Good books on golf are a treasure house of golfing techniques for serious golfers. In fact, for golfers who are willing to take up the game as a profession the golf books are of great help for them. The golf books are generally penned down by world renowned golfers who share their secrets of golfing techniques with beginners.

If you prefer to savor the rich golf literature of the past, and here I’m thinking of the great golf reporters whose words described the action on the golf course long before the advent of moving pictures and television, then books by Bernard Darwin could be the focal point of a golf book collection.

Staying with collecting golf instruction books, here are a couple of collecting themes which might inspire some ideas of your own.

1. Because of the vast amount of books published on golf instruction you could limit a collection to say, 1950. Or it could be any other year of your choice. I know of some golf collectors who have chosen only to collect those books published in the year they were born.

2. Limit your collection of golf books to a few of your favourite golf authors. For example you could start by collecting golf books written by Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Cary Middlecoff, Arnold Palmer, Harry Vardon, David Leadbetter, Nick Faldo, Henry Cotton, Ben Hogan. This list can be as long or short as you like. That’s the whole point of collecting golf books there are so many collecting variations and themes to choose from to build a worthwhile collection of your own.

Are there any golf books I should avoid collecting?

It depends what your motives for golf book collecting are. If you are buying for investment only, I would not buy remaindered stock or book club editions. I would be wary about buying reprints as well. Though with older books, it depends.

If you are buying for pleasure, then everyone buys what they want and the only person you are pleasing is yourself.

In the next article I shall discussing the history of the golf game, and mention the key golf literature in this area of golf book collecting.

Learning your golf swing is not just a matter of standing up and holding the club in any old way. There is a lot of procedures to go through before you become in any way proficient at swinging your club at a tiny object, i.e: the ball. There is the grip that has to be perfectly comfortable for you.

The grip that suits someone else may be totally inadequate for you, yet many coaches will insist on you persevering with what they are telling you is right for you. Find the grip you feel at ease with and develop this grip until it becomes second nature to you. Do not be impatient any thing that’s good will be worth waiting for. There is no easy road to playing golf if you want to be good at it.

There are so many complicated moves between holding the club in the right way, measuring up behind the ball with the club face, raising the club slowly above your head and making your downswing hit the ball right in the centre, or as they say in golfing parlance, on the meat, which will give you such a longer distance down the fairway. If you make a mistake in any of these movements you are in serious trouble and your drive could send the ball anywhere. There is nothing worse than seeing your ball land right smack in the rough, or in the water hazard, or yes indeed worse still out of bounds.

Now the other vital area is not just about you learning your golf swing. It is about your preparation. How you stand to address the ball, your stance, your balance and most importantly of all your focus. Without a focused determined mind, everything you learn about how to swing a golf club, will be lost simply because you cannot have control over the speed, accuracy, and vitally longer distance with your drive, if your mind is concentrating on something or someone else. Golf is a game that is totally demanding of your concentration. If you cannot give it that, then it is not the game for you.