Favourite Holes by Design: The Architect's Choice (2004)

Paul Daley's done it again!

I received my copy of Favourite Holes By Design: The Architect's Choice this morning, and it's another fantastic editing, writing, and publishing effort by our friend, Paul, and his company, Full Swing Golf Publishing. 

Fullswing Golf Publishing is putting out some of the classiest looking, most informative books in golf these days - including Golf Architecture: A Worldwide Perspective: Vols. 1 and 2.

Favourite Holes includes essays on individual "favourite" holes by golf architects from throughout the world, including GCA contributors Neil Crafter, Tom Doak, Todd Eckenrode, Brett Mogg, Michael Clayton, Jeff Brauer, Jeremy Glenn, Mike DeVries, Brian Phillips, Kelly Moran, Forrest Richardson, and yours truly. Each essay is accompanied by a drawing relative to the featured hole, too.

I'm privileged to be involved with Paul's projects. And his new book will be a welcomed addition to your libraries.
Jeff Mingay


It is indeed a beautiful book, in my opinion the most interesting of Paul's publications to date. It was fascinating to see the selection of holes, and the variety of viewpoints behind those selections.

Being asked to list "five favourite holes" of each par was a strange exercise when you have all the world to choose from. Only five architects out of however many picked a hole from Pacific Dunes, but I was pretty happy to discover that they each picked a different hole!
Tom Doak


Paul,

I have been meaning to write. Thank you for the copy of Favourite Holes. It is fantastic. Admittedly I thought it would be a nice book, but the descriptions are great, it really exceeded my expectations.
Kelly Blake Moran


Hi Paul,

I have just finished reading Favourite Holes and thought I'd let you know that I really enjoyed it! Well done. It is nicely laid out and looks good. The hole discussions are most interesting and I enjoyed looking at the varied hole plans provided.
Neil Crafter


Paul,

Well, the book arrived last week! It came the day before Carrie and I headed back to South Dakota to visit family so it was the perfect plane companion. I got through a lot of the essays and really enjoyed it. Not sure what was a better achievement, putting the book together or gathering up the impressive list of essayists! Great job, the book is really well done.
Josh Taylor


Paul,

Thank you for sending along a copy of Favourite Holes for me. I have enjoyed reading several accounts during this weekend, but I am not the best judge of quality since I tend to be an easy target for anything about golf around the world. However, looks like the book has a great mix of perspectives, styles, artwork and photos – so in my view, it is an enjoyable and easy way to take a trip to exotic places without having to leave my favorite (can’t get use to the “proper” English spelling!) chair. I hope you enjoyed putting it together and will have great success.
Scot Sherman


This is a wonderful book. I received my copy a couple weeks ago and have spent quite a bit of time with it. What I have enjoyed are reading about some of the lesser known holes which are profiled.
Jimmy Muratt


Paul's book is one that invites repeated reading. Each essay enhances the others, and many will be referred to in discussions such as are frequent here on GCA. The holes selected for essays are a good start towards a new collection of classic holes.
Neil Regan


Dear Paul,

I am very proud to be included in a book that contains entries from so many well respected architects around the globe. The book itself is charmingly light hearted, yet very informative. Congratulations on this book and I wish you every success with this and your future projects.
Niall Glen


Hello Paul,

Just to say a big thank you for your beautiful book, which arrived the other day, and extra thanks for signing it for me (its worth more on Ebay now). It's a great piece of work and I am enjoying picking my way through the articles. I haven't read them all yet, but my favourite so far has to be Ron Fream's Himalayan Golf Club. What a stunning golf hole and top marks for plucking it out of obscurity. Any architect would be proud to have that hole on his CV.

I hope you felt my piece was worthy of its spot. I was delighted by the way you presented it and the reproduction quality of the sketch was perfect.
Robin Hiseman


Dear Paul,

Your Favourite Holes book is fantastic. I have been reading it over the weekend. Very well done.
Quentin Lutz