The most challenging, most invigorating holes a golfer can tackle. Playing on a links which is golf the way it should be played is every golfer s dream. But among serious golfers, there is also controversy. What constitutes a true links course? How many of the world s 30,000 golf courses are links? Which country has the most? Is it possible to build one today? In this beautiful book, George Peper and Malcolm Campbell, two writers who know golf inside and out, answer these questions and provide a concise and entertaining tour of the world s best links courses.
After profiling St. Andrews the links that is the birthplace of the game and 50 other classic links in the British Isles, the authors visit the courses in other parts of the world. They also examine how links design has become hot again, thanks to a revival of British-style course architecture and the fact that they re more eco-friendly than traditional courses. Throughout, esteemed golf photographer Iain Lowe s gorgeous images show the world s best 246 links in all their glory."

The hysterical story bestseller about one man's epic Celtic sojourn in search of ancestors, nostalgia, and the world's greatest round of golf
By turns hilarious and poetic, "A Course Called Ireland" is a magnificent tour of a vibrant land and paean to the world's greatest game in the tradition of Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods." In his thirties, married, and staring down impending fatherhood, Tom Coyne was familiar with the last refuge of the adult male: the golfing trip. Intent on designing a golf trip to end all others, Coyne looked to Ireland, the place where his father has taught him to love the game years before. As he studied a map of the island and plotted his itinerary, it dawn on Coyne that Ireland was ringed with golf holes. The country began to look like one giant round of golf, so Coyne packed up his clubs and set off to play all of it-on foot.
"A Course Called Ireland" is the story of a walking-averse golfer who treks his way around an entire country, spending sixteen weeks playing every seaside hole in Ireland. Along the way, he searches out his family's roots, discovers that a once-poor country has been transformed by an economic boom, and finds that the only thing tougher to escape than Irish sand traps are Irish pubs.

Beyond golf's polished surface there lies a world not often seen by the average fan. The caddy sees everything - the ambition, the strategy, the rivalries, the jealousies - that occurs behind the scenes. Award-winning John Feinstein, America's favourite sportswriter, got one of golf's legendary caddies to reveal the secrets behind the most popular sport of our time. Bruce Edwards was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in January 2003, a progressive disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord, but he dominated coverage of the 2003 US Open. This is a position not usually bestowed on a caddy, but Edwards was no ordinary caddy. In 1973, after forgoing college, Edwards walked on the course behind a young Tom Watson and never looked back. Watson would go on to win eight major titles with Bruce Edwards by his side. Edwards continued to do the job he had dedicated more than half his life to right up to his death in April 2004, aged 49. This is a moving, dramatic and thoughtful book about a life devoted to sports.

From the author of Paper Lion What happens when a weekend athlete - of average skill at best - joins the professional golf circuit? George Plimpton spent a month of self-imposed torture on the PGA tour to find out, meeting amateurs, pros, caddies, officials, fans and hangers-on along the way. In The Bogey Man we find golf legends, adventurers, stroke-saving theories, superstitions, and other golfing lore, and best of all, Plimpton's thoughts and experiences - frustrating, humbling and, sometimes, thrilling - from the first tee to the last green.

Many years before his death in 1948, legendary golf course architect Donald Ross wrote a book that was never published. Within the manuscript, Ross offered many of his thoughts on the game that he so dearly loved. In the mid-1990s, the book was miraculously rediscovered and published to great acclaim. "Golf Has Never Failed Meis" presents an insightful look at the game by one of its most famous and beloved people. And what may surprise you is that many of the astute observations that he made so long ago still hold true today.

Fifty More Places to Play Golf Before You Die is the sixth of Chris Santella's popular "Fifty Places" books (more than 250,000 copies in print), and the first to return to golf-the series' most popular subject. In this new book Santella interviews 50 luminaries in the golf world about their favorite courses and experiences. Experts range from seasoned touring professionals (Amy Alcott, Fred Funk) to journalists and photographers (James Dodson, Brian Morgan) to golf course architects (Robert von Hagge, Bob Harrison) to travel specialists (Gordon Dalgleish, Mike Lardner). Old Country favorites like Royal Dornoch and Machrihanish in Scotland are featured, but so are venues far off the linksters' beaten path, like Nirwana, Bali, where the course runs beside rice paddies in the shadow of ancient temples, and China's Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, where players tee off at 10,000 feet, at the base of the Himalayas. More than 40 spectacular photos capture the allure of these unforgettable golf destinations.

Of all the giants of golf's Golden Age, Bobby Jones was the most revered. His intelligence, modesty, eloquence, and charm-and the fact he remained an amateur throughout his career-so completely captivated the public that at times it seemed almost beside the point that he was also the best golfer in the world. Jones's fame reached its peak in 1930 when he became the only golfer to ever win the Grand Slam and the only person in history to receive a second ticker-tape parade on Broadway. Yet beneath the easy grace he exhibited on and off the golf course, there was another Bobby Jones-one who through the years battled his volatile temper; the pressure of competition that grew so unbearable he was often left near tears and unable to take any pleasure in winning; and, in the final decades of his life, an agonizing physical decline that robbed him of everything but his dignity. Drawing on scores of interviews, a careful reconstruction of contemporary accounts, and Jones's voluminous correspondence, award-winning sportswriter Ron Rapoport reveals the man behind the legend and provides a moving depiction of a long-gone sporting age.

He was a small-town boy who burst onto the international golf scene with a dramatic hook shot from deep in the woods to win the Masters- before the game he loved almost killed him. Opening up about the toll that chasing and achieving his dream of being a champion golfer took on his mental health, Bubba Watson shares his powerful story of the breaking point that gave him clarity. Bubba Watson is known as the big-hitting left-handed golfer who plays with the pink driver-the small-town kid who grew up as a child golf prodigy before going on to win two Masters Tournaments, competing in the Olympics, and rising to be the number two golfer in the world. But every dream comes with a price. Feeling that he was never good enough, Bubba began to let the constant criticism from fans and commentators haunt his thoughts. Success in the game he loved was killing him. In Up and Down, Bubba opens up about his debilitating anxiety attacks, the death of his father and namesake, adopting his children, and how reaching a breaking point professionally and personally drew him closer to his family and God. Golf is what Bubba Watson does, but it is not who he is. Through his story, you'll learn how Bubba: Overcame his anxiety and feelings of inadequacy Found his true identity not in the standards of the world, but in the God who already knows he is enough Learned to trust God with his gifts, family, and biggest dreams Became the husband, father, friend, and mentor he was called to be Life, like golf, is filled with ups and downs. Up and Down is the inspiring story of an imperfect man striving to become the best person he can be-wherever the course may take him.

Golfing legend Ben Hogan went to his grave believing he had won a record five US Open titles. The USGA says otherwise, and the controversy has endured for over 75 years. In 1942, the United States Golf Association (USGA) cancelled its four golf tournaments for the duration of World War II. But then it did something different in only that year-it sponsored the Hale-America National Open on the same weekend as the cancelled US Open. The great Ben Hogan won that tournament and went to his grave believing he had therefore won a record five US Open titles. In The Open Question, Peter May turns his attention to this controversial, colorful Hale-America National Open of 1942. While providing an in-depth look at the tournament itself, May champions Hogan's claim to five US Open titles and debunks some questionable assertions that the tournament was not worthy of a US Open. Set against the backdrop of World War II, May also tells the stories of other professional golfers in the tournament and the impact of the war on all their lives. The USGA has never recognized the Hale-America Tournament as an official US Open and remains firm in its stance. It was a decision that bothered Ben Hogan for the rest of his life. The Open Question shows how dominant Ben Hogan was against some of the biggest names in golf, and reveals why he deserves to be recognized as a five-time US Open winner.

As Jack Nicklaus once observed, fear is the golfer's greatest enemy. It can turn you from a brilliant shot-maker on the practice range into an incompetent hack on the course. Most golfers understand this, but do not have the tools to overcome it. That's where pioneering sports psychologist Dr Gio Valiante comes in. Having studied the sources of an athlete's fear and its physiological and neurological impact on performance, he has developed a groundbreaking programme for conquering it. Emphasising the need to replace a fixation-on-results with a commitment to mastery of one's body and one's mind, Valiante's approach will help golfers reach their true potential. Through concrete confidence and mastery drills, he presents specific ways to break free of fear's grasp and perform at your best - even under the most extreme pressure. Fearless Golf is the ultimate guide to the mental game.

In March 2004, Hank Haney received a call from Tiger Woods in which the golf champion asked Haney 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. But Tiger was always looking to improve, and he wanted Hank’s help. Over the next six years of working together, the supremely gifted Woods collected six major championships and rewrote golf history. Hank was one of the very few people allowed behind the curtain. 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. Towards the end of their time together, the champion’s laser-like focus began to blur and he became less willing to put in punishing hours practicing. 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.

The hilarious, heartwarming and - unbelievably - true story of Maurice Flitcroft, the World's Worst Golfer 'The story of its greatest anti-hero is just what the game needs' Spectator When 46-year-old crane driver Maurice Flitcroft chanced his way into the Open - having never before played a round of golf in his life - he ran up a record-worst score of 121. The sport's ruling classes banned him for life. Maurice didn't take it lying down. In a hilarious game of cat-and-mouse with The Man, he entered tournaments again - and again, and again - using increasingly ludicrous pseudonyms such as Gene Pacecki, Arnold Palmtree and Count Manfred von Hoffmanstel (more often than not disguised by a fake moustache). In doing so, he sent the authorities into apoplexy, and won the hearts of fans from Muirfield to Michigan, becoming arguably the most popular - and certainly the bravest - sporting underdog the world has ever known 'Hilarious' Esquire

It is a great truism of golf that the game cannot be learned from a book. Yet it is equally true that there are some things every golfer must know before setting foot on the course or risk making an utter ass of himself. These are things your local golf pro can't or won't tell you.
In this humble little volume is gathered together a collection of the wisest counsel and advice on the Noble Sport in all its forms. Included here are fantastic original photographs and illustrations from the 1880s through the 1920s, the rules and etiquette of golf as described by the wittiest classic sources, an old-school guide to the very best (and worst) of the world's golf courses, and golf fashion at its vintage best. The ball will not land always on the fairway, the wind will sometimes blow against you, there are times when those natty plus-fours will end the day so besmirched and bespattered by sand and grime that you know in your heart of hearts they will never be the same again, but despair not For this book will ensure you come off with top honors even when the odds are against you.