Stories recounted by the Oldest Member describe golfers who fall in love, bet excessively, use the rules to win, are defeated by their own superstitions, and become better people playing golf
Traveling with the golfers on the PGA Tour, Feinstein gets inside the heads of the game's greatest players as well as its struggling wannabes. Meet superstars like Nick Price, who nailed a fifty-foot putt at the seventeenth to win the British Open, and Paul Azinger, who marked his return from a bout with cancer with an emotional appearance at the Buick Open. Go behind the scenes for Davis Love III's unforgettable come-from-behind victory in the Ryder Cup. In golf, Feinstein eloquently relates, the line that separates triumph from disappointment is incredibly fine. "One week you've discovered the secret to the game; the next week you never want to play it again."
The twentieth anniversary edition of this classic work--the bestselling golf instruction book of all time and hailed as "the golfer's equivalent of The Elements of Style" (The New York Times)--includes a new introduction by a prominent golfer, twenty new illustrations, and never-before-published materials from the Penick family archives.
The most beloved golf book of all time, Harvey Penick's Little Red Book has become required reading for all players and fans of the game, from beginners to seasoned pros. The legendary Harvey Penick, whom Sports Illustrated called the "Socrates of the golf world," began his golfing career as a caddie in Austin, Texas, at the age of eight, and over the course of nearly a century worked with an amazing array of champions. In this classic book, which is named for the red notebook he always kept, Penick's simple, direct, practical wisdom pares away the hypertechnical jargon that's grown up around the golf swing, and lets all golfers, whatever their level, play their best. This twentieth-anniversary edition features a treasure trove of rare images from the Penick family archives, commemorates Penick's lasting achievement with a moving new foreword by 2012 Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III--whose father learned the game under Penick's tutelage--and reminds golfers everywhere to "take dead aim."
Bill Pennington, author of the beloved and widely read "On Par" golf column for the New York Times, knows how to interpret the experts and pros for the rest of us. For years, he has traveled the globe in search of golf's essentials--those basic principles, those elusive truths (and who are we kidding, any trick or quick fix he can pick up along the way) that will improve anyone's game. He has consulted the world's leading golf instructors as well as countless caddies, groundskeepers, parking lot attendants, and bartenders. He has played rounds with Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam, and Justin Timberlake. He has sought the advice of psychiatrists, physicists, economists, zen masters. And on a particularly bad golf outing, he has even discussed the fickleness of golf with a quite helpful raccoon.
On Par captures it all: From equipment and instruction, to the rules and language of golf, to camaraderie and psychology, to the short game/long game debate, Pennington informs and entertains as he gets to the essence of this mercurial game, including golf's holy grail, the hole in one. Part instruction, part education, part therapy, and shot through with Pennington's trademark wit, this is a book for everyone who has ever felt the game's distinct pull--and slice.
"Whether you're a novice or club regular, Steve has the answers to all your golf problems."
-- Ernie Els
For the weekend golfer, the game of kings can be an unfortunate succession of shots that are too short, too high or fond of the hazards. Each swing is followed by frustration, anguish and futile attempts to correct the problem, which often only creates more problems. What is needed is a patient golf pro who analyzes each swing and gives constructive advice.
Golf Cures and Fixes is like having professional instruction whenever it is needed most. Straightforward instruction, informative diagrams and do-and-don't photographs zero in on specific problems and provide specific cures.
Steve Newell shows the golfer how to diagnose mistakes by paying close attention to how the ball reacts: short drives, slices, hooks, missed shots and more. He identifies the cause of the errant shot - foot position, grip or posture, for example - and shows how to fix the problem. He also recommends drills that will help cure the problem for good.
Golf Cures and Fixes is organized into chapters according to the type of club used:
- Drivers
- Short irons
- Fairway metals
- Wedges
- Long irons
- Sand irons
- Mid irons
- Putters.
A sunny day on the course is easily spoiled by frustration and self-criticism. Whether a golfer needs to overcome one problem area or 18 holes' worth, having Golf Cures and Fixes on hand is a practical and positive strategy that offers a great return on green fees.
Ken Brown shows golfers in clear language and photographs how to excel on the putting green. He taps his experience as a winning pro golfer and a broadcaster and analyst on the tournament circuit to share his secrets to perfect putting. He has earned a reputation as a golf guru and his advice is sought regularly by players looking to reduce their handicap.
Brown's success sinking putts gave him his nickname, "One Putt". He uses his "climb the ladder" progression technique to one-putting: develop a perfect set up, read the greens, acquire touch, and feel and hone skills through practice drills. Featuring his analyses and anecdotes from decades of experience, this beautifully illustrated, clearly organized book makes it easy and entertaining to improve this crucial golfing skill.
Tight, easy-to-read text and a generous serving of how-to and step-by-step photographs demonstrate the techniques, while directional arrows and inset boxes clarify the instructions for the player.
The book includes:
- Choosing a Putter -- Length; Lie; Loft; Weight; The sweet spot; Moment of inertia; Insets, grooves and sounds off the face; Balance; Face depth; Shaft flex; Grips and grip alignment; Try before you buy; Look after your putter; Putters and their features.
- The Basic Set-up -- Grip fundamentals; Take your grip; Address; The set-ups of six pros
- Reading Greens -- Approach the green; Mend the pitch mark; Yardage books; The cut lines
- The Set-up Routine -- Rehearse
- The Stroke -- The final frontier; Fitting it together; Useful tips
- Touch and Feel -- Cause and effect; One-handed putting; Stimpmeter; Putting aids; Drills
- Tips and Drills -- Plan your practice; The 'Ken on the Course' one putt improver; The Drills; Keep a score; Warming up; Stretching; The ultimate fix
- One Putting -- Learn from six of the best; Positive thinking
- Putting Rules.
With a foreword by pro Seve Ballesteros and endorsements from Lee Westwood and Sir Nick Faldo, One Putt is sure to reduce those unwelcome extra putts on the green.
A collection of wit and wisdom offers practical advice to everyone from golf pros to high-handicap amateurs.
The game's big lie is that the rules of golf are simple. The actual fact is that they are complex and confusing, which is why millions of earnest amateurs unwittingly violate them every time they play. PGA Tour official Mark Russell is one of golf's best at making complicated rules decisions clear and understandable to the best players in the world, and now he's presenting his common sense approach in plain drawings and plainer English. If you want to truly understand the rules and confidently play by them, read this book.
-- Jaime Diaz, Sport Illustrated
The Big Miss is Hank Haney's candid and surprisingly insightful account of his tumultuous six-year journey with Tiger Woods, during which the supremely gifted golfer collected six major championships and rewrote golf history. Hank was one of the very few people allowed behind the curtain. He was with Tiger 110 days a year, spoke to him over 200 days a year, and stayed at his home up to 30 days a year, observing him in nearly every circumstance: at tournaments, on the practice range, over meals, with his wife, Elin, and relaxing with friends.
The relationship between the two men began in March 2004 when Hank received a call from Tiger in which the golf champion asked him to be his coach. It was a call that would change both men's lives. Tiger--only 28 at the time--was by then already an icon, judged by the sporting press as not only one of the best golfers ever, but possibly the best athlete ever. Already he was among the world's highest paid celebrities. There was an air of mystery surrounding him, an aura of invincibility. Unique among athletes, Tiger seemed to be able to shrug off any level of pressure and find a way to win. But Tiger was always looking to improve, and he wanted Hank's help. What Hank soon came to appreciate was that Tiger was one of the most complicated individuals he'd ever met, let alone coached. Although Hank had worked with hundreds of elite golfers and was not easily impressed, there were days watching Tiger on the range when Hank couldn't believe what he was witnessing. On those days, it was impossible to imagine another human playing golf so perfectly. And yet Tiger is human--and Hank's expert eye was adept at spotting where Tiger's perfection ended and an opportunity for improvement existed. Always haunting Tiger was his fear of "the big miss"--the wildly inaccurate golf shot that can ruin an otherwise solid round--and it was because that type of blunder was sometimes part of Tiger's game that Hank carefully redesigned his swing mechanics. Hank's most formidable coaching challenge, though, would be solving the riddle of Tiger's personality. Wary of the emotional distractions that might diminish his game and put him further from his goals, Tiger had developed a variety of tactics to keep people from getting too close, and not even Hank--or Tiger's family and friends, for that matter--was spared "the treatment." Toward the end of Tiger and Hank's time together, the champion's laser-like focus began to blur and he became less willing to put in punishing hours practicing--a disappointment to Hank, who saw in Tiger's behavior signs that his pupil had developed a conflicted relationship with the game. Hints that Tiger hungered to reinvent himself were present in his bizarre infatuation with elite military training, and--in a development Hank didn't see coming--in the scandal that would make headlines in late 2009. It all added up to a big miss that Hank, try as he might, couldn't save Tiger from. There's never been a book about Tiger Woods that is as intimate and revealing--or one so wise about what it takes to coach a superstar athlete.
When acclaimed golf writer James Dodson leaves his home in Maine to revisit Pinehurst, North Carolina, where his father first taught him the game that would shape his life and career, he's at a point where he has lost direction. But once there, the curative power of the sandhills region not only helps him find a new career working for the local paper but also reignites his flagging passion for the game of golf. And, perhaps more significantly, it inspires him to try to pass along to his teenage son the same sense of joy and contentment he has found in the game, and to recall the many colorful and lifelong friends he has met on the links.
This wise memoir about finding new meaning through an old sport is filled with anecdotes about the history of the game and of Pinehurst, the home of American golf, where many larger-than-life legends played some of their greatest rounds. Dodson's bestselling memoir Final Rounds began in Pinehurst twenty-five years ago, and now A Son of the Game completes the circle as it follows his journey of discovery back to where his love of the game began--a love that he hopes to make a family legacy.
