Chicagoan combined passions to create Back Nine Press
This article appeared in the August 2025 edition of Chicago District Golfer.
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Jim Sitar
For about a decade, Jim Sitar thought about launching a firm dedicated to publishing golf books. The Chicago native and CDGA member believed many great stories about the sport were being neglected.
Then, amidst the pandemic in 2020, he opened Back Nine Press. What prompted him to finally commit to his dream?
“I think it was realizing that I was beginning the back nine of my career, if not my life,” said the 46-year-old Sitar, whose publishing house is based in Chicago. “It was a metaphor that I started feeling strongly about: What would I build and create for myself, what could I leave behind, what could I contribute to the larger part of the world?”
Back Nine Publishing’s titles range from high-quality coffee-table books – such as The Golf Courses of Seth Raynor about the man who revamped the Chicago Golf Club course a century ago and designed Shoreacres in Lake Bluff – to memoirs to children’s books. Why that genre?
“When you look at opportunities for golf books, children’s books may not be obvious,” Sitar said. “But any golf nut who becomes a parent quickly realizes there aren’t a lot of good children’s books about golf.”
In fact, The Golfer’s Zoo by Shane Bacon, published in 2022, has been one of the top sellers at Back Nine Press.
“We’ve gotten a lot of stories about how parents love reading it to kids at bedtime,” Sitar said.
At Wheaton North High School, he played on the varsity golf team, which instilled a passion for the game. At the same time, the teenager learned an important lesson. Kevin Streelman of rival Wheaton Warrenville South High School beat Sitar perhaps 40 times.
“That taught me that I did not have a future as a professional golfer,” Sitar noted. “It helped me realize that I needed to carve out a different kind of future.”
Sitar soon focused on writing and editing. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Creative Writing from Dartmouth College before procuring a PhD. in English/ Editorial Studies from Boston University. His background includes a long run as senior editor at the National Poetry Foundation and a two-year stint as managing editor of publications at the National Council of Teachers of English – a full-time role he continued even after launching Back Nine Press until he realized “that wasn’t sustainable.”
Sitar said attention to detail helps distinguish Back Nine Press from other golf publishers.
“I spend a lot of time with authors editing their manuscripts and thinking carefully about how to make the best book possible,” he said. “Some publishers don’t have the time and resources to put that kind of attention into their books.”
The Raynor book (which features a foreword by Mike Keiser) is a case in point. Some coffee-table books are too bulky to hold and read; others may feature compelling pictures but are beset by undersized font that strains the eye.
“It really came down to studying what the best coffee-table golf books were,” Sitar said. “We thought a lot about the layout, the size for readability, the paper.
“I had a good number of orders for the Raynor book from Winnetka, Kenilworth and similar towns. There were so many that I hired someone who could do hand delivery in a two-square-mile area. Those zip codes really love golf and golf architecture.”
A major book on the Back Nine Press schedule this year will revisit Tom Watson’s iconic chip shot on the 17th hole at Pebble Beach during the 1982 U.S. Open. But the book – authored by Golf World contributor Chris Millard and called The Shot – is far more than a retrospective of one historic swing.
“For me, it’s a combination of a lot of different stories that converge at the moment,” Sitar explained. “A young upstart company called ESPN took a flier on the U.S. Open as they were looking to get rights to sports events. Golf commentating was at a crossroads as well. And Watson could finally win the U.S. Open and beat Jack (Nicklaus). It was the perfect shot at the perfect time.”
In November, The Golf Courses of New England, written by Sitar with photography by Patrick Koenig, will be published and retail for $89.99. A green surrounded by a beach of sand next to the Atlantic Ocean adorns the cover; it was taken at the third hole of Kittansett Club in Marion, Massachusetts. Showcasing the best of New England, the courses include private, public, nine-hole tracts and resorts.
“I’ve always wanted to do a regional series, and it made sense to start there – it’s our oldest region,” Sitar said. “The book is mainly about the experience of these golf courses – what it’s like to be there and what makes them different.
“I think the book will blow people’s minds. I have so many great photographs to choose from. There will be over 70 golf courses featured – even then it was hard to leave some out.”
Marketing is not a primary concern at Back Nine Press.
“We rely on reputation. We’re modelled on letting the books talk for us,” said Sitar, who noted sales are principally through Back9Press.com and Amazon, rather than traditional bookstores. “It’s grown organically. A lot more writers are coming to us now to pitch their stories.”
Looking ahead, Sitar hopes to eventually publish six to eight books a year and is aiming to include club histories in the mix. And he is so glad he embraced his dream. Said he, “Now I am combining my passion for the game with my work experience. It was time.”
David A. F. Sweet is the author of Three Seconds in Munich and Lamar Hunt, along with Onwentsia at 125.