Jim Dodson has received a prestigious award for his book "A Son of the Game."

Dodson won first place in the Book Author category at the 17th Annual International Net-work of Golf's Media Awards event held Thurs-day in Florida.

Dodson, editor of PineStraw magazine and Sunday essayist at The Pilot, said he was grateful for the honor.

"This book is sort of my love poem to the Sandhills," Dodson said. "It's a nice honor."

The book is a memoir about finding new meaning through an old sport and is filled with anecdotes about the history of golf and of Pinehurst. The book follows Dodson's journey of discovery back to where his love of the game began - a love that he hopes to make a family legacy.

Dodson said he regularly receives e-mails from people all over the world who say they have been touched by the story.

"People feel it speaks for family tradition and the best values of the game," he said.

Dodson also won the same honor in 1996 for "Final Rounds, " the New York Times bestseller about how golf brought him and his father closer together.

David Woronoff, publisher of The Pilot, called the award "well-deserved."

"I've always thought Jim was the finest golf writer in America, and it's fitting that he lives and writes in the Home of American Golf."

Dodson is the author of several bestsellers, including "A Golfer's Life," which is Arnold Palmer's memoir, also a New York Times bestseller; and "Faithful Travelers," "The Dewsweepers" and "Ben Hogan: An American Life," which is the golf legend's official biography.

The International Network of Golf is a 20-year-old, nonprofit, media-based networking organization whose mission is to enhance and promote communication and education in golf.