The Australian Golfer

Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1906. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1906. Octavo, xvi, 260, [2] pages with 13 illustrations plus 76 plates and a detachable swing-guide sheet tipped in after the plates at the rear (this is not noted in the plate list; it is frequently missing, and often overlooked by cataloguers, but it is referred to in the caption to the illustration on page 69). Dark green cloth lettered in gilt on the spine; top edge gilt; covers slightly marked and rubbed at the extremities; endpapers offset and lightly foxed, with the front inner hinge lightly (read, almost invisibly) reinforced; minimal signs of age and use (including pencil underlining to eight consecutive lines on one early page); detachable swing-guide sheet is now detached (but still present); overall, this is an excellent copy of a scarce book, rarely found complete and in such good condition. The first Australian golf book of any substance. Daniel Gordon (Dan) Soutar was born in Carmyllie, Scotland in 1882. 'In 1888, his family moved to the nearby seaside resort town of Carnoustie where - over the next 15 or so years - he received a thorough grounding in the game of golf.... He emigrated to Australia in 1903, and made an immediate mark by winning the 1903 Australian Amateur Championship at the old Glenelg course. In 1905, he turned professional and went into partnership with Carnegie Clark making clubs at Rose Bay in Sydney. That same year he won his only Australian Open Championship at Royal Melbourne' (Australian Golf Heritage Society website).

His obituary in the 'West Australian', 1 December 1937, provides a little more detail on this point: 'Then followed an amazing run of seconds. In the Open he filled that position on no fewer than seven occasions, in between times winning State and club championships'.