Customer Reviews

Golf Magazine Private Lessons: The Best of the Best Instruction (Revised & Updated Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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Practical approach to improving your golf game with easy to understand short tips and illustrations. Well organized into sections going from the basics to course management.

New in the club house, is `Private Lessons: The Best of the Best Instruction' from Golf Magazine. In it, Golf Magazine and Golf.com writer David Dusek has assembled tips from the pros that will get your golf game re-engineered from the first tee to the 18th hole. Many of the tips are from the magazine's popular list of the Top 100 Teachers and the book covers each phase of the game in dedicated sections (The Basics, Driving, Short Play, Stroke Savers, the Mental Game, etc.). The layout, design illustrations (by Barry Ross) and text, allow any level player to step back and get a better understanding of the various nuances required to master the game.

Short of actual private lessons, we'd have to say Golf Magazine's `Private Lessons' should go a long way to improving your game. It's just too bad it's too big for your pocket.

Well, I guess this review is an attempt to be fair. I just reviewed another book with the strong recommendation that a person check the book out (pun intended ...) at a local library to see what they're getting before spending the money to buy it. My purchase of THIS book is a direct result of my having done just that!

To put it in context, I'm a recently-retired person who has played AT golf for years without ever really "playing" the game. Post-retirement, I decided that it was time to see - once and for all - if golf is (for me, at least) worth the effort. I've joined a club, taken a few lessons, and continued to look around for interesting things to read and valuable ways to learn. I happened upon this book while browsing my local library and checked it out ... the price was right ...why not?! I read through it, cover-to-cover, (not in one sitting) all the while resisting the temptation to dog-ear the pages I wanted to come back to (trying to be a good library citizen) and quickly realized that there was no way I'd remember all that I wanted to re-read. See my earlier comment about being recently retired ... Senior Moments Abound.

Found the book, at a fair price, on Amazon ... Problem Solved!

Is it the "Best" book of its type? I have no idea! Are there others as good or better? Possibly so. All I know is that, for me, at this stage in my game learning/development, this book is a fantastic resource. The book has a lot of good, helpful information for me at this stage, and seems to be one that will remain of value as my game improves (please ...???) and my needs become more advanced.

Private Lessons is a good start for beginners looking to "ease" into golf without too much over-instruction and over-analyzing. Yes, there are plenty of instructions and tips within the book; however they are not overly technical and the illustrations are paired with easy to follow instruction and tips. For intermediate and advanced players, Private Lessons is the perfect "little reminder" of the basics. The one complaint I have is that topics are spread throughout the book and not just in one particular section. For example, when you look at the index, you will see that instructions and tips for "Driving" can be found all throughout the book. For players looking to work on one particular part of their game this may be too much to dissect. My advice, is to "flip" through the book once and then begin implementing the instructions and tips as you see fit. See you on the green!