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The Long Golden Afternoon: Golf's Age of Glory, 1864-1914

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Named one of 10 Best Golf Books in 2022 by LINKS Magazine

Shortlisted for the 2023 Sports Book Awards for Best Sports Writing of the Year

Shortlisted for the USGA Herbert Warren Wind Book Award

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.

336 pages, Hardcover

Published August 16, 2022

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About the author

Stephen Proctor

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Profile Image for Kevin Rattray.
3 reviews2 followers
September 10, 2022
Fascinating read filling the void in golf history between Old and Young Tom Morris and Francis Ouimet’s shocking win at the 1913 US Open which launched golf into a new stratosphere. So many interesting characters and legends brought to life by Stephen Proctor’s flowing prose. Highly recommended to all fans of golf and sports history.
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