"In Rough Meditations, reading about golf courses is almost as much fun as playing them."
--Arnold Palmer
"Many golfers have strong opinions when it comes to course architecture. Nobody, however, matches Brad Klein's ability to explain the difference between good and bad design. Rough Meditations deserves a place on that select list of must-reads for anyone who cares about the art of the golf course."
--Peter Jacobsen
"Rough Meditations is eloquently written, blends a variety of topics seamlessly together, and touches repeatedly on aspects of golf that are barely acknowledged by the majority of golfers and pretty much disregarded by devotees of the 'aerial game.' If you haven't done so already, buy this book. Read it. Digest what it says. Become architecturally 'literate.' It's worth it."
--Bob Weisgerber, Golf Today Magazine
Rough Meditations is a unique collection of fascinating essays that bring the world's greatest golf courses to life with brilliantly colorful prose. These charming and often hilarious essays take golf enthusiasts on an intimate tour of the game's most distinguished courses. Along the way, readers gain a privileged look at the differences between good and bad golf course design. Featured essays include:
* In Golf as in Life
* Longest Wait That Was Worth It
* Goofiest Modern Green
* Business or Art?
* Read Any Good Greens Lately?
* In the Beginning There Was Sand
* Worst Shot in Golf
* Treasure Hunting
Long considered one of golf's most talented writers, Bradley Klein offers more than fifty essays, ranging from instructive to inspirational, that cover the architecture of courses, how to read greens, the ins and outs of green committees, the relationships that grow from the game, and much more. With a style all his own, Klein takes readers to where he was for years as a caddie on the PGA and LPGA tours--onto the grass and into the game.

Author Lanny Alan Yeske, PhD, managed to avoid the game of golf for fifty years. Even though he had many opportunities to play, Dr. Yeske didn't try the game until he received a set of golf clubs as a fiftieth birthday present from his brother-whom he hasn't stopped swearing at since.

"Golf-Life Lessons" provides clear and concise tips to quickly bring your beginner game down below one hundred and then ninety. Distilled from dozens of professional instructors, books, and personal experiences, Dr. Yeske's advice is interwoven with stories of his hilarious transformation from "golf hater" to just plain "golfer." He includes poignant life lessons on everything from marriage and divorce, golfing at the world-renowned St. Andrews Golf Club in Scotland, and surviving the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Yeske presumes no advance knowledge of the game, but his invaluable instruction will help you to avoid wasted shots-topping, whiffing, shanking, and slicing-from tee to green, from driving to putting.

Let "Golf-Life Lessons" help you take charge of your game. It's like private lessons, but is a cheaper way to golfing respectability

New formula for effortlessly reaching any greens in regulation This book answers the single most important question in golf, which is how very long shots can be produced from seemingly effortless swings. Every golfer has experienced the phenomenon of hitting very long shots with seemingly easy and effortless swings on rare occasions. If it is known how these long and effortless shots can be repeated, golf will become much less difficult. Using slow motion picture sequences of champions, the exact key factors used by champions to create the most efficient swing for maximum distances are identified. By presenting for the first time simple distance generating formulas, the book shows how relatively little energy is needed to produce long shots. A new way is presented to precisely feel clubhead speed to increase it. These explain why champions can hit so far with balance and seemingly modest effort.

"The Fundamentals of Quitting Golf" offers permanent relief, or perhaps just a chuckle, to golf sufferers who swear they are going to quit the game, often using very colorful language.

As explained by author David Divot, your mind is cluttered with excuses for your poor play: lack of lessons, bad courses, old clubs, new clubs and on and on. Quitting "cold turkey" does not work because, subconsciously, you want to believe this nonsense. But with Divot's ten-year course of treatment, you eventually admit that there is no excuse for your game.Explore techniques to control your anger and depression. Then ponder why you would put that monumental achievement at risk by trying to golf.Discover that having confidence in your game is the surest way to shatter your confidence.Consider why golf magazines constantly offer new tips for curing the same problems that were supposedly cured by the tips offered in previous issues.Find out how to heighten your disappointment by pretending you have some control over where your ball will go.

You may not cure your golf affliction with "The Fundamentals of Quitting Golf," but at least you'll have a good laugh trying.

In "Payne at Pinehurst", veteran sports writer Bill Chastain crafts the dramatic story of the 1999 U.S. Open by combining extensive research with interviews of those who made it a unique and compelling event. There was nothing simple about Payne Stewart's task. Tiger Woods was the hottest golfer on the Tour, and Stewart's conquest of Pinehurst, while fending off Woods and others in an epic battle where every swing counted, is the stuff golf legends are made of. From the compelling action on the course to the tournament's dramatic conclusion, "Payne at Pinehurst" shows readers why the 1999 U.S. Open is regarded by many as the best U.S. Open ever played.

One of golf's preeminent commentators with more than fifty years of experience, Ben Wright relates the wealth of experiences he's gained from writing and broadcasting about the world's greatest golfers and courses, and his take on the infamous interview that cost him his twenty-three-year career as a golf announcer with CBS Sports. In "Good Bounces and Bad Lies", Wright brings the reader into the world of professional golf--and professional golf broadcasting--depicting in equal measure the game's grace and tradition as well as its often raucous behind-the-scenes character. Wright tells of the ups and downs of his expansive career, relating dozens of funny and outrageous anecdotes along the way. Having known such greats as Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Watson, and many other prominent figures in the world of golf, Wright gives the true insider's perspective. Although controversial, Wright is an entertaining and engaging figure who personifies the elegance and audacity of the game of golf. This Bison Books edition features a new afterword by the author.

While most research on inequality focuses on impoverished communities, it often ignores how powerful communities and elites monopolize resources at the top of the social hierarchy. In Privilege at Play, Hugo Ceron-Anaya offers an intersectional analysis of Mexican elites to examine the ways affluent groups perpetuate dynamics of domination and subordination. Using ethnographic research conducted inside three exclusive golf clubs and in-depth interviews with upper-middle and upper-class golfers, as well as working-class employees, Ceron-Anaya focuses on the class, racial, and gender dynamics that underpin privilege in contemporary Mexico. His detailed analysis of social life and the organization of physical space further considers how the legacy of imperialism continues to determine practices of exclusion and how social hierarchies are subtlety reproduced through distinctions such as fashion and humor, in addition to the traditional indicators of wealth and class. Adding another dimension to the complex nature of social exclusion, Privilege at Play shows how elite social relations and spaces allow for the resource hoarding and monopolization that helps create and maintain poverty.

After all those decades of work and responsibility, retirement should be a welcome period of rest and relaxation, a time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Unfortunately, that "rest and relaxation" often turns out to be more a burden than a blessing. Unprepared for the vast amount of idle time at their disposal, too many retirees find themselves without direction, without purpose, without pleasure.

Author Robert Faber urges retirees to use golf as therapy, proposing the game--with its competitive stimulation and social opportunities--as a fulfilling alternative to excessive unstructured leisure time. With the assistance of retired University of Michigan golf coach Tom Simon, Faber provides technical instructions specially tailored to the physical limitations of senior amateur golfers.

With humor and pertinent insights into the special needs of seniors, "Senior Golf: It Takes Balls To Retire" offers information on the origins of the game, its equipment, its rules, and the demographics of those who pursue it.

"Senior Golf" will help you look at retirement not as the end of employment, but as the beginning of life's second phase.

How did Jack Nicklaus become a legend?
Nicklaus's life is one of extraordinary achievement: Not only did Jack Nicklaus win eighteen PGA Tour Majors, and eight Senior PGA Tour Majors during his one hundred victories worldwide, but he also gained fame as a golf course designer and goodwill ambassador.
Internationally acclaimed speaker and specialist medical practitioner Dr. John Tickell was one of millions in awe of the achievements of Jack Nicklaus. He wanted to know the secrets of the great man's enormous success in golf and life. When Dr. Tickell met Jack Nicklaus, he was given many insights into both the physical and mental demands of Nickalus's accomplishments. In this book Dr. Tickell interviews Jack Nicklaus about his remarable success and illustrates the "how" and the "why" of that success.
Dr. Tickell asked Jack Nicklaus to help him design a golf course. They combined their talents to build a championship course at the Heritage Golf and Country Club in Melbourne, Australia. During their time together, Nicklaus shared with Dr. Tickell the Four Principles of Greatness and other pointers to success. They spent many hours together discussing life and golf, golf and life, and now share with you those lessons on how to become a better golfer and, more important, a better human being.
This book presents seventy-two lessons on golf and life from a man who has consistently reached the top of the mountain in all aspects of life. It will motivate and uplift you--and quite possibly shave a few strokes off your game as well.

Every golfer alive knows that he or she has two ancestral homes: one's own, and Scotland. On her rolling shores the game of golf had its origins, and to walk the links of St. Andrews is to feel at one with the shepherd who decided one day to see how far he could whack a stone with his crook. Most serious golfers will make the pilgrimage to Scotland, to try to hit the Postage Stamp green at Troon, to trace the footsteps of Ben Hogan at Carnoustie, and to brave the challenge of the Road Hole at St. Andrews; all golfers dream of taking such a trip.
For the tourist or the dreamer, there can be no better guide than James W. Finegan. A passionate advocate of the game that's played on the links between land and sea, Finegan combines a writer's eye, a historian's knowledge, and a golfer's sense of wonder and apprehension to provide an impossibly ambitious grand tour of golf's native land.
In a loop of a thousand miles that begins in Edinburgh and ends across the Firth of Forth in St. Andrews, Finegan covers some sixty courses, visiting the true shrines of the game, the courses that are well known and respected, and the little-known gems you might otherwise pass right by. He shares the history of the courses, both of their creation and of the most famous matches played there; he also writes marvelously about the scenic and strategic charms to be found as you play them yourself. And he provides all the information you need to make your arrangements to do just that -- because, unlike most championship courses in the United States, the great courses of Scotland are available to the public.
In addition to his delightful descriptions of the golf to be found there, Finegan gives us his recommendations for places to stay, ranging from the most modest bed-and-breakfast to the most magnificent castle hotel. He describes the pleasures to be found off the beaten track: the spectacular views from a country road, or the ancient cathedral that's worth a stop on the way to the first tee. And because all the travel within the country is done by car, he spells out the actual routes from town to town and course to course.
"Blasted Heaths and Blessed Greens" is a book to be read, to be savored, and to be tucked away in your suitcase when you finally undertake the journey of your dreams.

Ben Hogan's former ball shagger recounts firsthand stories of the golf legend--andreveals, for the first time, Hogan's Swing Secret, a source of mystery to golfers for more than fifty years.

Ben Hogan's pro golf record is legendary. A four-time PGA Player of the Year, he celebrated sixty-three tournament wins and became known as a man of few words and fewer close friends. Most of what we know about Hogan has been based on myth and speculation. Until now.

In the 1960s, though Hogan's competitive career was over, he kept the practice habits that made him famous and remade modern competitive golf. He hired seventeen-year-old Jody Vasquez to help. Each day, after driving to a remote part of the course at Shady Oaks Country Club, Hogan would spend hours hitting balls and Vasquez would retrieve them. There, and over the course of their twenty-year friendship, Hogan taught Jody the mechanics of his famous swing and shared his thoughts on playing, practicing, and course management--unknowingly revealing much about his character, values, and beliefs, and the events that shaped them.

In "Afternoons with Mr. Hogan," Jody Vasquez shares dozens of stories about Hogan, from the way he practiced, selected his clubs, and interacted with other star players to his little-known humor and generosity. Combining the gentle insight of Tom Kite's "A Fairway to Heaven" (which recalls Kite's golf education under Harvey Penick) with the sage perspective of Penick's own "Little Red Book," Vasquez's tribute is funny, poignant, and full of advice for golfers of all levels.

From the author of five books and numerous articles on the subject of learning golf comes a comprehensive study of how people learn the necessary motor skills plus a wealth of information on keeping the mind centered on the task at hand.

Bill Spiller was forty-seven when he was forced by desperate finances to caddie at the Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles. One day Spiller was caddying for a member who became outraged by Spiller's stories of inequities and suffering during his golfing career. The golfer urged Spiller to write California's attorney general, who later ordered the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) to cease its discrimination. In 1961 the "Caucasian race" clause was deleted from the PGA constitution. This was an historic decision that gave black golfers the chance to compete at the highest level in the sport. Golf has long been the domain of white men. During the twentieth century, however, African American pioneers such as Lee Elder, Howard Wheeler, and Charlie Sifford broke down the barriers for black golfers who wanted to play, and win, as equals with white golfers. "A Course of Their Own" looks at golf from the perspectives of these men, who had courage as well as remarkable skills. It tells the stories of their struggles, their bravery, and their passion for the game and puts their lives and contributions into historical perspective.

The British Open, or the Open Championship as it's known outside the United States, is believed to be the most challenging tournament in professional golf. There was no greater Open than in 1977 at Turnberry on Scotland's southwest coast, when Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus battled over the last thirty-six holes with Watson winning with a closing birdie. Drawing on interviews with participants, caddies, journalists, and spectators, Michael Corcoran brings the drama of this historic Open Championship to vivid life. Along with a revealing retelling of the '77 Open, Corcoran delivers an evocative historical overview of the Open and the tradition it represents.

"Authorized, intimate, and definitive, Ben Hogan: A Life is the long-awaited biography of one of golf's greatest, most enigmatic legends, narrated with the unique eloquence that has made author James Dodson a critically acclaimed national bestseller.
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One man is often credited with shaping the landscape of modern golf. Ben Hogan was a short, trim, impeccably dressed Texan whose fierce work ethic, legendary steel nerves, and astonishing triumph over personal disaster earned him not only an army of adoring fans, but one of the finest careers in the history of the sport. Hogan captured a record-tying four U.S. Opens, won five of six major tournaments in a single season, and inspired future generations of professional golfers from Palmer to Norman to Woods.
Yet for all his brilliance, Ben Hogan was an enigma. He was an American hero whose personal life, inner motivation, and famed "secret" were the source of great public mystery. As Hogan grew into a giant on the pro tour, the combination of his cool outward demeanor and invincible, laser-guided accuracy on the golf course froze formidable opponents in their tracks. In 1949, at the peak of his career, Hogan's mystique was reinforced by a catastrophic automobile accident in which he and his wife, Valerie, were nearly killed after being hit head-on by a Greyhound bus. Doctors predicted Hogan might never walk again - let alone set foot on another golf course. But his miraculous three-year recovery and comeback led to one of the greatest performances in golf history when in 1953 he won the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the British Open (something that's never been repeated).
In this first-ever family-authorized biography, renowned author James Dodson expertly and emotionally reconstructs Hogan's complicated life. He discovers an intensely honest man handicapped by self-doubt, buoyed by the determination to prove his own abilities, and unable to escape a long-buried childhood tragedy - the core of the Hogan "secret." Dodson also reveals both the legendary devotion and eventual strain in Hogan's sixty-two-year marriage, and a Hogan rarely seen by the public: a warm, jovial man whose charitable spirit and sharp business sense enabled him to build the powerful golf equipment company bearing his name to this day. Ben Hogan: A Life is the authoritative inside portrait golf fans have long awaited.

In 1999, the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament - known to many as Q School - will find itself sitting on 35 years of unique history. Q School Confidential chronicles this tournament's deep, dense story of heartbreak, black humor, back-room politics and magnificent golf under dire circumstances.

Using the 1998 PGA TOUR Qualifying School finals as his backdrop, golf writer David Gould recounts for the first time ever the history of the pro tour’s annual qualifier, with revealing anecdotes about raw rookies, aging veterans and every dreamer in between. The vintage stories in the Q School's near and distant past tell of emotional and physical breakdown -- and courage, as well -- under pressure: Jim Carter’s self-confessed “choke stories” of 1990 and 1992; Mark McCumber’s recurring lost-scorecard nightmare; Peter Jacobsen’s ordeal with a cheater on the Mexican border; Jim McLean’s bizarre arrest on the qualifier’s eve; and Mac O’Grady’s violent celebration of his long-awaited Q School success. The players captured in these pages turn white with panic, vomit their breakfast, sleep in their cars, practice on interstate ranges, lose golf shoes, forget contact lenses and make fateful decisions based on faulty information.

Sifting back through several eras, Gould explains the innocent aims of the first Q Schools and uncovers the tournament’s pivotal role in the momentous split-up of the PGA and the PGA TOUR. He examines the difficult question of how professional golf should go about bringing in new players and letting former players regain their privileges. In the voices of forgotten or never-known tour pros from the 1970s, he narrates the frustrating “rabbit era” that Q School helped create, and revisits the infamous “breakaway Q School” of 1968. In notes that accompany this book’s exclusive year-by-year scoring records, the author picks out hidden turning points, bits of trivia and strange coincidences in the lives of tour players past and present.

These profiles and snapshots of the earliest Q School survivors and the most recent graduates, as well, are woven together in a warm, engaging and insightful narrative. Q School Confidential, sometimes bleak, sometimes triumphant, provides the first and only inside look at a cruel and unusual tournament that many consider golf’s toughest test of all.

Danny O'Malley, a fairly decent amateur golfer, is tricked into selling his soul to the devil in exchange for a promise of winning the richest prize ever offered in a professional tournament: Five million dollars A history of the game and many of its greatest players is interspersed throughout the story. Why do people from every culture attempt to master this cruel game when there is so little chance of success? For example, can you name a great Italian golfer? Trust me, my friends. There are no great Italian golfers. In the spring, when the first bold blossoms of bougainvillea splash down the hillsides of Sicily in a glorious crimson tide and gondoliers ply their trade along the romantic canals of Venice, a young man is more intrigued by the upward slash of a signorina's skirt than the downward slope of a green, and more beguiled by the lie that rests on her lips than the lie of a dimpled white ball in the fairway. The English, self-deprecating and stoical, are as emotionally suited for golf as they are for espionage. They know the fairways and greens are as duplicitous as any double agent and will ultimately betray them. It is not a question of if, but a matter of when. For years, Nick Faldo was the personification of a golfing machine, an assassin of par whose deadly game struck fear in the hearts of opponents. His sponsors tried to humanize him to enhance the sale of their products. On rare occasions, an involuntary twitch in the shadowy recesses of his stiff upper lip created the fleeting illusion of a smile. But their feeble attempt to cast the dour Brit as Prince Charming fooled no one and was as futile an exercise as painting a happy face on the Sphinx in order to alter its enigmatic essence. Still, in fairness to "Sir" Nick-recently knighted by Queen Elizabeth-it should be noted that as tournament prize money has escalated to astronomical levels, the Americans and Europeans have also developed a decent impersonation of Faldo's English sc

Golf is a powerful strategy for learning, playing and enjoying golf. The programme is developmental, as opposed to clinical or problem solving in nature. You learn about and develop your inner mental skills, skills which require you to 'go inside yourself' to that part of your mind where you foster behaviours which promote good performance. Creative use of imagery makes it possible to re-program the software of your brain and rid yourself of unwanted behaviours and beliefs, which get in the way of good performance. Discover how easy it is to: Achieve active relaxation Use mental imagery to learn and improve your game Develop positive thoughts and behaviour patterns Focus completely on the shot you are about to make Increase your chances of having and then sustaining peak performance This book will give you the tools to create peak performance in golf and in other sports you play. It has a parallel and perhaps a more important goal: to help you develop a lifestyle that is healthy, and behaviours which lead to peak wellness. Includes a link to free audio download of exercises.

The Weekend Golfer's Handbook is written with the average, hardworking golfer at heart. Most do not have the time to devote to improving their golf game. This book provides its readers with information intended to maximize their enjoyment of golf.

Now available in paperback, Tin Cup Dreams is the remarkable odyssey of self-taught golfer Esteban Toledo, a former boxer who overcame poverty and the wrong side of the tracks to make it through Q School and a make-or-break season on the PGA Tour. With uncommon grit and determination, Toledo finally triumphs after a 12 year quest that took him to the depths of despair.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D'Antonio gives a rare behind-the-scenes look at the PGA Tour while keeping readers on the edge of their seats with his chronicle of Toledo's struggles. Traditionally, golf was a dreamer's path to glory. Tin Cup Dreams shows that it still is.

Some students of the presidency say that we can learn the most about the men who've occupied the Oval Office by studying their ideology. Others say political savvy or family background or regional influences are paramount. But Don Van Natta argues for another standard,by observing the way they play golf. Fourteen of the last seventeen presidents have been golfers, and Van Natta explores two questions: Why is the game of golf so attractive to the men who occupy the Oval Office? And what do their golf games reveal about their characters? Some presidents relied on golf to escape the burdens of office, while others brought those burdens with them. And few have been able to resist the perks of high office, bending the rules and freely taking mulligans. Is it really surprising to learn that the section called "Hail to the Cheats" features the golfing escapades of Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Warren Harding? Not content to rely solely on the history books, Van Natta takes the reader on a round of golf he recently played with Bill Clinton and draws on extensive interviews with the golfing ex-presidents about what the game means to them. For history buffs and golf aficionados alike, First Off the Tee is a cheerful romp and a unique way to share the links with America's duffers-in-chief.

The "Simple Golf" Swing is a complete and easy to understand explanation of the golf swing written for the recreational golfer. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced golfer "Simple Golf" will make you a better player. You will understand the four things you must do in order to consistently hit the ball well. You will discover how you can find your own unique golf swing. You will develop the ability to find your ideal tension level, rhythm and swing speed. "Simple Golf" gives you an 8-week program that will change your game forever. "Simple Golf" is the key to unlock your best golf game.

I EAT, BREATHE & SLEEP GOLF, is a true story about how Mike Kemper got started in the game of golf, his experiences, and his love for the game. Two former colleagues who knew his passion to chase that "little white ball" inspired him to write the book. The reading should be easy and quite enjoyable. Credit was given to his wife for the title of the book.