Delight as Cannon gets up close and personal

THE marketing blurb describes it as “the ultimate luxury gift book of 2011”.

But once you have viewed David Cannon’s Golf Courses: Great Britain and Ireland you will agree that such claims are not hyperbole or overstatement.

The book launched at the Old Head of Kinsale yesterday is a limited-edition (3,000 copies), oversize creation containing spectacular photographs of the best courses from Britain and Ireland. It showcases stunning panoramic views of nearly 100 of the most extraordinary golf locations featuring more than 300 stunning colour photographs in full spreads and gatefolds — some measuring over five feet!

Cannon is not alone one of the world’s premier sports photographers but is also amongst the most respected figures at major golfing events worldwide. He is an official photographer for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and his Getty Images/Allsport photography team works exclusively for the American, European and Australian PGA tours and the LPGA. His work has appeared in such publications as Sports Illustrated, Golf Digest, Time and Newsweek.

His first golf course book, 2005’s Golf Courses: Fairways of the World, sold out all 9,000 copies has been reprinted twice subsequently. To achieve the results he seeks, Cannon is prepared to go to extraordinary lengths, admitting to “a preference for shooting my pictures in the first and last hours of daylight”, and he especially enjoyed two lengthy and highly rewarding visits to Ireland.

“I suppose I have a bias towards links and those in Ireland are second to none,” he says. “I believe we have the best light in Britain and Ireland for shooting golf course pictures and I am satisfied that this latest book makes the point well. By and large, I was lucky with the weather when I came here — except when fog prevented me from taking a helicopter over the Old Head. But when it cleared, the light in the sky became an amazing blue. I don’t think I have ever seen the sea so blue and that led to some great shots of this extraordinary course.”

Purchasers can look forward to savouring his quite superb shots of our many great and beautiful seaside gems, including Waterville, Dooks, Tralee, Ballybunion, Doonbeg, Lahinch, Carne, Rosses Point, Portrush and so on.

“I made two big trips to Ireland, one of them in a motor home, and it remains a magnificent memory,” he enthused. “That mode of transport and accommodation was ideal because very often I wouldn’t finish shooting until 11pm and I’d be up again at 4.30am so that wouldn’t suit too many hotels. It was fantastic driving from Lough Erne to Rosses Point and then on to Carne at Belmullet where it was pouring rain when we got there. But the following morning was cloudless. We kind of retraced our steps from there, back through Enniscrone, where it was windy but again with beautiful skies, Sligo, on into Donegal and up to Rosapenna to the Sandy Hills course. It was late September/October and it was an absolutely freezing night but with the most amazing light. From there it was on to Ballyliffen, one golf course better than another, and all the time we had the luck of the Irish because the weather was favourable most all of the time.”

David Cannon is understandably proud that three of golf’s luminaries, Pádraig Harrington, Nick Faldo and Peter Alliss, have contributed some fascinating essays to complement the pictures in the book.

“Pádraig, whom I’ve known since he made his Walker Cup debut at Portmarnock in 1991, has written about the golf pictures he likes best and also the courses and mentions Royal Portrush as his favourite,” Cannon explained. “Sir Nick discusses the architectural aspect of the game and Peter writes about this favourite type of course, placing an emphasis on heathland layouts like Swinley Forest. They all make a great read.”

Golf Courses: Great Britain and Ireland is published by Rizzoli New York and is priced at £100 (€116)