In his career, Donald Ross designed more than 400 courses in the United States. His most famous is Pinehurst No. 2, considered one of the ultimate tests of tournament golf.

This book was created from an old manuscript Mr. Ross wrote in 1914 that was never published, intended as a guide to future golf architects, supplemented with other published commentaries by and about Ross.

Mr. Ross had an unusual background for a golf course architect. In a time when engineers usually designed and built the courses, he had served as the pro and greenskeeper at Dornoch in Scotland, after training at St. Andrews with Old Tom Morris and at Carnoustie. The lure of much higher income and the opportunity to build lots of golf courses drew him to the United States with his first job of rebuilding Oakley in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Here are some of the principles he shares in the book:

Make each hole a different problem requiring concentration while making use of every possibility in the land.

A sandy loamy soal is best, with very little humus. This gives you better playing conditions and a longer season. Long Island and Cape Cod are best.

Avoid clay soils because they are hard to drain. Unfortunately, most land around major cities is clay soiled. Favor fan-shaped and oblong tracts of land so that the clubhouse can be returned to with little wasted land after 9 holes.

Start out with two or more easy holes.

Favor par 4s unless people insist on par 5s. Par 4s make a better test, especially 425-450 yard ones.

On par 5s, provide two paths to the green -- one for reaching in 2 and one for reaching in 3.

Put the greens where they will be undulating.

Create difficult par threes.

Reward skill rather than strength.

Put the bunkers in challenging locations for all classes of golfers.

He recommends designing from the land, rather than on paper. He also suggests building the best few holes the land will allow, because golfers are attracted and retained by memories of great and challenging holes. He ends humbly by noting that he doesn't think he writes very well.

There are about 60 pages in the book that will be valuable to architects and greenskeepers, but will not do much for golfers. You may choose to skip those.

The book lists the known Donald Ross courses, and has many beautiful black and white photographs and illustrations.

One of the pleasures of reading this book for me relates to having played on many Donald Ross courses.

I also came away with a greater appreciation for Donald Ross, because he was trying to make golf more challenging and less frustrating for the average club golfer like me. This made me want to play many more Donald Ross courses in the future. I hope you have that reaction, too.

Use this book to help you pick courses that will improve your enjoyment of golf!

What else do you enjoy doing where the designer or architect makes a difference to you?

If you like this book, there is a new book out with color photographs of 18 of Mr. Ross's finest holes that you should see entitled: Golf as It Was Meant to Be Played which I also reviewed.