The Art of Golf

The Art of Golf is a rare and classic treasure of sporting literature and a must for every golfer’s bookshelf. Out of print in the UK since the late nineteenth century it is one diehard links-addict’s attempt to accumulate all man’s golfing knowledge to that point; to bring mindset and method together in one volume. 

“‘Know thyself’ may be good philosophy; it is bad golf.” 

After 121 years lost in the rough, this edition finds the green once more. More often defining the flights of fancy of the player himself rather than those of his ball, it nevertheless frequently offers pithy, erudite advice along with tips, tricks and tactics, delivered with a dry, sardonic humour to golfers ancient and modern, young and old, on how to improve their game. 

“Like other things, essentially foolish in themselves, such as preaching, pleading, feeling pulses etc., putting becomes attractive in proportion to the skill acquired in it.” 

A fascinating exploration and homage to this enthralling and most frustrating of human pursuits, The Art of Golf provides an enlightening glimpse into the game’s past and, most likely, its future.

“The Dynamite is a club in the face of which is inserted a small cartridge which explodes when the ball strikes it... surgeons, of course, charge more than ordinary caddies.” 

Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson, Bart, (1843 – 1898) was educated at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge and succeeded to the baronetcy in 1870. He became a member of the Scottish bar in 1873. Simpson, Captain of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in 1886 and 1887, wrote frequently on his passion for magazines and periodicals but his two main published works are collected here – The Art of Golf and the essay Out of Form written for the Badminton Library’s Golf (1890).

“The more fatuously vacant the mind is, the better for play.”