Product Description

How I Play Golf offers a lavishly illustrated instructional book with four-colour photography, original artwork, unique sequential shots of Tiger in action, and easy-to-follow diagrams for golfers of all abilities. Hard Back

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19158 in Books
• Brand: Unknown
• Published on: 2002-09-05
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

Hole In One
This is a very insightful book that contains plenty of useful info to improve all aspects of your game. The layout of this book is superb - very clear, easy to understand and colourful. It is easy to pick an area you want to read up on thanks to the simple chaptering and page layout. There are literally hundreds of full colour photos to show you the correct techniques from several angles. The book is very well written and has a very user-friendly and personal approach to it. As well as the many guides and tips, Tiger also talks about his own experiences as a player, including the mistakes he's made (yes, even the best in the world can make mistakes from time to time!) and the things he has learnt himself. Most golf guides can be overly complex or the pictures don't seem to relate to the description (usually because they're not very clear). No such problems with this book - I can't emphasise enough just how clear and easy to use this book really is.

Ideal for verying levels of skill, from beginner through to good ametuer players, this is a perfect book to help improve your game no matter what level you play at - and you can't get a better teacher than the best golf player in the world! This is without a doubt the best golf guide I have ever come across and comes highly recommended.

Excellent instructions
The book starts off with a foreword written by Earl Woods that is quite interesting and a look into Tiger's young years. The book is filled with instructions for the all round game including fitness and mental, this is a great book and well worth a look. I have learnt alot from this book and Tiger's tales when he is on the course and off. This is a great book to get hints on the way Tiger plays and thinks.

Tiger Watching: Lessons in Patience and Perseverance!
If you are like me, your golf swing will never be confused with Mr. Tiger Woods's magnificent arcs. On the other hand, I enjoy watching him on television (even a lot of nongolfers do, too), and How I Play Golf is a very valuable, detailed look a how he eats, exercises, practices, prepares mentally, thinks through shots, sets up, and executes. I found this book to be the most revealing look at one golfer’s game that it has ever been my pleasure to look at and read about. Even if I can never learn anything from his game, I will certainly watch his game with a more educated eye in the future!

One of my major complaints about the photographs in most golf books is that the images do not illuminate what the text describes. These photographs are both well coordinated with the text, and easy to evaluate from an amateur perspective. I especially enjoyed seeing the details of the different grips Mr. Woods uses. I got several ideas for experiments to try in order to cure faults in my swing with those grip examples.

Another complaint about books by famous golfers is that they encourage too many people to emulate them. Mr. Woods makes it clear that this is how he plays golf, and why. In several places, he points out that his solutions will not be right for you. On the other hand, he plays with a lot of amateurs in pro-ams and studies with top teaching professionals. From those perspectives, he has a lot to say for the amateur, weekend golfer.

A great strength of this book is that it shows you and describes each element of the game from many different perspectives. You often see very large color photographs, from different angles. In other places, the degree of grip pressure is explored in considerable detail, with useful calibrations to experience. The text also describes why one approach works in a given situation and another one does not. For example, there are almost as many illustrations of common faults as of proper practice and performance. Seeing the “wrong” and the “right” side-by-side makes the message much clearer. In a few places, Mr. Woods also explains how his special physical skills permit him to do things that won’t work for very many other people. For example, he can feel the degree of “squareness” of the club head as it approaches the hitting zone and can make fine adjustments with his hands just before contact. He uses a grip that takes advantage of that talent. On the other hand, he cautions the reader to model the full swing on a golfer who has a similar physique and stature to oneself.

The book contains a lot of sound advice of the sort that you would eventually pick up by reading about 50 issues of Golf Digest. Those who want to see basics outlined all in one place will like this book. It has a lot of the richness of a Dave Pelz book, but is simplified to make the material easier to absorb and remember.

I also liked the way that key points are repeated throughout the book, in order to help drive them home.

Having watched a lot of Mr. Woods's tournament rounds, I was pleased to see that he used many references to shots that I remember to make certain points. I was particularly impressed by his assessment that he seldom hits a "perfect shot" in remembering only one in the 12 tournaments he won in 2000.

Perhaps the most interesting advice in the book is to swing at only 80 percent of the effort you can make.

I have always found that it makes sense to build my game from the putting green back towards the tee. I was delighted to see that this book takes the same approach. Naturally, you will be tempted to skip ahead to the "blast away with the driver" sections, but do read all of the book. There's lots of good information here. I have played with a number of pros who love to hit their drivers from the fairway. Imagine my fascination when I saw that the book has a section on how to do that.

If you are like me, you will come away with increased respect for the dedication that it has taken to develop this amazing level of skill and coolness. As Mr. Woods says, there are no short cuts. In fact, he has added a lot of discipline since first winning on the tour at 21.

No matter what happens to you on the course, or in life . . . keep your chin up and relax!