New in October from the University of Nebraska Press, 'Brassies, Mashies, and Bootleg Scotch: Growing Up on America's First Heroic Golf Course' by Bill Kilpatrick

"Amid the crisply described and warmly nostalgic anecdotes, a theme emerges: golf courses were different, far richer places in Kilpatrick's father's day than they are today.... A wonderful father-son story and a melancholy look back at golf in a simpler time." -- Booklist

"While reading Brassies, Mashies, and Bootleg Scotch, I couldn't help reflecting on my days as a caddy, but I must say I never received a stick of gum as a tip." -- Bobby Nichols, professional golfer and winner of the 1964 PGA Championship

A hundred years or so ago, kids growing up in St. Andrews, Scotland, kids like Bill Kilpatrick's father, took to golf as naturally as to breathing. Accordingly, the prevailing opinion was that any layabout could play golf, whereas a greenkeeper was someone to be reckoned with. And a greenkeeper (a term much preferred to "golf course superintendent") was what Kilpatrick's father became. Kilpatrick's memoir of growing up on golf courses is at once a window on another time -- when golf was played mainly with balata balls, hickory shafts, and handmade spoons, mashies, and cleeks -- and a ground-level view of what maintaining a golf course meant when artisanship, instinct, and experience carried the day.

"A unique perspective on golf as it used to be." -- Peter Jacobsen, professional golfer and winner of the 2004 U.S. Senior Open

A charming narrative of a boy's relationship with his adored, occasionally impatient, and always forgiving father, Brassies, Mashies, and Bootleg Scotch takes us to some of the most notable golf clubs in America and introduces us to a delightful cast of characters, from giants of golf history to behind-the-scenes eccentrics to walk-on stars like New York Giants pitcher Hal Schumacher. Readers get a rare glimpse of a vanished world through Kilpatrick's recollections of the daily routines of his father as a dedicated greenkeeper and of his own experiences as a caddy on the courses that were his family's way of life.

"I enjoyed this immensely. Beautifully written, I was transported back in time and imagined I was on the links playing along with the author."—Iain Mossman, PGA professional

About the Author:
Bill Kilpatrick has written articles for magazines such as Parade, Popular Mechanics, Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Field & Stream, Esquire, Fly Fishing, and True. Before "retiring" he was a general features writer, columnist, and golf writer for the Fort Myers News-Press.

About the University of Nebraska Press:
Founded in 1941, the University of Nebraska Press is a nonprofit scholarly and general interest press that publishes 160 new and reprint titles annually under the Nebraska and Bison Books imprints respectively, along with 20 journals. As the largest and most diversified university press between Chicago and California, with nearly 3,000 books in print, the University of Nebraska Press is best known for publishing works in Indigenous studies, history and literature of the American West, translated literature, and sports history. For more information, visit www.nebraskapress.unl.edu.

Contact:
Acacia Gentrup
Publicist
University of Nebraska Press
agentrup2@unl.edu
www.nebraskapress.unl.edu