Sports & Recreation : Golf

A look inside the high-pressure creation of the new breed of superstar golfers. No longer the realm of quaint traditions and a few weekly hours practicing chip shots, junior golf has evolved into a fierce training ground, where ultra-high-tech cameras provide cutting-edge swing analysis and young players spend almost every waking hour on the driving range. Reporting from the front lines of this brave new game, veteran golf journalist Kevin Cook spends a year inside the guarded, security-gated David Leadbetter Golf Academy, a three-hundred- acre golf mecca where teenagers attend an on-campus high school and live in dorms alongside state-of- the-art putting greens, video facilities, and manicured links—at a cost to their parents of more than $100,000 a year. As often as not, the parents are more driven than the kids. Driven also explores the scientific knowledge that has allowed upstarts to uncork 320-yard drives and to play better than Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson played when they were juniors long ago—way back in the 1990s. Cook’s subjects include teen superstar Michelle Wie and her pushy parents; Ty Tyron, the youngest player to ever win a Tour card (now a burnout at the age of twenty-three); Mu Hu, the Chinese teen commanded by his government to become the Yao Ming of golf; and tennis superstar Ivan Lendl’s daughter, Isabelle, who might be the next Annika Sorenstam. Destined to change the way the world perceives the game, Driven is a compelling, behind-the-scenes look at golf’s next generation. more...

Price: $26.00

Two legendary coaches give golfers a powerful new approach to the game... and to life. As coaches to some of golf’s top players, Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott have designed and refined a revolutionary way of teaching the game, with phenomenal results. They don’t believe in prescribing the same stance, grip, and swing to everyone, followed by hours of purposeless drilling. They don’t even believe in beginning with physical technique. Their success has proven to them that a great game begins with a great vision. Unlike any other golf book, Every Shot Must Have a Purpose offers cutting-edge techniques for integrating the physical, technical, mental, emotional, and social parts of a player’s game. The book’s revolutionary pre-shot routine will improve your focus, leading to a golf swing that is not only successful but can be repeated under extreme pressure. Emphasizing the individual golfer rather than a rigid set of mechanics, their VISION54 method takes the frustration out of the game. Why 54? Because they believe it’s possible to shoot a 54 (making a birdie on every hole of a par-72 course) if you have the right mind-set and well-honed intuitive power. An engaging read for the beginner or the seasoned golfer, Every Shot Must Have a Purpose is inspiration for life, not just the links. more...

Price: $22.50

What happens when a man leaves home for a year to pursue his dream? One day, playing a particularly spectacular round of golf, husband and father John Paul Newport suddenly tastes what it?s like to be a pro. Deciding to take a year off and hit the road playing golf's mini-tour circuit, Newport embarks on a wild trip through America's fairways. more...

Price: $19.00

With his career at a standstill and his golf game a shadow of its former mediocrity, TV writer and ESPN.com contributor Bob Smiley decided the time had come to turn to the one person who might be able to help: Tiger Woods. So, in January of 2008, Smiley set out to follow the game's greatest player from the gallery for every hole of an entire season and to absorb all that he could. Smiley traveled from the seaside cliffs of San Diego to the deserts of Dubai, through the hallowed gates of Augusta National, and on to arguably the greatest U.S. Open of all time back at Torrey Pines, where, in a legendary duel with charismatic journeyman Rocco Mediate, Woods won his fourteenth major—on one leg. Smiley chronicles every dramatic and often hysterical moment of his journey with Tiger, including his off-course run-ins with Arabian sandstorms, ex-con ticket scalpers, and the motley assortment of strangers who became friends along the way. Told from the perspective of a true golf fan, Follow the Roar is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure through the most spectacular and inspiring season in Tiger Woods's celebrated career. In addition to the thrill of witnessing all 604 holes Woods played in '08, Smiley found in Tiger both inspiration and the gutsy embodiment of what it really means to be an athlete—and a man. more...

Price: $19.99

Looks at the world's best and most beautiful golf courses, traces the evolution of golf course designs, and gives brief profiles of the top architects. more...

Price: $200.00