Local history and art come together in Jim Boyd’s new book

What began as a research project about a local public golf course evolved into a deeper exploration of community history, personal memories and the people who helped shape generations of golfers in Muskingum County.

Now, local author Jim Boyd is sharing that story through his new book, "Birth, Death, and Resurrection of a Golf Course: Mangold Country Club to Zanesville Jaycee Public Golf Course," during a special book signing event on Tuesday, July 7, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Zanesville Campus Library. The author will share more about this journey with a brief presentation at 4:30 pm.

The event follows a community art show reception held June featuring more than 60 pieces of artwork created for the publication by nearly 50 local artists. The exhibit remains on display in the Zanesville Campus Library through July 31 during regular library hours. Artists are invited back to the community book signing July 7.

Born and raised in Zanesville, Boyd says his love of golf began at an early age.

“Perhaps the love of golf was predicted when upon my birth my mom received a small pottery planter of a baby golfer,” Boyd said.

As a child, Boyd created his own backyard golf course using vegetable cans as holes and plastic golf balls before eventually discovering the Zanesville Jaycee Public Golf Course, where he spent much of his youth.

“One day in the summer after I turned 13, Dad asked would I like him to take me out to Jaycees to spend the day,” Boyd recalled. “From that day on, Monday through Friday mornings and sometime Saturdays he would leave for work early for his job selling insurance and drop me off at Jaycee.”

Those summer days left a lasting impact.

“Jaycee became my summertime home,” Boyd said.

Using money earned delivering newspapers for the Times Recorder, Boyd paid for green fees, lunches and eventually his own set of golf clubs. He often spent entire days at the course, later working in the clubhouse as a teenager and becoming part of the golf community that surrounded the course.

Boyd attended West Muskingum High School before continuing his education at Ohio University Zanesville, where he played on the golf team for three seasons. While at OHIO Zanesville, he also discovered another lifelong passion — history. He credits history professor Mike Kline with helping inspire his interest in historical research and storytelling.

More importantly while at OUZ I took history classes from Mike Kline who became a good friend and guided me to love history by finding subjects of interest.

Over the years, Boyd built a career that included work in floral design, public housing, higher education, libraries and insurance inspection, while continuing to write grants, research papers and local history projects. His interest in golf history deepened in 2021 after joining the Golf Heritage Society and Donald Ross Society, where he visited classic courses and explored the histories behind them. While many golf history books focused on famous private clubs, Boyd became interested in documenting the stories of public golf courses and the communities connected to them.

“At first, I planned to write a series of articles on the public golf courses in the Appalachian section of Ohio,” Boyd said. “However, as I did research for that project, I found myself digging deeper into the history of the Zanesville Jaycees Public Golf Course.”

What he uncovered was far more than a golf story.

“This book is the culmination of my research into Harry Mangold, The Mangold Farm, Park, and Country Club, The Zanesville Junior Chamber of Commerce, Harold Mizer and his family, the Bowmans, Logan and Mitch, and the events and golfers that created the golf course,” Boyd said. “It is a story of hard work, death and sorrow, community support, rebirth, and fulfilling the life of a public golf course. I will be signing copies of the book which will be available for a $50 donation to the Jaycee Golf Course History Book Fund through the Muskingum County Community Foundation.”

As the project grew, Boyd realized he wanted the book to visually reflect the community as well. The idea to involve local artists came during a conversation about cover artwork and eventually expanded into a collaborative effort featuring nearly 50 artists from across the region. The artwork featured throughout the exhibit includes scenes of the course, portraits, historic buildings and other imagery inspired by the history of the Jaycee Golf Course and the surrounding community.

Boyd hopes readers and visitors leave with a greater appreciation for both local history and the role public golf courses played in bringing communities together.

“I hope by reading it you have formed a picture of what life and golf were like in early 1900’s Zanesville and gained an appreciation for the hard work of those who brought public golf to this part of the state,” Boyd said.

Today, Boyd still regularly visits public golf courses throughout the region with longtime friends, often arriving with his golf clubs strapped to his Suzuki Boulevard — continuing a lifelong connection to the game and the community that helped shape him.

For more information about this and other upcoming community events, visit https://www.ohio.edu/zanesville/community