Golf for Dummies

[rotator]

I was walking the dog and looked in at a garage sale along the way.

I happened to see the "golf for Dummies" book and was curious and flipped through it.

It was quite well done, and I thought it would be the simple type of instruction for a beginner golfer (not necessarily does that person have to be a dummy ). It covers the whole gamut - instruction of all aspects of the play, rules, etiquette, etc. It is not into specific schools of swing instruction, it's fundamental. Lots of pictures (OK, for dummies ).

It's written in part by Gary McCord, but it is not in his irreverent broadcasting style. It is straight to the point and is well done. He does know his golf. He was a disciple of Mac O'Grady, whose influence on the golf swing still exists on the tours.

Anyways, I would recommend this book as an economic and good fundamental start for a beginner golfer, so he does not have to wander through the confusing and often conflicting minefields of different schools of golf instruction and "friendly" advice of fellow golfers. The 4MM book, or the Tiger instructional book, and others may not be what suits the particular beginner golfer. He can't throw his hips like Tiger. He has to start from fundamentals.

I bought the book for 0.99 cents, and will enjoy reading parts of it in more detail. It will refresh me to the beginning, which I missed because of my wanderings of over 50 years. Not that I'm likely to change anything myself.

Ted

[BrianW]

Re: Golf for Dummies

Ah!! Ted,

Maybe we would have been less confused and complicated if we would have started with such a book and stuck to it

[rotator]

Re: Golf for Dummies

Hi Brian,

I'm not necessarily saying you have to stick to the fundamentals, as there are different ways to skin the cat and some may work better for some than others.

However, beginners should be advised to start with fundamentals, until they know them well, then they could experiment with Tiger's power moves, and decide to swing like Harrington (new or old swing?) as recommended by Golf Digest, or tips they see or hear about.

It may not be the whole reason, but Ballesteros, as an example could not find his way out of the decline, because his game was self taught and not necessarily based on sound fundamentals. He had an unorthodox swing, with a lot of parts. His driving was horrid, and he counted on his genius short game. If he had a solid fundamental base, he could go back on those and figure out what has to be done. I've seen interviews with other pros, who admitted they really do not know what they are doing in their swings, as they learned off the stick and the game fell together.

Ted

[rotator]

Re: Golf for Dummies

Ah!! Ted,

Maybe we would have been less confused and complicated if we would have started with such a book and stuck to it

One thing is clear in the book. There is no mention of throwing the hips, lag, X-factor, and all the stuff we get so hung up on, and which could contribute to the state of confusion and complications we put ourselves into. This can only be good for beginners.

Ted

[Brakkus]

Re: Golf for Dummies

See I think we live in the time of expert analyists.We have so many clever cameras and ex players talking about key positions and celebrity coaches that we know as well as the players,that perhaps the simple nature of sport has been lost.
I love tennis also and this has happened there too.In fact all sports probably suffer from this.It makes average joe think that he has to be special to play like the pro's.How many times I have read learn the secrets of the pro's written in some article.
Fundamentals are what all sports technique is about,why stray from them when most us have neither the time or circumstances to get really technical?

[rotator]

Re: Golf for Dummies

I've had a chance to examine the book in more detail. It is over 300 pages, so it is quite comprehensive in coverage. It is not only for the beginner, as it covers the usual stuff discussed on this forum. It does deal with power and technique. Regarding power, it does not get into holding lag and hip thrust, but in more shoulder turn, slowing the swing down, etc. I would though recommend it for someone like a youngster starting out, as it covers every aspect of the game, including etiquette and rules.

We played a very nice course earlier this week and there were a couple of young boys about 4 groups ahead. We saw them in crossing holes. They were holding up the whole course and they were fooling around. They would leave huge divots and there were ball marks left on the green. This, we know because we talked to the groups following them later in the lounge. They would not let any groups through. Oddly, the marshals did not do anything.

Ted

[golfshooter]

Re: Golf for Dummies

Hi guys, I bought ''Golf for Dummies'' Australian edition with the foreword by Ian Baker - Finch and Peter Thomson some time ago and as a beginner found it to be simple to understand, concise and even humorous. The illustrations I found to be a great help. I think I owe alot to this book.Certainly not just for ''dummies.'' Good value for money too.
Regards Peter.

[AussieGolfBoy]

Re: Golf for Dummies

my friend a few years ago bought me the DVD Golf for dummies... it was good in some regards, but it focused on telling you what to do, not how to do it. Probably be good for the person new to golf, but it didn't help me.