The life of American architect AW Tillinghast, designer of courses such as Winged Foot and San Francisco Golf Club, is chronicled in Philip Young's new book Tillinghast: Creator of Golf Courses.

Tillinghast's courses still provide stern tests for the best players in the game and regularly host major championships. A prolific and talented writer, he wrote extensively for Golf Illustrated and was its editor for many years. For several decades he was forgotten by the golf world, though his courses continued to give pleasure and to serve as tournament sites. In recent years the extent of his legacy to American golf has come to be better understood and appreciated, for it is abundantly clear that Tillinghast had a genius for building golf courses that endure. In retrospect it seems that he deserved all along the title he gave himself – the 'Creator of Golf Courses'.

In addition to the glimpse into his mind and person, this new biography also includes a large and unique set of appendices that outline the scope and breadth of his work, the details of his PGA course consultation work and others.

Classics of Golf, US$45.00 http://shop.classicsofgolf.com

This article first appeared in issue 3 of Golf Course Architecture, published in January 2006.