100 Best Golf Books of All Time
We've researched and ranked the best golf books in the world, based on recommendations from world experts, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. Learn more
A timeless classic with nearly one million copies in print, Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons outlines the building blocks of winning golf from one of the all-time masters of the sport—fully illustrated with drawings and diagrams to improve your game instantly.
Ben Hogan, one of the greatest golfers in the history of the sport, believed that any golfer with average coordination can learn to break eighty—if one applies oneself patiently and... more
The year: 1956. Decades have passed since Eddie Lowery came to fame as the ten-year-old caddie to U.S. Open Champion Francis Ouimet. Now a wealthy car dealer and avid supporter of amateur golf, Lowery has just made a bet with fellow millionaire George Coleman. Lowery claims that two of his employees, amateur golfers Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi, cannot be beaten in a best-ball... more
Dr. Bob Rotella is one of the hottest performance consultants in America today. Among his many professional clients are Nick Price (last year's Player of the Year), Tom Kite, Davis Love III, Pat Bradley, Brad Faxon, John Daly, and many others. Rotella, or “Doc,” as most players refer to him, goes beyond just the usual mental aspects of the game and the reliance on specific techniques. What Rotella does here in this extraordinary book, and with... more
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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... more
Fed up with trying to imitate the pros, buying the latest expensive equipment, and seeing your handicap stay the same? The first book by bestselling author and internationally revered golf instructor Dave Pelz since Putt Like the Pros, his bestselling classic, Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible can show you the way to lower scores by improving your short game. The result of decades of scientific research studying thousands of golfers, Dave's philosophy is as simple as it is... more
Zen Golf presents a simple system for building “mental game mastery.” Dr Parent’s unique PAR Approach (focusing... more
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... more
In 2009, Tiger Woods was the most famous athlete on the planet, a transcendent star of almost unfathomable fame and fortune living what appeared to be the perfect life. But it turned out he had been living a... more
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Ryan HolidayI was riveted (and appalled) by Tiger Woods and probably talked to more people about this book than anything else I read this year. (Source)
Don't have time to read the top Golf books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
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- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
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Finally, Jack Nicklaus, golf's leading master, definitively covers the whole of his game through a lifetime of greatness. Golf My Way presents an all-inclusive, A-to-Z explanation of how this greatest of champions thinks about and plays the game.
-New introduction, endpiece, and illustrations
-Brand-new chapters discussing the changes in Nicklaus's outlook and techniques
-Reflections... more
In the wake of the stock market crash and the dawn of the Great Depression, a ray of light emerged from the world of sports in the summer of 1930. Bobby Jones, a 28-year-old amateur golfer, mounted a campaign against the record books. In four months, he conquered the British Amateur Championship, the British Open, the United States Open, and finally the United States Amateur Championship, an achievement so extraordinary that writers dubbed it the... more
From 2004 to the spring of 2010, Hank Haney was Tiger Woods's coach, and Tiger was Haney's only client. In that period, Tiger won more... more
Who knows a golfer best? Who's with them every minute of every round, hears their muttering, knows whether they cheat? Their caddies, of course. So sportswriter Rick Reilly figured that he could learn a lot about the players and their game by caddying, even though he had absolutely no idea how to do it. Amazingly, some of the best golfers in the world--including Jack... more
W. Timothy Gallwey’s bestselling Inner Game books–with more than one million copies sold–have revolutionized the way we think about sports. As he did in his phenomenally successful The Inner Game of Tennis, Gallwey provides methods that can be applied to situations beyond the green. The Inner Game of Golf delivers strategies to achieve potential–both in the crucible of competition and in everyday life. With Gallwey as a guide, you’ll learn how to
• defeat your... more
Don't have time to read the top Golf books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Mark Broadie is at the forefront of a revolutionary new approach to the game of golf. What does it take to drop ten strokes from your golf score? What part of Tiger Woods’ game makes him a winner? Traditional golf stats can't answer these questions. Broadie, a professor at Columbia Business School, helped the PGA Tour develop its cutting-edge strokes gained putting stat. In this eye-opening new book, Broadie uses analytics from the... more
Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump is an on-the-ground and behind-the-scenes look at Trump's ethics deficit on and off the course. Reilly will transport readers onto the golf course with President Trump, revealing the absurd ways in which he lies about his feats and what they can tell us about the way he leads off the course in the most important job in the world.
Reilly has been with Trump on the... more
Unlike any other golf book, Every Shot Must Have a Purpose offers... more
Final Rounds takes us to the historic courses of Royal Lytham and Royal Birkdale, to the windswept undulations of Carnoustie, where Hogan played peerlessly in '53, and the legendary St. Andrews, whose hallowed course reveals something of the eternal secret of the game's mysterious allure over pros and hackers alike. more
Over 150,000 readers have purchased Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible after just its first year of release publication, making the book an instant classic. Now, let Dave help you shape up your game on the greens with his new Putting Bible, which is sure to make all other putting manuals obsolete.
Dave Pelz looks at putting, golf's least-understood skill, as no one has ever approached it before. Because a putt is the terminal shot on every hole... more
When Harvey Penick signed copies of his now classic first book, Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, Bud Shrake, his coauthor, noticed that he often inscribed them with the line “To my fried and pupil.” When Shrake asked him why, Penick replied “Well, if you read my book, you're my pupil, and if you play golf, you're my friend.”
Taking up where the Little Red Book left off, this is the second dose of Penick's singular brand of wit and wisdom, full of the simple and easy-to-understand lessons on golf that Penick is... more
Don't have time to read the top Golf books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
A caddie since he was twelve and a golfer sporting a 1.8 handicap, Ollie decides to spend his gap year in St. Andrews, Scotland—a town with the U.K.'s highest number of pubs per capita, and home to the Old Course, golf's most famous eighteen holes—where he enrolls in the St. Andrews Links Trust caddie trainee program. Initially, the notoriously brusque veteran caddies treat Ollie like a bug. But after a year of waking... more
This book is about influence. The story is based on thousands of athletes the author has counseled, and the great mentors and teachers from whom he has learned, told through the lives of two characters—a rancher with a passion for teaching truth and a young golf professional at the end of his rope. They represent each of us in the various stages of growth. In life we must be willing to coach and be coached, for either one alone will leave us empty. less
The Black course at the public golf club in Bethpage, New York, has long had a mythic status among golfers. Designed by legendary course architect A. W.... more
Golf is a beloved yet technical game, so a sound swing and precise technique are essential. Most golfers who want to improve their skills go to the range and work painstakingly on their swings, not realizing it’s often their performance state on the course that needs work, not their technique. Simple things such as awareness of your balance,... more
With “exceptional insight into some of America’s greatest players over the last half-century” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), Men in Green is to golf what Roger Kahn’s The Boys of Summer was to baseball: a big-hearted account of the sport’s greats, from the household names to the... more
"A wonderful compilation that reflects who he was as a person, as a golfer, and as someone who believed in giving back. He was a champion at each turn, and it was an honor not just knowing him and competing against him for nearly 60 years, but also being his friend." --Jack Nicklaus, from the foreword
This book is Palmer's parting gift to the world -- a treasure trove of entertaining anecdotes and timeless wisdom that readers, golfers and non-golfers... more
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... more
In this extraordinary book--the first full-scale biography of the enigmatic Hogan in twenty years--Curt Sampson explores the milestones of Hogan's life--his father's suicide, his miraculous comeback after his brush with death, his many triumphs on the Tour. Sampson draws... more
Don't have time to read the top Golf books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
When that book was published, Dr Bob Rotella made accessible for the first time what he had learned from working with the best golfers in the world. Dr Rotella follows up the success of Golf is Not a Game of Perfect with a book filled with anecdotes and motivational instruction focusing on the most important skill a golfer can have: the ability to think confidently.
Filled with inspirational stories about the great players, great courses and... more
"There is no such individual as a born golfer. Some have more natural ability than others, but they’ve all been made."—Ben Hogan
Considered one of the greatest golfers in the history of the game, Ben Hogan is still noted for the phenomenal power of his swing and his unbeatable ability as a ball striker. He is also known for his... more
Don Imus said it best: "Dan Jenkins is a comic genius." And nowhere is that genius more evident than in Dead Solid Perfect, his uproarious 1974 novel about life on the PGA Tour. To some, Kenny Lee Puckett, the star of Jenkins's ribald saga, is a more important figure in the history of golf than Bobby Jones himself. less
In... more
It was the year that the sport and its vivid personalities exploded on the consciousness of the nation, when the past, present, and future of the sport collided. Here was Arnold Palmer, the workingman's hero, "sweating, chain-smoking, shirt-tail flying"; Ben Hogan, the greatest player of the fifties, a perfectionist battling twin demons of age and nerves; and, making his big-time debut, a crew-cut college kid who seemed to have the makings of a champion: twenty-year-old Jack Nicklaus.
And of course, the rest: Ken Venturi, Chi... more
Updated instructions on grips, stances, and swings The most current stars and best courses New tips from top players on how to improve your... more
Since James Sieckmann first revealed his short-game methods two decades ago, he has amassed a cultlike following of more than seventy PGA and LPGA Tour disciples and has been dubbed the “short-game guru to the pros” (GOLF Magazine). Using his system, several of... more
• How love on the links can lead to the worst kinds of hazards.
• A nation where golf is God and all the subjects are in heaven.
• Wagers in the rough that can drive millionaires to distraction.
• The terrors of teeing off, the frustrations on the fairway, the perils of putting,
• And much, much more!
Stories that will keep you on course...and keep you laughing! less
Don't have time to read the top Golf books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Originally drawn to the game by his father, Carl wisely quit golfing in 1973, when "Richard Nixon was hunkered down like a meth-crazed badger in the White House, Hank Aaron was one dinger shy of Babe Ruth's all-time... more
Award-winning author John Feinstein takes readers behind the scenes, providing an inside view of the... more
The 15th Club is the tool that golf stars like Tiger Woods use to block out negative thoughts, doubt, and fear. It is what allows champions to perform at their peak both in... more
Yet for all the ink that has been spilled on these two essential golf figures individually, no one has ever examined their relationship in this way. Arnie was... more
During the Depression golf was in crisis. As a spectator sport it was on the verge of extinction. This was the unhappy prospect facing Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, and Ben Hogan –two dirt-poor boys from Texas and another from Virginia, who had dedicated themselves to the sport. But then lightning struck, and from the late thirties into the fifties these three men were so thoroughly dominant that... more
Don't have time to read the top Golf books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Tom Coyne’s A Course Called Scotland is a heartfelt and humorous celebration of his quest to play golf on every links course in Scotland, the birthplace of the game he loves.
For much of his adult life, bestselling author Tom Coyne has been chasing a golf ball around the globe. When he was in college, studying abroad in London, he entered the lottery for a prized tee time in Scotland, grabbing his clubs and jumping the train to St. Andrews... more
Every aspect of golf, from the swing to the follow-through, is a means to one deceptively simple end: to get the ball into the hole in the fewest strokes possible. The Elements of Scoring explains how paying attention to the way you play -- regardless of your level of skill -- will guarantee you fewer strokes, a better overall game, and at the end of the day, more fun.
With a practical and encouraging touch, Raymond Floyd shares his vision of what makes a scorer and shows how you can become this most dangerous of... more
When a resurgent Phil Mickelson won the Tour Championship in September 2009, he was quick to credit a series of simple putting lessons from veteran golf champion and instructor Dave Stockton. As a top coach, Stockton has taught a long list of pro players-including Annika Sorenstam, Yani Tseng (winner of four LPGA tournaments), Adam Scott (Texas Open champion), Hunter Mahan (Phoenix Open champion), and Morgan Pressel (World... more
But behind the legendary links and timeless traditions is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood figures in the history of the Masters and Augusta National: Clifford Roberts, the club's chairman from its founding in 1931 until shortly before his death in 1977. Roberts' meticulous attention to detail, his firm authoritarian hand, and his refusal to settle -- even for perfection -- helped build the... more
Drawing on his work with some of the top teams in professional sports, noted sport psychology consultant Gary Mack shares with you the same techniques and exercises he uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." These 40 accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes will help you gain the "head edge" over the competition.
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Michael GervaisOne of the books I often give away is Mind Gym by Gary Mack. It’s a very mechanical, easy, lots-of-white-space-on-the-page book. And it’s one of my favourites, a very applied synopsis of mental skills from a sport and performance psychology standpoint. (Source)
My Life In and Out of the Rough is the thrillingly—and sometimes shockingly—candid memoir of a larger-than-life athlete battling assorted addictions (alcohol, gambling, chocolate, sex), his weight, and divorce lawyers (having been married... more
As Hunter unravels the facts of Stedman’s case, his hunger for the truth is matched only by his... more
The first time they met, at an exhibition match in 1967, Tom Watson was a seventeen-year-old high school student and Jack Nicklaus, at twenty-seven, was already the greatest golfer in the world. Though they shared some similarities—they were both Midwestern boys who had learned how to play golf at their fathers’ country clubs—they differed in many ways. Nicklaus played a game of consummate control and precision. Watson hit the ball all over the place. Nicklaus lacked charm and theatrics, and he was thoroughly despised by most golf fans... more
On a wild, windblown bluff high above the Pacific sits one of America’s premier golfing destinations, Bandon Dunes. Golf enthusiast Mike Keiser had the dream of building this British-style "links" course on a stretch of Oregon's rugged coast, and Dream Golf is the first all-inclusive account of how... more
Don't have time to read the top Golf books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Life is going pretty well for Raymond “Stick” Hart. He’s happily married to the former Ponkaquogue Municipal Golf Club assistant pro, the beauteous Cajun firecracker Dannie, raising his rambunctious son, Charlie, and getting by writing smart-mouthed greeting cards for fifty bucks a pop. Best of all, nothing has changed at Ponky, the worst golf course in America. You still have to hook it past the toxic waste dump on No. 1 and under the billboard on No. 8, the fried-egg sandwiches are... more
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.... more
Lady Emma Wells-Finch, the oh-so-proper headmistressof England's St. Gertrude's School for Girls, is a woman on a mission—she has two weeks to lose her reputation. Arriving in Texas with skirts flying, umbrella pointing, and beautiful mouth issuing orders, she knows only one thing will save her from losing everything she holds dear: complete and utter disgrace!
A Texas Rascal
World-famous playboy-athlete Kenny Traveler has kickedup his boot heels one too many times, and now he's suspended from the sport he loves. Only one thing will restore his... more
This, the fourth book by Harvey Penick, was nearly finished when he died in April 1995. A return to the timeless wisdom that has made his first bestseller, Harvey Penick's Little Red Book, a modern classic, The Game for a Lifetime does not contain the technical swing tips and stance aids of today's instructional guides, but dispenses a philosophy on golf, and on life.
Harvey Penick knew that the teachings in his book would stand the test of time, and he spent his lifetime pursuing and enjoying all that the game... more
Mickelson maintains that any golfer of average... more
Harvey Penick's life in golf began when he started caddying at the... more
Don't have time to read the top Golf books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
As Jack Nicklaus once observed, fear is the golfer’s greatest enemy, inspiring Tiger Woods to "refuse" to give in to this debilitating emotion. It can turn professionals into jelly and dominate the games of most amateurs. It alters swing paths, causes “tap-in” putts to go awry, and transforms a golfer from a brilliant shot-maker on the practice range into an... more
-- The Washington Post
An Entertainment Weekly "Must List" selection
Caddyshack is one of the most beloved comedies of all time, a classic snobs vs. slobs story of working class kids and the white collar buffoons that make them haul their golf bags in the hot summer sun. It has sex, drugs and one very memorable candy bar, but the movie we all know and love didn't start out that way, and everyone who made it certainly didn't have the word "classic" in mind... more
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Mike Sievert@GeorgeTakei Caddyshack, FTW! There’s a great book about the making of it! https://t.co/nOLfr7HbTh (Source)
Golf-crazy as far back as he can remember,... more
—Tom Lehman, 1996 British Open Champion, 2006 U.S. Ryder Cup team captain
Impact has long been called golf's "moment of truth," and great golfers have spent countless hours working on their swings trying to upgrade their impact dynamics as the golf club approaches, contacts, then swings through the ball. For the first time, with The Impact Zone, golfers will have a book that focuses their attention on the very same region of the swing on which professional golfers have always concentrated. more
If any town in the world deserves to be described as "the village of golf," it's...
moreA biennial tournament considered the premier event in the golfing world, pitting the twelve best players in the United States against the twelve best of Europe in a contest so pressure-filled it can paralyze even the most battle-scarred tour veterans.
United States captain Alan Bellamy, with one precious slot unfilled and none of the remaining top tour players willing to sign on against a clearly superior European squad, makes a desperate decision in his attempt to preserve America's golfing honor: he selects as his twelfth man one Eddie Caminetti, a... more
Dave Stockton is hotter than ever. The 2011 U.S. Open winner, Rory McIlroy, studied with the renowned instructor and two-time former PGA champion, and credits Stockton's teachings as the reason behind his own putting success.
In Unconscious Putting, Stockton introduced amateur players to the techniques, strategies, and mental processes he uses to help tour players find so much success on the green. Now,... more
Don't have time to read the top Golf books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Known in the world of golf as one of the game's greatest teachers, Harvey Penick worked with U.S. Open winners, great champions, and five out of the thirteen women who are members of the LPGA Hall of Fame. Mickey Wright, Sandra Palmer, Betsy Rawls, Kathy Whitworth, Judy Rankin, and Betty Jameson all had the privilege and honor of working with Penick. While he was proud of their success and achievements, Penick took just as much pleasure from the accomplishments of the countless women who came to him hoping only to be able to hit a ball in the air for the... more
From award-winning sports writer Kevin Robbins, The Last Stand of Payne Stewart is the story of legendary golfer Payne Stewart, focusing on his last year in the PGA Tour in 1999, which tragically culminated in a fatal air disaster that transpired publically on televisions across the country.
Forever remembered as one of the most dramatic storylines in the history of golf, Payne Stewart's legendary career was bookended by a dramatic comeback and a shocking, tragic end. Here,... more
To be a golfer is to tinker—with everything from equipment to grip to swing. But one thing most players don’t give enough attention to is the mental game. Psychologists aren’t a new phenomenon in golf, but Dr. Michael Lardon is a different breed of performance coach. Instead of sending his players into a losing battle against emotion, indecision, and fear on the golf course, he shows them how to organize their thoughts and use them for maximum performance. His step-by-step Pre-Shot Pyramid provides any player with the ideal blueprint... more
In the first book from popular Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, the network’s “resident scholar and critic” (The New York Times) explores the common swing positions of the greatest players throughout history—and reveals how those commonalities can help players of every skill level improve their own games.
Every golf game begins with the swing. While no two are identical, Brandel Chamblee, the highly regarded television analyst and former PGA Tour professional, once noticed that the best players of all time have... more
Through it all, Rocco Mediate emerged as one of the most likable, open, and fascinating golfers. In ARE YOU KIDDING ME?, he tells the full story of these five life-changing days. With John Feinstein, whose insider... more
Through sublime landscapes and warm images of a boy and his family, Kadir has created a dazzling, intimate interpretation, one that rejoices in the connectedness of people and nature.Inspired by the song's simple message, Kadir sought to capture the joy of living in and engaging with the world. Most importantly, he wished to portray the world as a child might see it--vast and beautiful. less
Lucy Jorik is the daughter of a former president of the United States.
Meg Koranda is the offspring of legends.
One of them is about to marry Mr. Irresistible—Ted Beaudine—the favorite son of Wynette, Texas. The other is not happy about it and is determined to save her friend from a mess of heartache.
But even though Meg knows that breaking up her best friend's wedding is the right thing to do, no one else seems to agree. Faster than Lucy can say "I don't", Meg becomes the most hated woman in... more
A year ago, unknown golfing amateur Travis McKinley shocked the world by winning the PGA Senior Open at Pebble Beach. Now he's famous, he makes his living playing the game he loves, and everything should be perfect. Still, Travis can't shake the feeling that he's a fraud, an imposter who doesn't deserve his success-and after a series of disappointments and personal screw-ups, he might just prove himself right.
A shot at redemption... more
Don't have time to read the top Golf books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.