NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Globe-trotting golfer Tom Coyne has finally come home. And he’s ready to play all of it. After playing hundreds of courses overseas in the birthplace of golf,​ Coyne, the bestselling author of A Course Called Ireland and A Course Called Scotland, returns to his own birthplace and delivers a “heartfelt, rollicking ode to golf…[as he] describes playing golf in every state of the union, including Alaska: 295 courses, 5,182 holes, 1.7 million total yards” (The Wall Street Journal). In the span of one unforgettable year, Coyne crisscrosses the country in search of its greatest golf experience, playing every course to ever host a US Open, along with more than two hundred hidden gems and heavyweights, visiting all fifty states to find a better understanding of his home country and countrymen. Coyne’s journey begins where the US Open and US Amateur got their start, historic Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. As he travels from the oldest and most elite of links to the newest and most democratic, Coyne finagles his way onto coveted first tees (Shinnecock, Oakmont, Chicago GC) between rounds at off-the-map revelations, like ranch golf in Eastern Oregon and homemade golf in the Navajo Nation. He marvels at the golf miracle hidden in the sand hills of Nebraska and plays an unforgettable midnight game under bright sunshine on the summer solstice in Fairbanks, Alaska. More than just a tour of the best golf the United States has to offer, Coyne’s quest connects him with hundreds of American golfers, each from a different background but all with one thing in common: pride in welcoming Coyne to their course. Trading stories and swing tips with caddies, pros, and golf buddies for the day, Coyne adopts the wisdom of one of his hosts in Minnesota: the best courses are the ones you play with the best people. But, in the end, only one stop on Coyne’s journey can be ranked the Great American Golf Course. Throughout his travels, he invites golfers to debate and help shape his criteria for judging the quintessential American course. Should it be charmingly traditional or daringly experimental? An architectural showpiece or a natural wonder? Countless conversations and gut instinct lead him to seek out a course that feels bold and idealistic, welcoming yet imperfect, with a little revolutionary spirit and a damn good hot dog at the turn. He discovers his long-awaited answer in the most unlikely of places. Packed with fascinating tales from American golf history, comic road misadventures, illuminating insights into course design, and many a memorable round with local golfers and celebrity guests alike, A Course Called America is “a delightful, entertaining book even nongolfers can enjoy” (Kirkus Reviews).

Originally published in 1948, Herbert Warren Wind's work is considered the most thorough history of professional and amateur men's and women's golf in America. Includes many never-before published photos and covers the emergence of the first star players of the sport.

The classic history of golf in America beginning with the first clubs to arrive on the coast—from “golf’s most respected and authoritative writer” (Golf magazine). Widely regarded as the definitive account of America’s love affair with the world’s greatest game, this magisterial volume is Herbert Warren Wind’s masterpiece. From John Reid, the expatriate Scotsman who imported a set of clubs and balls from St. Andrews in 1888 and built a three-hole course on a cow pasture in Yonkers, New York, to Alan Shepard’s six-iron shot on the surface of the moon, The Story of American Golf documents the iconic moments in the sport’s first century in the United States. Wind captures legendary players, including C. B. Macdonald, Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus, in all their glory, and expertly analyzes the developments in style, equipment, and technique that created the modern game. Encyclopedic in scope and intimate in detail, The Story of American Golf is both a fitting tribute to the beautiful and fickle game that inspired a national obsession and a testament to Herbert Warren Wind’s incomparable talents as a journalist and historian.

An inclusive narrative of golf's history and popularity in the United States