What is the BEST Golf Instructional Book Ever?

[canadianpro]

I had a student ask me today and I have my ideas...but want to see what the consensus is

[sofingaw]

For bang for the buck, I'd have to say 'Five Lessons'

[chgocoach]

Golf Swing Secrets and Lies: Six Timeless Lessons Mike Hebron

[Johnny1putt]

The Stack & Tilt book.

[notsohard]

they all are

[GHansen]

For a teacher would say "The Physics of Golf" by Theodore Jorgeson for a student I would say the "Impact Zone" by Bobby Clampett. Another good book that is more of a mental book is "How great Golfers Think"  by Bob Skura

[The Recreational Golfer]

On Learning Golf , by Percy Boomer

[grubby98]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but what about the best book for the short game, specifically putting?

[14ledo81]

Erik, when does 5SK come out with a book?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by 14ledo81

Erik, when does 5SK come out with a book?

When I write it? People don't really read books anymore*. :D

Steve Jobs, prior to doing iBooks and the iBookstore. :D

[mvmac]

What I find funny is how many guys good players say "5 Lessons" was their first book and so inspirational and yet I don't see too many guys trying to implement what Hogan said.  Anyway, the "best" golf books aren't really that great because general feels can't be applied to every golfer.  Also a book can't tell you what your priority is.  Well, you kinda could but I don't want to get into that.  Truthfully the best golf book hasn't been written yet, sorry I know this isn't exactly helpful.  The Golfing Machine has it's moments and obviously been very influential, S&T; has a couple good things with their fault tree section, Power Golf has it's moments.  Actually had an online student recommend I buy Sam Snead's book, "How to Play Golf".  Says a lot of info on the grip and interesting stuff with the pivot.  Haven't read it so I'm going to check it out.

I don't know if it can be called a "book" but the 5SK instructor manual (seriously not trying to be douchey by mentioning 5SK) written by Erik and Dave is the most comprehensive, accurate and yet relatively simple golf instruction I've ever read.  Great for an instructor to learn all the terms, how things work, understand priorities but most golfers/students wouldn't be able to decipher between the information and what they needed to do for their own games (which is not the purpose of the manual).

[secret_dirt]

Trevino's book, Groove Your Golf Swing My Way, is one of the most underrated tomes of all-time.  He was a genius ball-striker in idea and application.  I've also learned a lot from Pelz's books.

[14ledo81]

What I find funny is how many guys good players say "5 Lessons" was their first book and so inspirational and yet I don't see too many guys trying to implement what Hogan said.  Anyway, the "best" golf books aren't really that great because general feels can't be applied to every golfer.  Also a book can't tell you what your priority is.  Well, you kinda could but I don't want to get into that.  Truthfully the best golf book hasn't been written yet, sorry I know this isn't exactly helpful.  The Golfing Machine has it's moments and obviously been very influential, S&T; has a couple good things with their fault tree section, Power Golf has it's moments.  Actually had an online student recommend I buy Sam Snead's book, "How to Play Golf".  Says a lot of info on the grip and interesting stuff with the pivot.  Haven't read it so I'm going to check it out. I don't know if it can be called a "book" but the 5SK instructor manual (seriously not trying to be douchey by mentioning 5SK) written by Erik is the most comprehensive, accurate and yet relatively simple golf instruction I've ever read.  Great for an instructor to learn all the terms, how things work, understand priorities but most golfers/students wouldn't be able to decipher between the information and what they needed to do for their own games (which is not the purpose of the manual).

Is that manual available?

[joekelly]

Agree 100%%, Percy Boomer. His  book is totally fundamental for understanding what each of us needs to do with any golf club.

[Harmonious]

For me, the books that are the most memorable, and/or had the most influence:

John Jacobs - Can't remember the exact title, but something like "Square to Square Golf Swing"

Ben Hogan - "Five Lessons"

Jim Hardy - "The Plane Truth"

Dave Pelz - "Short Game Bible"

Bobby Clampett - "Impact Zone"

[cipher]

Originally Posted by mvmac

What I find funny is how many guys good players say "5 Lessons" was their first book and so inspirational and yet I don't see too many guys trying to implement what Hogan said.  Anyway, the "best" golf books aren't really that great because general feels can't be applied to every golfer.  Also a book can't tell you what your priority is.  Well, you kinda could but I don't want to get into that.  Truthfully the best golf book hasn't been written yet, sorry I know this isn't exactly helpful.  The Golfing Machine has it's moments and obviously been very influential, S&T; has a couple good things with their fault tree section, Power Golf has it's moments.  Actually had an online student recommend I buy Sam Snead's book, "How to Play Golf".  Says a lot of info on the grip and interesting stuff with the pivot.  Haven't read it so I'm going to check it out.

I don't know if it can be called a "book" but the 5SK instructor manual (seriously not trying to be douchey by mentioning 5SK) written by Erik is the most comprehensive, accurate and yet relatively simple golf instruction I've ever read.  Great for an instructor to learn all the terms, how things work, understand priorities but most golfers/students wouldn't be able to decipher between the information and what they needed to do for their own games (which is not the purpose of the manual).

Interesting...can you expound on that?  What do they not implement the most from what you see?  I have tried to implement a lot of his book in past years.

5SK Manual...any way as an evolvr student I could get my hands on one.  Ha ha,

I do like the Hogan book, but also AOP and AOSG by Utley.

I generally shy away from full swing instructional books thought because the full swing is too difficult to implement from book form.

[newtogolf]

A year ago I'd have said Five Lessons, which is a great book if you want to learn about the basics, grip, stance, etc, but today I'd have to go with A Round of Golf With Tommy Armour - Tommy Armour.  The book is easy to read and got me to realize that thinking about how you approach a hole is as important as executing each shot properly.

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by cipher

5SK Manual...any way as an evolvr student I could get my hands on one.  Ha ha,

It's not going to help you improve your game any more than Evovlr or in person lessons from a competent instructor.  In other words we're not keeping any secrets from you.

Originally Posted by cipher

Interesting...can you expound on that?  What do they not implement the most from what you see?  I have tried to implement a lot of his book in past years.

Actually I need to adjust my statement a little, Jason Dufner works with Chuck Cook on trying to make the alignments look similar to Hogan which is evident by some of the things he does.  But I was mostly speaking to how a lot of golfers tend to say Five Fundamentals is the best instruction book ever yet I don't see players keeping their upper arms on their bodies, have good golf postures, flaring the left foot enough, functional grip, making a centered shoulder turn.  I tend to see players with a higher arm "plane", no foot flare, if the grip is off it's in the palm, sticking the tailbone out at address and trying to turn the left shoulder over the right foot.  There's more examples but I'm traveling and don't have the book with me.  I'm not saying Hogan's way is better than any other, just sharing my opinion.  If Hogan's book was the blue print everyone used wouldn't we see more of this?