BOOK REVIEWS

The Advisor has been eagerly awaiting our good friend, James Dodson's, latest book The Dewsweepers -- Seasons of Golf and Friendship, and we can enthusiastically report it has been worth the wait. The actual book (Dutton $24.95) will be released in October, but starting September 17th, you can preview the book at www.thedewsweepers.com.

Dodson has the ability to passionately weave the mysteries and magnetism of the greatest game into his and our everyday lives. As relationships grow and some fall away, through life's highest moments and lowest ebbs, the author realizes that the love of golf through all endures and is an anchoring stone.

The title, The Dewsweepers, comes from an eclectic and enthusiast group of golfers at the stately old Onondaga Club in upstate New York, so named because rain or shine, they are always the first group off the tee on Saturday morning. The group adopts Jim as one of their own and through several seasons they form the friendship bonds of a lifetime, both with each other and the game they all so dearly treasure.

As poignant as Dodson's previous book, Final Rounds, few will fail to relate to his struggles through life's everyday challenges and his ever evolving relationship with the royal and ancient game.

Sleeping Bear Press has produced many quality golf titles over the past decade that are not only handsome but essential additions to any true golf enthusiasts library. This summer there are two must haves -- Discovering Donald Ross: The Architect and his Courses ($85.00) by Bradley S. Klein and The Life and Work of Dr. Alister MacKenzie ($65.00).

Brad Klein, the man in charge of GolfWeek's America's Best raters panel and Editor of Superintendent News magazine, spent over three years researching Discovering Donald Ross. Klein, a true student of course architecture and a card-carrying member of the Donald Ross Society, delivers a insight into one of the game's most revered and prolific golf architect's.

The rich and readable text is augmented with 100's of old drawings, routing maps, and photos both old and new. There is also the most complete list of the 399 courses that Ross designed or remodeled: where they are, how many holes they had, the year they were built, whether there were routing plans, and whether Ross himself was on site during the design.

Although Alister MacKenzie was born in England, his parents were from the Highlands of Scotland and like Ross, the passions for the game and creating great courses ran through his blood. He is credited with saying, "I have always wanted to live where one could practice (golf) in one's pajamas before breakfast...." The 230-page book, The Life and Work of Dr. Alister Mackenzie by Tom Doak, James Scott and Ray Haddock, in an oversized coffee-table book format, features 88 color photographs, reproductions of 26 original drawings and maps, copies of correspondence and 55 vintage photos that are brilliantly assembled to shed insight into one of golf's most enduring characters.

And if you missed it last year, Sir Walter and Mr. Jones by Stephen R. Lowe (Sleeping Bear Press, $35.00), was recently named the 2000 International Book of the Year by the USGA. The book interweaves the biographies of two of America's greatest golfers, Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones and how through their play, competitive spirit, style and dedication, golf in America rose to prominence.