The legend of Bobby Jones and his accomplishment in 1930; winning all four major tournaments of his generation in the same year is unquestionably one of the greatest achievements in sports history. This biographical book follows the life of Bobby Jones on the lead up to 1930 and culminates with his final win at Merion in September with the U.S. Amateur. Frost begins by spending time uncovering Jones’ background and introduction to golf at East Lake CC in Atlanta, his progress as a junior and moves into his trials and tribulations along the way, including his withdrawal from the 1921 Open at St Andrews where Bobby imploded on the short hole 11th in a greenside bunker. Of course, it was not all plain sailing for Bobby who had to educate himself on the challenges of links golf, adapt his playing style and refine his attitude towards the game to [...]

Bob Rotella is without a doubt the authority on all aspects of the mental golf game, gaining notoriety for his work with Professional players throughout the years and his writings which amateur golfers consume worldwide on their quest to achieving lower scores! The book itself is short, with regular chapters and follows a helpful sequence of tips and areas of the mental game to help the amateur player. It is easy to apply some of the processes and techniques he teaches his students into their weekend games thanks to the simplicity of the book. This makes the book relevant, and easy to read without needing to shut yourself in a dark room and study for hours on end, in turn making it very accessible for golfers of all standards. Despite playing amateur golf, Rotella is a student of the psychology of sports first and foremost and uses contrasts with [...]

I got this book for Christmas following a number of recommendations, and I was taken in by it to such an extent, I couldn’t resist reaching out directly to Tom which meant we were lucky enough to get him onto the podcast (Episode 012) to talk about his experiences. Firstly, Tom is a superb writer and I suspect he would make a good page-turner of making his cereal in the morning, or checking his tyre pressures on the car if the need were to arise, however the adventure he sets out on in Ireland before the days of iPhones and having access to GPS and accommodation bookings at the touch of a button is simply incredible. This needed meticulous preparation and an ability to throw caution to the wind. Driven partly by nostalgia and wanting to acquaint himself with the land of his ancestors, Tom sets out to walk [...]

You could be forgiven for thinking that books in Golf Architecture that hark back to the golden era of course design are a somewhat turgid read, with a lot of famous books dating back to the early years from the architects of the day (Simpson, Mackenzie et al). I picked this up on a recommendation from one of our friends @EnglandGolfProject and I’m so glad I did! In this modern take on Golf architecture, Tom talks about the founding principles of course design when the game was first developed on the shores of the British Isles, a landscape that was of little use aside from recreational activities and farming sheep. The early pioneers simply created a series of holes (it didn’t matter how many), and players were invited to play their way however it suited their eye. Tom talks a lot about how the modern era presents a risk [...]