Gentry Links Editions
Tracing the Evolution of the 'Modern Game'
... where art and history meet ...
A Distinctive Contribution to Golf Scholarship
The Gentry Links approach to golf history is founded upon a distinctive principle: that paintings and photographs can serve not simply as illustrations, but as historical evidence.
This approach received important independent recognition from Rand Jerris, Ph.D., the distinguished American golf historian, in his November 2023 review of The Gentry Links Trilogy.
He described Alastair Loudon's work as:
'an important advancement in the methodology of golf scholarship'
Rand subsequently extended his assessment in his Foreword to the first edition of Origins 1926 (originally titled The Sequel to The Gentry Links Trilogy), recognising how the same methodology could illuminate the emergence and maturity of professional golf in Britain and America.
Together, his review and Foreword establish the intellectual continuity between the first four Gentry Links books — from the golfing societies of nineteenth-century Scotland to the transatlantic development of the professional game.
This historical approach now continues through GentryLinks Books Ltd, which has published Origins 1926 as a second edition and A Life's Two Nines.
A Life's Two Nines carries the narrative into the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing upon contemporary records, personal recollections and historical photographs, it examines the people, relationships and institutions through which the modern game came to be administered internationally, particularly the development of cooperation between the R&A and the USGA.
Five books. Two Centuries of golf. One continuing story.
Current Publications
A LIFE's TWO NINES
... a golf book - but not the usual kind
Origins 1926 — The Era of the Modern Game's Maturity
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Drawing upon Anthony Oakshett's remarkable 1994 painting, The Origins of the Ryder Cup, Wentworth, 1926, this book explores the personalities and relationships depicted in his carefully researched reconstruction of a historic photograph.
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Through these individuals, it examines the emergence of professional golf between the wars and the coming of age of the modern game.
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The book is currently available exclusively as part of The Origins 1926 Collection, accompanying limited-edition prints of the painting, offered by Anthony Oakshett.
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A Life's Two Nines tells the story of how the R&A evolved from a Scottish gentlemen's
Golf Club into an internationally influential authority in the administration of the game.
Through the complementary contributions of Keith Mackenzie and Niel Loudon, it
explores a remarkable period in the making of the modern R&A.
The concluding volume carries the story into the second half of the twentieth century, examining the people and institutions responsible for extending golf's international reach.
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The net profit from this publication will be donated to The R&A Foundation to support its global philanthropy programme that seeks to transform lives through golf.
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About the Author
Alastair Loudon is a lifelong golfer and has been a Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews for over 50 years, serving on its committees for 18 years, and interviewed for the Oral History Project of the R&A which seeks a more personal interpretation of events and situations.
He was introduced to the heritage of the game by his father, Niel Loudon, who served the R&A secretariat from 1963 to 1981.
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He is the author and curator of the Gentry Links concept and is the owner and director of an independent publishing company, GentryLinks Books Ltd.
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Alastair's ambition is not simply to publish books. It is to build a respected catalogue of scholarly and accessible works that will continue to inform, inspire and be consulted by golfers, historians and future generations of readers.
