River Journal’s own Arnold Thiesfeldt has just had his book, “Reaching the Fairway,” published. Thiesfeldt, a veteran of various publications — Sport Illustrated, LIFE and TIME; publisher of Golf Magazine, and then two start-ups, LINKS and Senior Golfer — was urged by his oldest son to put in writing his recollections of the use of golf in his business relationships, particularly in the 70’s and 80’s.
The resulting book chronicles many of the golf trips to Augusta, to Ireland, Seminole, Pine Valley et al, always with valued customers. Many golf trips were taken in corporate airplanes, each trip generating many of the funny stories that would come up during the course of a business related trip. But, as Thiesfeldt began to put those memorable events together, he began to notice that the individual game was becoming almost prohibitively expensive in terms of initiation fees, assessments, caddy and greens fees. Thus, the second half of the book deals with a future for the game that might require a major shift in where the game is played and who plays it.
It could very well be that our large private clubs and resort courses will continue to have financial problems, and those that don’t might eventually be filled only with an elite group of very wealthy people – not the everyman approach of yesteryear!
The book will be available for the Christmas season and will make an excellent gift for those that are closest to the game.
Reaching the Fairway is on sale at various internet sites for $19.75 in most cases. It is published by American Golfer in Greenwich, CT, and can be bought at most chain book stores.
