How to collect golf books for beginners

First editions or reprints?

2009-05-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

Serious golf book collectors will only buy first editions. If your ambition is to own a desirable, marketable collection of golf books, then I advise you to buy them exclusively.

You need to know your subject, because there are exceptions to this rule . You gain knowledge of old golf books by buying a good bibliography on the subject, and the only one I know of is co-authored by Donovan and Murdoch. The Game of Golf and the Printed Word, published 1985, I think, is an excellent companion for the serious golf book collector.

Some of the older golf books are almost impossible to obtain in the first edition, so it might be a case of having to own the later edition, or printing, rather than not possess the book at all.

Don't buy Book Club editions, as a general rule. Buy the original version by the publisher for the bulk of your golf book collection. There are though, exceptions to not buying Book Club editions. If you are buying golf books for financial profit I can think of at least one Book Club edition I would readily buy, given the opportunity. You gain this kind of knowledge by reading golf book price lists and catalogues over time.

Modern golf books should be treated selectively by the serious golf book collector. You are looking for books which are likely to appeal to golf book collectors for many years to come, so the subject matter is crucial in influencing your decisions.

Collecting Golf Instruction Books

2009-04-11T06:16:00.000-07:00

What golf books should I buy?

Not all golf books are collectible. That is if your intention is to build a desirable collection which could easily be sold at some future date by auction.

In this mini series of articles about collecting golf books I am starting with golf instruction books, as these are the most readily available golf books to start a golf book collection.

Since the late nineteen eighties there has been a big increase in the volume of golf literature that has been published. No doubt this increase has matched the rising interest in golf as a sport for all.

We golfers readily identify with our golfing heroes, of all ages, past and present, and we generally want to buy the books they have written just to see how they play or played the game, and find out what we can learn from them.

The great thing about golf literature is that it never seems to become dated. The instructional principles written about in Golf Made Easy, published in 1930 by H. B. Martin are as applicable today as they were the day the book was written. Golf equipment and golf courses have changed since that date, but the golf game is still the same challenge as it always was and surely always will be, for us novices especially.

Which golf books you buy depends on your collecting goals. If you are a keen golfer and want to improve your technique, then collecting golf instruction books might be for you.

If you prefer to savour the rich golf literature of the past, and here I'm thinking of the great golf reporters whose words described the action on the golf course long before the advent of moving pictures and television. Bernard Darwin comes to mind, in this context.

Here are a couple of collecting themes for golf instruction books which might inspire some collecting ideas of your own.

1. Because of the vast amount of books published on golf instruction you could limit a collection to say, 1950. Or it could be any other year of your choice. I know of some golf collectors who have chosen only to collect those books published in the year they were born.

2. Limit your collection of golf books to a few of your favourite golf authors. For example you could start by collecting golf books written by Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Cary Middlecoff, Arnold Palmer, Harry Vardon, David Leadbetter, Nick Faldo, Henry Cotton, Ben Hogan. This list can be as long or short as you like. That's the whole point of collecting golf books there are so many collecting variations and themes to choose from to build a worthwhile collection of your own.

Are there any golf books I should avoid collecting?

It depends what your motives for golf book collecting are. If you are buying for investment only, I wouldn't buy remaindered stock or book club editions. I would be wary about buying reprints as well. Though with older books, it depends.

If you are buying for pleasure, then everyone buys what they want and the only person you are pleasing is yourself.

In a future article I shall discussing the history of the golf game, and mention the key golf literature in this area of golf book collecting.

How To Collect Golf Books - Where to buy old golf books

2009-03-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

Old golf books - where do you buy them?

Before starting a golf books collection you might want to have a look around at the places where you can buy old golf books. Not everyone sells them.

When you first start a golf book collection, I think its best if you see the books in the flesh, so to speak, before buying. That way you get to look at the books condition and see what the book is about. Both of these are very important, especially the condition of the book, as this is directly related to its price.

I also believe its a good idea to buy most of your books from the same supplier / dealer, and if you can build up a good relationship with that supplier or dealer you could receive a favorable discount on your purchases, and so save some money.

I would purchase golf books from bricks and mortar book shops, and from online retailers as well. On the Internet, the specialist golf book dealers are the most knowledgeable about the books they sell. Secondhand booksellers who sell the occasional golf book in their stock cannot be as knowledgeable as the full time specialist. You can find the name of current golf book dealers by performing a Google search.

I used to be a specialist golf book seller myself, as well as a golf book collector, so I have the benefit of insight into the world of golf book collecting from the perspective of the customer and of the seller.

It used to be possible , by combing all the secondhand booksellers and charity shops, in various localities, to find the odd gem at an incredibly cheap price. In these more enlightened days, however, when buying and selling secondhand books is available to everyone, it is now more the exception than the rule.

In a future post I shall discussing what golf books to buy and what golf books not to buy.

How to collect golf books - a guide for beginners

2009-03-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

How to collect golf books.

You don't have to play the game of golf to enjoy the written word as well.
The chances are though, if you are a golfer you will want to learn how you can improve your technique or stance, or whatever other aspect of the golf game you choose, in order to complete your round of golf in as few shots as possible. That is the essence of the game.

There's no doubt golf can be a frustrating game, and it is by no means an easy game either. If anyone claims that it is easy, don't believe them. Whether you are a Tiger Woods or Joe Average, it's the same golf game for everybody, the only difference is Tiger Woods makes the golf game look easy.

Depending on your level of expertise, today's round of 80 can all too easily become over 100 tomorrow, when its cold, windy and wet, or even when the weather conditions are similar to today's.

Most golfers will want to improve some part of their golf game at some stage in their playing career, such as putting, driving, chipping, etc. so it makes sense to start by collecting golf instructional books.

Historically, these kind of golf books first started to appear around the turn of the twentieth century, and coincidentally these early golf books have become very collectible and are keenly sought after by the golf book collecting fraternity.

If you ever get the chance, have a look at some pictures of these early golf books in auctioneers catalogues, or at online golf auctioneers, in order to appreciate the often elegant and artistic design of their front covers. The Art of Golf, published 1913, by Joshua Taylor is just one example of this.

You could start by having a read of the excellent golf titles by Harry Vardon, after whom of course the famous Vardon grip is named.

If you can't or don't want to buy the original versions of these golf books, there are some excellent reprint editions available. Basically, its just the information in the book that you want to read, though if you are a collector you will want to buy an original edition.

Other than starting with these early golf books by their renowned authors, another approach could be to have a look at contemporary golf teachers such as Sam Torrance or David Leadbetter.

The more golf instruction books you read, you will begin to notice recurrent themes in the principles which are taught.

Given the sheer volume of golf instructional books which have been appeared in written form over the last century it might be prudent to choose a cut off date as the basis for a golf book collection. One collector I know of chose the year 1950 as his 'collect to' date.

Another idea is to collect all the golf books published in the year of your choice. It could be 1969. If you choose this route, you will need to kit yourself out with a good golf bibliography, to track down all the golf books published in that year, and there is no finer work than The Game of Golf and The Printed Word, by Donovan and Murdoch. If you live in the UK you might expect to pay around £30 for a copy, but believe me, it's worth the money. This is an essential part of the serious golf book collectors armory.

I shall wrap this introduction up for now, and continue the theme of how to collect golf books, a guide for beginners, in future posts.

Feel free to share any comments you might have on how to collect golf books.

Privacy Policy

2009-03-20T02:31:00.000-07:00

Privacy Policy for www.howtocollectgolfbooksforbeginners.blogspot.com

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at p.salm91.v.jer10.391@googlemail.com.

At www.howtocollectgolfbooksforbeginners.blogspot.com, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by www.howtocollectgolfbooksforbeginners.blogspot.com and how it is used.

Log Files
Like many other Web sites, www.howtocollectgolfbooksforbeginners.blogspot.com makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beacons
www.howtocollectgolfbooksforbeginners.blogspot.com does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.

DoubleClick DART Cookie
.:: Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on your site.
.:: Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to your users based on their visit to your sites and other sites on the Internet.
.:: Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html

Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include ....
Google Adsense

These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on www.howtocollectgolfbooksforbeginners.blogspot.com send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.

www.howtocollectgolfbooksforbeginners.blogspot.com has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. www.howtocollectgolfbooksforbeginners.blogspot.com's privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.