Golf Books

This is a terrific book and I'm not even a golfer. I didn't care much for the movie; a buddy of mine recommended reading the book and WOW, it's so much better. I'm not sure who wrote the movie but Frost does a great job of telling the story and holding on to your interest. I loved the biographical background and personality insights he offers. He's a terrific writer.

Great detail is setting the stage of how society viewed golf and its champions and how this tournament took that to the next level in popularity. Gives great detail intothe lives of Vardon, Ray, Francis and even Walter Hagen at the beginning of his career. Great for anyone who loves the history of golf and a good old fashion underdog story.

My boss and I golf together and he enjoyed watching this movie several times so I bought the book for him and he said it was better than the movie, looking forward to reading it when he is done

Great true story, well adapted in the film version.
Bonus documentary on Francis Ouimet 50 years later
is interesing to see.

Maybe the best Golf book I've ever read. If you love the Game, it is a must.

You can scroll down to other reviews of this book, I would simply be repeating the praises that others have for this golf/travel guide.

I devoured this book in almost one sittting. The advice is sincere, genuine and as helpful as travel advice gets.

There is no mystery why everyone has rated this book five stars: it IS that good.

I am planning a trip to Scotland in 2009 for our regular foursome. With this book I have a good idea what our group needs to decide on before we go.

(E.g., Is playing at St. Andrews the major reason for our trip? Do we want to stay in a hotel/a B&B/a self-catering location? Do we want to stay in St. Andrews town itself or are we willing to pack up and re-locate to other locations? Do we want to spend $350 to play one fantastic course or 4 lesser-known links?)

This book is practical and I recommend it WITHOUT any reservation!

I have been to Scotland with tour operator, but this book is excellent if you want to save money and plan the trip yourself. Great review of golf courses and good ideas of lodging and traveling. Highly recommended. If you can find a better book, let me know.

Another great book I got my boyfriend who is going to Scotland and going to check out some of these courses

This is by far the best book I've seen on how to get a tee time at St. Andrews Old Course. It's written by a golfer for golfers.

My golf foursome sought an aide to planning our golf trip to Scotland. We found it in Golf In Scotland. We followed his advice down to using the rental car agency he recommended and arranging an advance tee time at the Old Course. The result was a perfect trip that cost us about $2600 instead of the $5,000 that we were quoted by one of those purchased trip packages. Besides, we had the fun of planning the trip ourselves. He even arranged for great weather.

Think about it, if you are going to pay a few hundred dollars (maybe thousand or so)for a tailor-made suit, you want it to fit, yet when we buy golf clubs, do you ask the right questions, only what is the lastest and greatest turbo driven miracle slice cure recommended by your best mates parrot who saw one in a window?
Tom Wishon is right, like buying most things in life, armed with knowledge is far better then a salesman waffle.
If you are going to spend this much money on one 'hail Mary driver' or other implement, at least see a professional fitter.

I found this book very helpful in identifying the characteristics I needed in my new driver. Well written!

This book provides an excellent explanation of the importance of having the correct clubs and how to go about choosing them. Easy to read and full of useful information for all handicap levels.

Do you want to get ripped off the next time you buy golf clubs? Then don't buy this book!

This book teaches you what you why golf clubs are made in a certain way. Why some of the latest innovations will help your game, and why some of the latest "innovations" are nothing more than hype to sell clubs that will actually HURT your game.

Did you know that buying a driver with a longer shaft and lower loft will cause most people to hit the ball SHORTER? This book explains why, along with a number of other things that will help you make smart choices the next time you purchase clubs (and prevent you from making the expensive mistake of buying the wrong clubs.)

Having played golf most of my life, I thought I knew all of the basics of golf club physics. Wishon provides a real education. This book will teach you everything you want and need to know about golf clubs, how they work, and why you should be custom fit.
Certified Instructor
[...]

I am a beginner golfer and this book is helpful for the mental part of golf! I would suggest it to anyone that plays golf. I gave to a friend that throws clubs in frustration and she played a round for the first time with no broken clubs and was relaxed, she says the book is helping her too

I loved this book! I learned more about the art of the mental game of golf in this thin volume than in a half dozen longer times (.e.: The Mental Games of Golf). I would put this up there with "See It Sink It" or "Every Shot Must Have a Purpose".

A must have for any serious golfer. I dare you to read the story about the golden statue and tell me that it didn't affect you!

Finally, a book that puts the mental game into sections that make sense. Told in a down-to-earth way, the examples and insights provided by "Zen Golf" really do pertain to the game we love. Understanding that the results of a swing are not necessarily the be-all and end-all is very powerful knowledge. Learning to breathe will apply to a myriad of endeavor, both athletic and personal. Ostensibly, it is a book about golf, but one that fills many gaps in all kinds of life situations. Dr. Parent is a born teacher.

Bottom Line . It took five strokes off my handicap.
Michael A. Epstein
Member KCC

By far one of the best books on the mental side of sports that I have ever read, and I have never even swung a club!

Great book enjoyed much. Will read Power Golf for Women as well.

In another review I read that this is William Jefferson Clinton's favorite golf book. You know since he has left the presidency he has a pretty good swing. Though I feel sorry for the guy because no one believes his scores, as a result he will probably never be accepted as a credible golfer.

Now to this book. No I do not believe golf is a woman's game. It is no ones game. The game is equally brutal to us all. However, I do applaud the author for writing an excellent instructional manual that is also a very pleasant read.
The author believes golf is a woman's game because women (compared to men) lack physical strength so their bodies naturally accomodate for difference through the use of technique. She has a sub-chapter called the effiency ratio where she discusses the amount of physical strength vs distance and she explains that the swings efficacy not the distance the ball travels represents a good golf swing.
A very good book that reveals a lot of myths and one that is definitely worth reading.

And as for William Jefferson, I believe you and keep swinging... it's looking good.

I got this book thinking it would be good for a beginning golfer. I was very disappointed. The concepts were much too difficult for a beginning golfer or just not well written or communicated to the reader. The illustrations weren't helpful either. A much better book for beginners would be the Golf Handbook for Women by Vivien Saunders.

I've read this book twice and will read again. The instruction flows just like an enjoyable novel. Definitely a great book worth reading twice.

After reading Ms. Horn's Power Golf for Women I becamed hooked. I tend to slightly favor Golf is a Woman's Game however, it's a coin toss. You can't go wrong with either of these books and I will be looking for a third. Great reading, excellent instruction and tells it "like it is" for the female golfer. Five stars all the way.

Ostensibly this book is half biography of little-known long driver Mike Austin and half technical discussion of Austin's revolutionary swing, many aspects of which run counter to conventional PGA wisdom. But as the artfully written narrative progresses, a third element emerges as well -- the touching story of the friendship that develops between Austin and author Reed during the writing of the book.

No avid golfer could read this book and fail to feel inspired to work on his or her game (I finished it yesterday and headed straight for the driving range today); some might even want to try out Austin's unorthodox mechanics. Yet there is a human-interest story here as well, the story of a larger-than-life golfing god who smacked a 515-yard drive at age 64 but somehow couldn't putt to save his life; lived it up with Hollywood celebrities and was respected by the best golfers in the world; studied the human anatomy and wore a skeleton suit while giving golf lessons to demonstrate proper body movement; and forged an unlikely friendship with a journalist decades his junior who weathered Austin's steely gruffness until it gave way to genuine respect and affection.

Highly recommended -- not just for golfers, but also for anyone interested in a well-crafted feel-good story about a fascinating man and his iconoclastic genius.

I've just finished reading this book and I have to say it is a great read and is well worth buying.

It is a story of how the author, Philip Reed, sets off to document the world's longest ever drive in a tournament set in 1974 by Mike Austin, and along the way wants to learn enough about this swing so he can transform his own drive of 200 yards into a more manly 300 yards.

The books gets off to a shaky start but I stuck with it. And after a couple of chapters I could no longer put it down. He helped me get to know more about Mike Austin, his history and his achievements.

It made me want to be there in the place of the author since Mike seems like a real character and a throwback to a different age and a different world.

It even gave me a few tips, and some hope, on how I might possibly be able to improve my own swing to give 300 yard drives. Now that would be nice.

Read this and give yourself a pleasant break from all those golf instruction manuals out there while enjoying a good golfing story.

The other reviews say it all - that this is a wonderful book on many different levels. I trust that some day it will be recognized as a sports classic.

I just want to add that Reed's book is an invaluable companion to Dan Shauger's 'The 21st Century Golf Swing'. This latter book has such an odd and uncomfortable style (my opinion only, of course) that it was hard for me to know whether to take the technical parts of it seriously. After reading this fine book it became clear that, yes indeed, you can.

It would be great if Shauger and Reed could collaborate on a second edition of '21st Century...'. I'll put up some front money, if that would help.

Had a terrific time reading this book. It reaches out and grabs every weekend golfer by what they desire most... the Shangri-la of a long, monster drive by exploring the fascinating life of Mike Austin via the student/teacher relationship with the author.
Mike Austin's tales tend to come off as a bit hard to believe, sort of like the "Dos Equis's: World's Most Interesting Man," but Phil seems to bear out all as truth through what appears to be painstaking research.
It really didn't end up helping my swing but gave me inspired look at a the longest drive hitter, now off to get the dvd....

This book is absolutely wonderful. I picked it up out of curiosity after learning about Mike Austin's record-breaking achievement (longest drive in professional golf competition history), and ended up being completely drawn into the story. With a straightforward, honest writing style that moves at a nice pace and never gets bogged down, Philip Reed does a masterful job of portraying a complex man filled with both flaws and greatness, who not only achieved a stupendous feat that no one has ever topped, but also lived a fascinating life that plays like a great movie. Reed deftly weaves Austin's story together with his own journey by bringing the reader along with him as he describes his efforts to get to know Mike Austin and learn his swing secrets. He sets out not only to write about Austin, but also to experience for himself the power of Mike Austin's swing, hoping to harness it to achieve a personal goal of hitting the ball 300 yards. As we learn about Austin's amazing life and unmatched golf swing alongside the author, we are simultaneously drawn into a surprisingly touching story of how Reed came to develop a bond of friendship with Austin. Viewed through the lens of Reed's relationship with Austin, we come to understand and truly appreciate Mike Austin at a much deeper level, and also come away with important lessons about life. This is a magnificent book, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Few people, even non-golfers, can escape ever having heard of Ben Hogan. Maybe you don't know exactly who he was, but the name is oddly familiar.

To golfers, Ben Hogan is as close to legend as anything. Other players, even Bobby Jones and Tiger Woods, lack the mystique which has encompassed Hogan, even many years after his death.

What few of us know is just who he was. This information may not be so pertinant to people who play the game, since they are mostly interested in his swing. However, anyone who has touched even in a small way on part of his career realizes the great mysteries that lie in his life and being.

"Hogan" may not answer everything satisfactorily, but it comes as close as any are likely to get. This covers his life in as much informative detail as could be needed, and presents Hogan not so much in a less-than-glamorous light, as is common to biographies, but rather in a "judge for yourself" presentation of evidence for what made the man what he became.

Anyone curious about this modern legend will get more than he bargains for. Where perhaps the book does not go into his game to the extent golfers may want, the story of Hogan's life is engaging enough without it.

In my very large golf library this is clearly the best book on golf
I have read period. For the first time you get an insight into the "wie ice mon" in what reads like a novel.

This book really only confirmed what I had thought for a long time, behind Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan was a tremendous golfer who was way ahead of his time. Hogan nearly won the grand slam, and could not compete in the PGA because of the fact it started almost the same time the British Open was finishing. As we all watch Tiger Woods try for the grand slam, let us not forget Ben Hogan who was as close as anyone has ever come to doing it. The most amazing part of Hogan's story was the fact he won the US Open after almost dying in a car crash.

Sampson does a nice job with this book, telling about Hogan like he was, stearn and driven, and definitely not writing a fluff piece like some biographies can be. Hogan was tough, and I would equate him as the "Ted Williams" of golf, so good it was hard for him to teach anyone because he set such high standards for himself. I recommend this book to golfers and people who want to read about a remarkable man.

Ben Hogan was a no nonsense, focused champion who realized early in life that hard work was the path to success. Curt Sampson does a great job in presenting the real Hogan, not just the golf legend. This book should be required reading for all golf fans.
Especially the goofs who scream "You da man!" everytime Tiger hits a shot. There will never be another Ben Hogan.

When I was growing up the names of Palmer, Nicklaus, Trevino, Player, and their generation were the top competitors. Ben Hogan was a revered name, but one of past glory. His great year of 1953 was in the past. I had heard about his auto accident and his amazing comeback, but this book helped me see the man who "dug it out of the dirt" through hard work, discipline, and ferocious tenacity.

Mr. Hogan started out with less than most. His father's suicide and the family's subsequent poverty didn't leave him with many open paths to success. He found golf and found that it not only matched his physical skills, but was an even better match for his nearly obsessive temperament.

The swing he developed has become the pattern millions of us try to emulate, although he would find our haphazard approach to the game less than useless. Why we love being duffers would be beyond him. He knew how to work and to practice. I still cannot fathom the kind of internal strength it would take to come back from that terrible leg shattering accident when his Cadillac was struck by a bus. He played in great pain for the rest of his life and had four surgeries on his left shoulder. When I realize that his greatest achievements and most of his wins at major tournaments were after the accident I am simply dumbstruck.

Mr. Hogan was a very private and enigmatic figure. Mr. Sampson does a good job in teasing what facts we know into a good story. We get interesting stories from the golf side of his life (mostly stories told about Hogan by others) and those are very enjoyable. However, I like the way Mr. Sampson puts all that in the context of a real person - a real man. Ben Hogan wasn't a fictional character even though the media version of him was a distortion of the actual hard working man who practiced, practiced, and then practiced some more, who loved his wife, Valerie, and built a successful golf equipment business.

Ben Hogan made a long journey through life and I think this book tells the story well.

Tom's book is a must read for all who manage more than one person.
Great companies are built by those who lead by example and teach others how to lead. Swing To Balance teaches that those who feel they can do it all will do more, more easily and better, if they help others to succeed. The game of golf is THE metaphor for life!!
This book is well written and and will make any airplane trip seem to short. Enjoy.

Tom Wentz has written a remarkable book that provides as meny life lessons as it does golf tips. An accomplished golfer himself, Tom applies the principles of a "balanced" swing to keeping your life balanced both professionaly and personally. The concept of "Effortless Effectiveness" show the importance of keeping all the moving parts of your golf swing working together to hit the ball straight and long. It underscores why trying too hard seldom works.
I recommend this book for anyone who wants to straighten out their drives as well as their lives.

Most of us enjoy golf and are constantly trying to fix some aspect of our game. We adjust the grip to correct a slice or alter our stance a bit to fix something else. But adjustments to a fundamentally flawed swing will never result in a great game.

Tom invites us to fundamentally rethink the swing. He's analyzed numerous PGA Tour players and distilled the common elements of their swings into a few steps that allow a golfer to visualize and execute a fundamentally sound swing. Without all the gimmicks many of us rely on.

But in the process he confronts us with a disturbing reality - most of us approach our professional lives in the same way. We are constantly trying to improve our situations by fixing problems rather than determining what we want to become and structuring our enterprise to create it. Tom uses this very interesting allegory to demonstrate how we can all make the same fundamental transition in our professional lives.

In fairness, I've not only read the book but also seen it successfully applied in golf and in real businesses. So I have no trouble endorsing it.

But will your golf improve? Well, Tom took my novice spouse from no ability to her first successful nine holes in about four hours. It took me much longer to improve because I clung to several stubborn habits that needed to be shed.

As always, it depends on what you're willing to give up give up to get what you really want. Start with an open attitude and you can create the swing - and the enterprise - you really want.

Leadership ang Golf delivers an intersting perspective into the challenges of management and company change by comparing to the challenges of the golf swing. Being both a manager for a company that is making the move from mass production to mass "customization" and a high hanidcapped golfer; it was easy for me to realate to the lessons of Wentz.

Following the lessons of Swing to Balance, our company is certainly on the right path to continued growth and success as well as on-line with our company purpose. My golf swing...well that's another story.

There is always great ways to map the knowledge and skills of the athletic arena with business. Execution is key. Using the imagery of the golf swing, Mr. Wentz makes a great connection to business. A short read, but effective.

Common sense approach to golf. Very well written. Play shots your comfortable hitting that you have practiced, recommended.

Course Management - master it, and you become one a scoring machne; this book shows you the way.

Not much swing instruction going on here. This book is primarily for the player who can hit good shots and has above average skill but is still putting up disappointing numbers. It's not really earth shattering stuff. You know that by trying for eagles on par 5 you end up brining bogey and worse into play. You know that when you are in trouble the correct play is to just get back to the fairway. If you are like me you just need someone like Raymond Floyd to tell you these things before you listen! He will tell you these things and plenty more in this great book. It's not watered down a bunch of boring anecdotes - just the goods from a guy who knows how to go low.

I am a low handicap golfer who grinds to shoot in the low 70's. Typically, I hit 7-8 greens in regulation. After reading Floyd's book, I played a round and hit 14 greens in regulation. The next round I played in a vicious wind and shot 77. Better than scoring low, these were the two most comfortable rounds I've ever played.

Mr. Floyd's advice is about scoring. There is little about swing mechanics. I will read the first five chapters over and over. After reading these chapters, my mind is calm and clear. If I take this mindset to the course, I am fully confident that I will play my best golf that day.

I own over 40 books on golf. This book is at the top of my list. If I had this book when I was learning the game, I feel I would have saved years in lowering my score. Follow Mr. Floyd's advice and lower your score.

As posted previously, this book isn't about swing mechanics, but about playing smarter golf and being realistic about your game. I think this book would be extremely beneficial to the beginning golfer and would make a great gift. It's a quick read and well written. I try to read it a couple of times a year to remind myself to play within my abilities and keep a good attitude.

Highly recommended!

I picked this book up on sale at a bookstore, pretty much blindly. What a fabulous read! Eddie Caminetti is flawless! You know you wish you were a little more like him: smooth, calculated, really smart, honest and quite successful to boot - but never boring. The whole book is engaging and I've never set foot on a golf course. It's funny and insightful and makes (intelligent) light of something that people tend to take very seriously - golf equipment. I recommend it to anyone!

If you play golf, it's a must read. If you don't, you will still enjoy it very much.

Troon takes a shot at how we golfer's feel so insecure that we spend crazy amount of money for an edge that isn't there. If you have a Callaway or any other expensive club in your bag, it will cut you up like a surgeon's scalpel and expose how vain you really are.

Worthy every penny! Pick it up!

The truth hurts. Yesterday I was told that a big name sports reporter bought a new set of clubs after every bad round of golf. I am going to send him this book. I will buy the bargain balls from now on.

Another enjoyable Eddie Camminetti read, but not as much fun as "The Green" or "The Foursome." As always, Troon McAllister has an interesting take on the game, and in this case, equipment manufacturers.

This book is laugh out loud funny, and an irreverent look at the big time golf equipment makers. While I still think The Green is the better book because it had more depth, this is great and a must read for any golfer. And, by the way, just who is the Medalist Corporation????