The Ambassador (Alexander Findlay and Pioneer Golf in America)

The Ambassador is the first book-length study of Alexander Findlay’ s life and his contributions to the game of golf. Findlay was the best golfer in New England, one of the best in the U.S, the most prolific and important golf course designer on the east coast in the early years of American golf, and the most well-regarded representative of the game in America. He played exhibition matches and tournaments in front of hundreds of thousands, helped establish over 100 separate golf clubs, was the first man who hit a golf ball on film, met with the Pope about establishing a golf course in the Vatican, and built golf holes in the shadows of the pyramids in Egypt. Even today, tens of thousands of Americans play golf on courses that were designed by Findlay. For the American golfer, he was a teacher and a mentor during the fragile, early years of the game in the country. 

Despite his early fame and his enduring significance, there is no existing biography of Alex Findlay. His story has never been fully told. As a result, he is a footnote in the histories of American golf that are regularly published. The Ambassador is an attempt to fix that mistake. For the dozens of active golf clubs that claim an Alexander Findlay heritage, it is an attempt to tell part of their story while  endeavoring to tell part of the pre-USGA  history of golf in America. It is the story of a man who lived an extraordinary life— the humble salesman who, in his time, came to meet and know Queen Victoria, Chief Sitting Bull, Buffalo Bill Cody, Harry Vardon and every other great golfer of the age, six U.S. presidents, and all the Gilded Age titans of industry. He lived a life worth living.