereux Emmet, six by William Langford, and three by A.W. Tillinghast. Maps detail locations of lost courses in eight prominent U.S. golfing cities. Clock Tower Press offers one of the world's largest catalogs of golf titles, plus books on Michigan regional topics. Headquartered in Chelsea, Mich., the publisher launches approximately ten new titles each year into the $300 million golf book market. |