Named one of 10 Best Golf Books in 2022 by LINKS Magazine
The Long Golden Afternoon tells the story of the transformative
generation of golf that followed the rise of Young Tom Morris - an era
of sweeping change that saw Scotland's national pastime become one of
the rare games played around the world.
It begins with the first epochal performance after Tommy - John Ball's
victory at Prestwick in 1890 as the first Englishman and the first
amateur to win the Open Championship - and continues through the
outbreak of the Great War. If Tommy ignited the flame of golf in
England, Ball's breakthrough turned that smoldering fire into a
conflagration.
The generation that followed would witness the game's coming of age. It
would see an explosion in golf's popularity, the invention of
revolutionary new balls and clubs, the emergence of professional tours,
the organization of the game and its rules, a renaissance in writing and
thinking about golf, and the decision that the Royal and Ancient Golf
Club of St Andrews must always remain the sport's guiding light.