Dream away the long winter nights in this fantasy world

Books for Christmas Today: Golf

WHEN THE World Atlas of Golf was first published in 1976, Tom Scott in Golf Illustrated gave it the sort of review a publisher would kill for at this time of year. "A book," Scott wrote, "you would love to give to your oldest and dearest golfing friend and one which you yourself would like to receive as a present."

Scott went on: "It succeeds brilliantly and the result of the combined efforts of all concerned is a book which far exceeds anything of the kind which has ever been attempted before and which therefore is a golf collector's dream."

The revised and updated edition (Hamlyn, pounds 25) published this autumn cannot, quite obviously, live up to the whole of that tribute but it is still a magnificent tome and would be welcomed by any golfer even if he or she already possessed the original. Like a good round of golf - where all parts of a player's game come together and are complemented by fine weather, good company and a well-stocked 19th - the combined efforts of all those involved in the new edition of the World Atlas of Golf make it the ideal antidote to the long winter nights as playing gives way to fantasy golf.

The subtitle is "The Greatest Courses and How to Play Them", something you can do from your armchair. The superb photography, stylish illustrations and course guides bring each of the exotic venues to life, but it is the quality of the writing that does most to stir the imagination.

The publishers of the original edition found the perfect fourball for their enterprise. Pat Ward-Thomas, Herb Warren Wind and Charles Price are giants of the pantheon of golf writers while Peter Thomson, the five- times Open winner, belongs to the pantheon of champion golfers. It was the task of Derek Lawrenson to update their prose and he has brought it off far better than when many modern golf course architects are hired to revise an old masterpiece.

Lawrenson has left alone much of the main text but overhauled many of the accompaniments that illustrated some of the great holes and their place in the history of the great championships. Modern technology has not only led to many changes to old courses but to how they are played. The perfect example is the 11th at Augusta National. Once played by Ben Hogan with a drive and a four-iron deliberately short right of the green, Tiger Woods could shoot straight for the flag with a sand wedge while winning the 1997 Masters.

Some 70 courses are covered in great detail and another 110 are featured with short notes in the Gazetteer. Lawrenson has left the choice of courses largely as it was, a comment on the quality of new tournament venues in the last 25 years although Muirfield Village is unlucky not to be promoted to the main section. Two that have been are Ballybunion and Royal Troon while three new additions are The Belfry, soon to stage its fourth Ryder Cup in 2001, Loch Lomond and Valderrama.

Reflections on the great courses and great players and more are featured in Dobereiner on Golf... and more (edited by Robert Green and Ruth Dobereiner, Aurum Press, pounds 12.95). Peter Dobereiner may have passed away two years ago but his words live on. This collection may have all been published previously, mainly in the Observer, Golf World or Golf Digest, but are no less welcome for all that.

The "and more" in the title refers to scripts written for TW3, the Have I Got News for You of its day, which only goes to emphasise that whether Dobereiner was writing about golf or other matters, his principal aim was to raise a laugh.

Some of Dobereiner's best lines - such as "the best way to build a golf course is to start 200 years ago" - are featured in The Quotable Golfer (edited by Robert Windeler, Running Press, pounds 9.99).

Much wit and wisdom is contained between the covers. Jack Nicklaus-designed courses, according to David Feherty, "are like those hot-air hand dryers in toilets. They are a great idea and everybody uses them once but not again. They take too long."

The combustible Tommy Bolt had this to say when asked for a golfing tip: "Never break your putter and your driver in the same round or you're dead." But George Archer seems to have got the wrong end of the stick: "If it wasn't for golf, I'd probably be a caddie today."

Finally, for the millionaire in your life who has everything, there is The Golfer and the Millionaire (by Mark Fisher, Cassell, pounds 5.99). From the same author of The Instant Millionaire, How to Think like a Millionaire and The New Art of Loving, this is a self-improvement book subtitled "... it's about having the balls to succeed."

This is exactly the sort of book that Peter Dobereiner was thinking of when he wrote that "used properly, a book is all you need to become a champion.

"What you do is balance it on the top of your head and then swing a club as hard as you can. Once you have mastered the art of taking a full, vicious swing without dislodging the book, you can play golf. If you should succumb to the temptation of reading it, then all is lost."

Andy Farrell