There are lots of books on soccer, baseball and football. Many more on fishing, martial arts and motor racing, but there is no sport with the strength, history and depth of literature provided to the golfer.
Bernard Darwin, Herbert Warren Wind, Peter Dobereiner and John Updike are just a few of the game’s gifted writers. All have produced superb collections of work offering incisive insights into the game we love. More recently, John Feinstein has joined this august list with classics such as ‘A Good Walk Spoiled’ and ‘The Open’. And so has Mark Frost with three great offerings: ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played – A True Story’; ‘The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, And the Story of Golf, The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever
Then, of course, there is the important contribution of famous players themselves in their autobiographies.
There are also instruction books by the greats like ‘Golf My Way’ by Jack Nicklaus. ‘Five Lessons – The Modern Fundamentals of Golf’ by Ben Hogan and ‘How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time’, by Tommy Amour. To this collection must also be added the instruction offered by a host of celebrity coaches like David Leadbetter, Butch Harmon, Jim McLean and Dave Pelz.
To the straightforward instruction books must be added the hundreds of volumes dealing with the hugely important mental side of the game. These include such classics as ‘Golf is Not a Game of Perfect’ by Bob Rotella, ‘Zen Golf’ by Joseph Parent and ‘Golf, the Mind Game’ by Martin M Mackenzie
Golf, of course, offers plenty of humor like ‘Dead Solid Perfect’ by Dan Jenkins. There are cult classics like ‘Golf in The Kingdom’ by Michael Murphy. And there are philosophical books like Harvey Pennick’s ‘Little Red Book’ or my own ‘Traits of Champions’ which I penned with Brian Tracy.
Then there are the coffee-table books on courses and design with fabulous photos that leave you dreaming wistfully. One of the best presents I was ever given arrived when I was about 13 years old and in bed with flu. It was ‘The World Atlas of Golf’ and was given to me by my father. How I loved that book. Not only did it have great pictures and stories about the world’s best courses, but it also featured a map of each course. How many times did I figure out where I was going to hit my opening tee shot at Royal Birkdale, what club I might take on the 12th at Augusta and whether or not I could carry Hells’ Half Acre with my second at the par five, 600-yard, seventh at Pine Valley? In my youthful mind, I played every single hole on every course over and over again.
Since then I have amassed a collection of almost 1000 golf books and have read most of them!
If you haven’t already read them, may I suggest the following:
‘Let ‘Er Rip!’ by Gardner Dickinson. It’s a rather eclectic collection of stories and one of my favorites.
‘Phantom of the Open: Maurice Flitcroft, The World’s Worst Golfer’ by Scott Murray is a hilarious account of an English crane driver, who attempted to qualify for the 1976 Open championship.
‘Bobby Jones on Golf’ by Bobby Jones (who else?). The first half is autobiographical and wonderfully written.
‘Follow The Wind’ by Bo Links, a fantasy golf book similar to ‘Field of Dreams’. A magical read.
“Golf in the Kingdom” by Michael Murphy, plumbs the depths of the psychological side of the game in a Harry Potter kind of way.
Andrew Wood is an author and CEO of Legendary Marketing, a Tampa/Orland-based ad agency. He is the world’s leading expert on golf, resort, destination and real estate marketing although his successes go far beyond these core industries. Author of over 40 books including; Confessions of a Golf Pro, Desperately Seeking Members, The Golf Marketing Bible, The Hotel and Resort Marketing Bible and Legendary Advice. Andrew has spoken to thousands of audiences worldwide and was the top ranked speaker at 97.7% of the events where he spoke on sales, marketing, entrepreneurship or leadership. A pioneer in Internet marketing his creative talent, out of the box ideas and copywriting skills are at the core of his expertise. Regarded as one of the top marketing minds in the world for his ability to craft a winning strategy, generate leads and increase income!
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