Dear Clients and Friends,
A Grant Books Ltd dear friend, David Hamilton, recently introduced us to a little gem published in Scotland at St Andrews in 1937. This 62-page book authored by Lieut. A. Stark is entitled Physical Training for Golfers, which is accompanied by introductory material by J.H. Taylor, 5- time Open winner and runner-up to Harry Vardon in the U.S. Open in 1900 at Chicago Golf Club, and Hector Thomson, the golfing stalwart from Machrihanish, Scotland who was the Amateur Champion in 1936 at the Old Course. The preface to Physical Training for Golfers was penned by Jack McLean, winner of the Scottish Amateur Golf Championship 1932, 1933, and 1934 and runner-up in the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1936 in Long Island, New York at Garden City Golf Club, losing on the 37th hole to Johnny Fischer. Both Thomson and McLean were Walker Cup competitors for Great Britain.
As David Hamilton notes in his Foreword to our newest publication:
This little book might at first seem an obvious aid to playing the game, but instead, in the 1930s, the idea of physical training for golf was new. It was not only a new idea, but it was even an unwelcome one, The assumption, particularly among gentlemen amateurs, was that one walked onto the first tee and one just played away. Any success came from natural talent, and any training or practice for golf was ‘not done’.
The book was a call for change.
Alexander ‘Alick’ Stark, a native of Fife and a Black Watch Regiment veteran of World War I, was appointed to a position in 1926 in the Department of Physical Training at the University of St Andrews in 1926. His path crossed two eminent golfers shortly thereafter when he married a daughter of ‘Andra’ Kirkaldy, whose sister was married to Sandy Herd, the 1903 Open Champion.
A few years later Stark became a reserve officer in the British Territorial Army, where he combined his skill in physical fitness training with his own brand of evangelism, which attracted the interest of Messrs. Taylor, Thomson, and McLean. In fact, Taylor, the non-playing British captain of the winning Ryder Cup team at Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club in Lancashire in 1933, credited Stark for Stark’s important physical training for the British competitors.
Our publication also has a Commentary by Jamie Greaves, a recognized contemporary golf fitness expert in England, whose teaching and training efforts in physical conditioning for golf he conducts at the Northampton Golf Club at Harlestone. Jamie’s splendid commentary makes clear that Stark’s premises and conclusions in his little volume are easily relevant today, nearly 90 years later, as ‘physical training for golfers’ is now a central element in performance for many elite and amateur players.
As Joseph S.F. Murdoch said in his Physical Training for Golfers entry in his 1968 book, The Library of Golf, 1743-1966:
All manner of timely tips and physical exercises designed to get the golfer in shape, no matter what his is!
Excerpts of Physical Training for Golfers can be found above. Click the small images to enlarge.
Our press run is limited to 200 copies, each printed on acid-free paper, bound in cloth at 90 pages, and housed in a durable slipcase. Design and typography are by Hughes & Company with printing and binding by Henry Ling Limited, both being long-established experts resident in England.
Price is £25, plus handling, postage, and insured tracked shipping.
Shipping weight is 0.9 kilograms.
Best regards,
D M Wilson, III
Publisher
Grant Books Ltd