im going on a 15 hour plane right next week and might read a book or 4...

i just started playing golf last summer but am addicted now and im sure theres some good golf books out there.

please recommend your top 3 or so. im not sure if i want a purely instructional book or just some nice golf anecdotes by famous golfers. hopefully there are some books that are a nice mixture of both?

the one book that came to mind was tiger's book "how i play" or something along those lines. i saw it at a proshop not too long ago and i thumbed through it and it seemed interesting. any opinions on this book?

Anything by Rick Reilly (Links will keep you absorbed) or a book of short stories with writers like Dan Jenkins, et al. You will learn more about actual golf and definitely be entertained. A ghost written book like Tiger's does not appeal to me so I can't give a review, as far as pure instruction pick up Ben Hogan's five easy lessons, but here is the catch, don't read it. Flip to the illustrated five lessons from the original Sports Illustrated article series and study them. It is instruction in it's purest form, rarely if ever surpassed and a baseline all golfers can return to no matter how long they have been playing...have a safe trip...J

Ben Hogan's Five fundamentals, one of the best. He talks for alot on just the grip.
Great reading. Also Steve Elkingtons five fundamentals with great pictures.
Addam

Who's your Caddy by Rick Reilly. Sit by the exit door so you have lots of room for clutching your ribs and doubling up in laughter.

Harvey Penick's Red and Green books. Great tips.

Let me Tell You a Story by John Feinstein and Red Auerbach.

I haven't read it yet but I plan on reading Hogans 5 Fundamentals this fall.

All good reads.

A round of Golf with Tommy Armour.. very old but entertaining with good tips

Any Feinstein book.

Golf instruction should begin with the classics like Hogan's Five Fundementals and Golf My way by Jack Nicklaus. Anytime you can get insight to 2 of the all time best you should.

I'll throw another vote in for Ben Hogan's 5 Lessons.

If you want three books and a bit of a diverse mix. Look no further than these.

The modern fundamentals of golf - Ben Hogan

A good walk spoiled - John Feinstein

Four iron in the soul - Lawrence Donegan

How I play by Tiger isn't bad either




P.S Please don't get the Dave Pelz short game bible. The actual bible is less confusing.

1. Instruction=Hogans 5 lessons is probably the most read instruction book in history. Ernest Jones Swing the Clubhead, if you want to keep it real simple.

2. Dan Jenkins- (If you can find it) -Dogged Victims of Enexorable Fate- Hilarious, Funny, entertaining and historical. IMOP the best book on golf ever written.
-Anything else by Jenkins is great also, but make sure you are not a person who is easily offended by profanity.

3. Anything by Bobby Jones

4. Golf in the Kingdom-Michael Murphy (a look at the mysticaly side of golf)

5. Golf My Way-Jack Nicklaus. This really gets you in the head of maybe the greatest ever....some stuff in there is a little outdated, like encouraging you to use a 1 iron, but there is a lot of great stuff in there as well.

6. Anything by P.G. Woodehouse-(again hard to find) Fictional short stories about golf but very entertaining and very very funny. This is a LOL book(s)

I used to be in a book club for golf literature and I was able to read some of these more rare books, you can still find a lot of them on line at Amazon etc. if they dont have them at Barnes and Noble.

That's funny.......but true! If you are yipping mermorize verse, Pelz 33:3 and you will be saved!

Mark Frost:
"The Greatest Game Ever Played"
"Bobby Jones....."

Harvey Penick's Little Red Book

Best golf books I've ever read, they'll inspire you to play better. Grand Slam is a great book to help keep things in perspective, makes you realize that one of the greatest golfers of all time had is share of struggles as well.

I agree, this is a great read. Mr. Frost is a very engaging writer. I also recommend David Feherty's books, Somewhere in Ireland, a Village is Missing an Idiot and A Nasty Bit of Rough. Billy Mott has written Back Nine, a novel that is surprisingly entertaining.

There are several good educational books mentioned five easy lessons Ernest Jones books would top my list.

For a fun read with some instruction in it I will mention one they missed

"The Education of a Golfer" by Sam Snead

How about something by John Jacobs?

2nd Sneads "Education of a Golfer"... he bested a guy with a tree branch! Some great early stories & insights from Mr Smooth.

With all due respect to villa who is a much better golfer than I'll ever be, not having Pelz SGB as a new golfer is like trying to learn calculus with a blackboard and chalk and no text book.

If you want to learn the short game in quickest time possible the SGB is a resource like unlike any other. Some of those other books I'm sure are an enjoyable read, but the SGB is something a new golfer will refer to over and over. It is like a text book and some do not like having to "work" to understand and learn from it, but I assure you there is no other book that will save you as much time in the learning process or shave as many strokes if you practice what you learn in the SGB.


I think some of the better lifetime golfers forget how much time and trial and error they went through to become as good as they are and don't identify with a beginning golfers struggles. The SGB costs less than a box of balls and will pay dividends throughout your golfing career.

The Legend of Bagger Vance is a great golf story. How We Won the Ryder Cup is a great read as well, the story of the Ryder Cup as told by the European team's caddies. Also, How I Play by Tiger is a great instructional book. Any Feinstein book as well

Cheers for the compliment mate but if I was that good, Dave Pelz would be my personal teacher on tour!

I do see where you're coming from regarding the book though. I think I have negative thoughts about Pelz's teaching methods because whenever I watch him on the Golf Channel or read his books/articles, I get confused. He seems to make the whole thing very technical when the truth is, it's all about feel. A couple of short game lessons with a good pro will do a lot more for your game than reading the SGB.

You have to know what it is that you're looking to achieve and which points are going to be beneficial for you if you want to take anything from it. I'm sure not everyone thinks the same as me though.

Keep swinging!

Villa I guess we must agree to disagree. There is so much more in the SGB than Pelz methods, teaching aids, and the 4 wedge concept. I know my short game lessons I've taken over the last 4 years can in no way come close to delivering the amount of info the SGB does at a fraction of the cost of just one lesson.

"You have to know what it is that you're looking to achieve"


Frankly knowing what you want to achieve is something most new golfers don't know especially from 100 yds and in, but Pelz breaks it down for you step by step so there is some reason to play a shot high or low or running or spinning. Just the swing sequences of Lee Janzen and Payne Stewart hitting short game shots are worth the money. I respect your opinion(that the SGB is useless to you), but I think discouraging others especially newer golfers from getting this book is not helping them in the long run.

In contrast some of those that say the short game is all feel will spend thousands, chasing the correct equipment and spend many hours talking kick points, shaft flex, puring, swingweights, torque, cast vs forged, even so far as which factory forged the club, but learning the "how and why" of the actual shots is too technical.

"who's your caddy" is a must. a quick read, and fantastic.

all the books by harvey penick. beware, it may require picking up a club in the plane and swinging.

"q school" by fenstein. very cool inside look at Q school and how insane it is.

Read "Open" by Feinstien. It is an amazing look at how they went about setting up the U.S. Open at "Bethpage Black" and all that went into it . They start at the discussion about having it there all the way thru the final round and the trophy presentation. You'll never look at another tournament the same way after reading it! Have a safe trip.

harvey penick - red book and Tiger's book

great for the beginner to start and keep for reference.

Golf is not a game of Perfect - Bob Rotella

great book on the mental side of golf.

Once again you make very valid points and I completeley understand your opinions.
Dave Pelz is probably the most respected short game teacher in the game and the SGB has sold thousands of copies so my opinions probably don't count for a great deal anyway.

I think what I was really trying to say though is that it's a heavy read and there's a lot of information to take on board (especially for a beginner). It could potentially be a bit overwheliming!

I'm not a big fan of instructional books (and magazine articles) anyway so my opinions are going to be bias. I'd always recommend getting a few lessons from a good pro (finances permitting).

The beauty of this site is that not everyone will have the same thoughts and I appreciate that in this case, yours are different to mine mate.

Curt Sampson's "Hogan" , "The Masters" , "The Slam" are all wonderful history/biographies on the some of the greatest ever to play the game. If instructional side is what you are looking for, Harvey Penick's
"Little Red Book" is the blueprint for a golf instruction book IMO.

Best book I ever read:

Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible , by Fred Shoemaker. The book was fantastic.

"Paper Tiger" by Tom Coyne, not much on golfing itself, but a great read and very usable on a plane...

I read it flying back from my golfing vacation in the US.

I'm with freddiac, Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible , by Fred Shoemaker is the best book I've read. I read it 6 months after starting golf (2 years ago) and shot a 76 the next day. Now down under 4. Better than Rotella's books IMHO.