Old Tom Morris book wins top award

Roger McStravick’s book St Andrews: In the Footsteps of Old Tom Morris has been awarded the United States Golf Association’s Herbert Warren Wind Book Award for 2015.

And the author was pinching himself as he set off for San Diego to pick up the award.

The Herbert Warren Wind Book Award was established in 1987 to recognise and honour outstanding contributions to golf literature while attempting to broaden public interest in, and knowledge of, the game of golf.

Mr McStravick’s book chronicles life in St Andrews during the era of Old Tom Morris and examines the important role that Morris played in securing the town’s reputation as the “home of golf”.

“Roger McStravick’s St Andrews: In the Footsteps of Old Tom Morris is an outstanding achievement and a major contribution to the literature of the game,” said Michael Trostel, director of the USGA Museum. “The level of research undertaken to breathe new life into this subject is extraordinary. McStravick’s writing, along with the previously unseen photos of St Andrews, Old Tom and others from that era, make this a magnificent, one-of-a-kind book.”

Mr McStravick spent three years to researching, writing and collating the images for the book.

“This is like winning the Oscar for golf writers,” said Mr McStravick, “It really is the ultimate and I’m extremely delighted. It’s without doubt the greatest thing I’ve achieved but it could not have happened without the creative genius of book designer Chic Harper and the guidance of historians Peter Crabtree, David Hamilton, Dr Eve Soulsby and David Joy.”

McStravick has written widely about golf in magazines and books, and has recently been commissioned to write A History of Golf and The Fine Art of Golf. He lives in St Andrews and is an avid collector of rare books about the town.