Golf For Dummies
by Gary McCord
I've recommended Golf for Dummies several times to friends who are just starting out. McCord gives a humorous slant about almost everything anyone needs to know to get out and start playing Golf. The companion DVD makes for a great combination. McCord covers everything from tee to green to trash talking the rest or your foursome.
Jack Nicklaus’ Lesson Tee
By Jack Nicklaus and Ken Bowden, Illustrations by Jim McQueen
This is the book I started with. It’s been out of print for a long time, but if you come across it in a used book store or at a yard sale I highly recommend picking it up. McQueen’s illustrations combined with Nicklaus’ swing make this a classic. While Jack Nicklaus' Playing Lessons concerns itself mainly with strategy and is a bit advanced for anybody who doesn't play in tournaments, Jack Nicklaus' Lesson Tee is another great place to start, especially if you don't already have an idea of how to play Golf. Lesson Tee is a collection of columns originally printed in Golf Digest and Golf Magazine.
Golf My Way
By Jack Nicklaus and Ken Bowden, Illustrations by Jim McQueen
Golf My Way is very much like Lesson Tee, but with a bit more information in it. Also, more words than pictures in this book than Lesson Tee. For me, I prefer the illustrations from the other book but that doesn't mean that Golf My Way isn't worth taking a look at. Golf My Way has been updated with new material for a couple of new editions over the years, and I'd recommend getting it from a bookstore if you can't get a hold of a secondhand copy of Lesson Tee.
The Stack and Tilt Swing: The Definitive Guide to the Swing That Is Remaking Golf
by Michael Bennett and Andy Plummer
Another good place to start. I posted about this book here, and there isn't too much more I can think to say about it. I will say that as I adopt the mechanics described in this book they feel "right". Each time I get out to hit balls, either at the range or on the course I've noticed improvement in my ballstriking. One of the most helpful features in this book is where the tour pros that Bennett and Plummer work with have shared what the swing feels like for them. For instance, the downward shoulder turn should feel like you are tucking your shoulder under your chin. The Stack and Tilt isn't really so much a new golf swing as much as the authors have identified the similarities in the swings of great players and to teach to those similarities. For all the hyperbole about the revolutionary swing the revolution is in the methodology and teaching, not the swing itself.
by Dave Pelz
This one is a bit long-winded and you don't really want to read it cover to cover. Read what Pelz has to say about the "clock method". Then read it again. After that you can go back and look at the rest of the book, but the section on how to groove your wedges to three given distances is a stroke of genius.
