Books, HP Byron Nelson, PGA Tour

2009 HP Byron Nelson – Coffee Table Books

About a week ago the HP Byron Nelson Coffee Table Books arrived from the printer.

The printer — Toronto-based Pikto (www.pikto.com) — did a fantastic job with the printing and binding. All of the books are 12×12 with 170gsm paper. As with my other books, I have a custom die cut for the cover page debossing and mix and match the foil colors to correspond with the covers and clamshells. Details are below….

Covers: As mentioned above, I decided to mix it up and used both leather and linen covers in multiple colors. This was my first order with using linen and the tan (picture far right) is one of my favorites. The gray linen is on the left and brown leather in the middle

De-bossing: One of my favorite subtle touches is the blind de-bossing of the golf chronicles logo bottom right corner (on white leather)..

Clamshells: Pikto offers offer clamshells in black and white. Pictured below is one of my favorite combination’. Black clamshell with white foil and a white leather with black foil. As with the books, the construction of the clamshell is excellent and it makes for a wonderful presentation.

Book Design & Layout: As with the clamshells, the inclusion of vellum adds to the overall presentation. I went with a simple approach overlaying the two logos and softening the landscape shot on the first page.

Book Design: As compared to some of my other books, the storyline (aka chronicle) of this book was pretty straightforward. On Tournament Sunday, I decided to follow the final group exclusively as both Sabbatini and Mallinger had played that week and I felt confident that one of them would prevail (more on them later). As for the book, I started with a brief history and a photograph of the statue of Mr. Byron Nelson that greets visitors as they walk past the clubhouse.

2009 HP Byron Nelson Coffee Table Books - Mr. Byron Nelson

For those not up to speed on Mr. Nelson’s accomplishments (both on and off the course), I highly recommend doing a little reading. His charitable contributions and association with The Salesmanship Club of Dallas are to be revered. I included these details and the history of the championship on the subsequent pages.

To kickstart the story on the tournament… I used some crowd and general photos along with a listing of past years champions including a head down (in disappointment) shot of the 2008 Champion Adam Scott. As with most tournaments this season, Scott did not make the cut and I thought his dejected look was very telling.

As Sabbatini & Mallinger were co-leaders at the start of the day. I introduced each with a full page spread to set the stage…

The trees lining the first hole make for a great backdrop as I was able to isolate both players nicely.

As I approached the scene, I noticed that the gallery ropes I love including the gallery and their expression in my images and saw an opportunity to incorporate them as the

This is one of my favorite shots from the day and somewhat by accident…. I was late leaving the tee box of the 5th and decided to walk along the road to bypass the crowd. As I made may way down towards the hole, I noticed that Mallinger’s ball had landed on the front left of the green and he would be framed by the trees and the crowd. I must confess to some serious chimping after he made the putt.

Amy Mickelson had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and the Sabbatini family stayed up late to make thousands of pink ribbons for the players and fans.
It was the 9th hole and one of the houses on the fairway had hung pink ribbons on their balcony making for a nice story-telling image.

Sometimes the opportunity to take a picture simply presents itself!!
Here Mallinger and Sabbatini are framed within the walker’s sign as he sat down in-front of me to watch the action.

I have a huge collection of golf instruction books going back to the early 1930′s that I get from used book stores. In doing my research for the book, I discovered the Sabbatini grew up idolizing Seve Ballesteros. I found and adapted a Dom Lupo sketch from “Seve Ballesteros, Natural Golf, circa 1988. It’s easy to see Seve’s influence… the “lively knee action” and rolling of the right forearm.

I typically wouldn’t take photo’s of a players wife, but it was well into the round and I took a risk and went for something different.
Here Amy Sabbatini celebrates as her husband makes yet another birdie.

Sabbatini is known for his collection of belt buckles.
I cropped some shots from days 2 & 3 and included a full page shot from his tee shot on the 16th hole.

Also on the 16th hole, a nice sequence of Sabbatini’s setup, putt and reaction as he misses his eagle putt.

The 17th is a great downhill par 3 over water to a green surrounded by thousands of fans. During the week I took a ton of pictures on this hole and was unhappy with all of them.
As Sabbatini watched his ball and held his finish, I stood giving myself a better angle on the hole

As Sabbatini approached the 18th, I found myself fighting the crowd to get a good position. I ended up perching (precariously I may add) on a parked maintenance cart to get the shot on the left. While not the best of shots, Sabbatini is tack sharp and I love all of the colors. I decided to play on this with a custom border for the image on the right. A nice story-telling shot of Sabbatini and caddy Kevin Fasbender.

After missing his birdie putt, Sabbatini had was left with a tap-in for par and the win.
After making the putt he turned and tipped his cap.

Obligatory Trophy Pic.

A montage shot of all the books with some of my favorite Sabbatini shots…