Customer Reviews

How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time

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This is a helpful instructional book that could easily be bundled with Hogan's Five Lessons. Where Hogan's text is meticulously precise in its depiction of the mechanics of the golf swing, Armour's offering delves into the mental arena and probes the mindset behind the various aspects of the game. Copywrite 1953, its year of publication even mirrors that of Hogan's, but beyond that the contrasts are striking [granted Hogan's text started out as a series of SI articles]. Having worked through some personal golf issues with Hogan's book and after writing a review for that, I noticed Armour's under the `if you liked this book' link. I purchased it on a lark being obliquely familiar with Armour's professional and teaching career, and seeing the quote by Harvey Pennick on the cover. Armour's tone versus his contemporary is quite authoritative and at times almost condescending in his depiction of the `average' golfer and his urging to play within their limitations. He models the early chapters after a visit to his golf clinic in Florida, speaking always as the teacher and never a peer. It was his stated intention to produce a thin volume of the absolute minimized, efficient teachings about golf. This I believe he accomplished. The instruction would be good for a beginning golfer, there were a few tips scattered throughout for the long time player. Unfortunately, I didn't see too much new and fresh that I could take with me onto the course, perhaps because his themes have long been drilled into our heads by modern pros. The illustrations are nowhere near the quality and detail of the Hogan book. Ultimately I did get more out of the Hogan text, but Armour's was very interesting to `hear' his teaching methodology and his numerous references to players and tournaments of the 30's and 40's. Punctuating this timelessness, when I was talking to my father the other night I mentioned to him this was the latest golf book I was reading, to which he replied, "Yep, that's what I learned with 40 years ago." Recommended to be read along with Ben Hogan's `Five Lessons'.

I must echo the sentiments of the other reviewers...this is the only golf instructional book recreational players will ever need. Armour gives you a few simple things to remember while you address the ball and take your swing that can eliminate many of the typical problems experienced by the occasional player.

For example, his suggestion that a right-hander imagine dragging his left knee behind the ball on the upswing and then swinging it back through the ball on the downswing was very effective in curing my problem of getting a proper hip turn.

The genius of the book is that the techniques Armour suggests are easy to remember while you are actually out there in the process of swinging the club. This book suggests many of the same principles described in Ben Hogan's books but I think they are laid out with greater simplicity and simple techniques that can correct common problems with grip, stance and swing are what I think average and beginning golfers like myself are looking for.

Bear in mind that this is a book originally published in the 1950s. It's widely regarded as an all-time classic, but it's now very dated. Armour was an excellent player (one of the great iron players of all time) and a superb teacher, but some of his theories are no longer in vogue. I can tell you that way back in the early 1960s this book, through Armour's focus on the hip turn, transformed me literally overnight from a beginner who sliced the ball to someone who has fought a hook for the last 40 years. I bought this updated edition strictly for its sentimental value, and I wouldn't foist it on someone who was serious about achieving his or maximum potential because a GREAT deal has been learned about the golf swing since this was written (and today's equipment demands a different sort of swing anyway). However, if you've played for awhile and just can't seem to get the hang of the golf swing, this book is so straightforward that it may be just what you need. You'll end up looking like Julius Boros rather than Tiger Woods, but odds are that'll be a major improvement if you're now shooting over 85. Armour was a transplanted Scot who was very eloquent, and this book is a pleasure to read for that reason alone. Some of his most basic wisdom ("THINK WHAT TO DO -- that's concentration in golf") still sticks with me every time I play. A ROUND OF GOLF WITH TOMMY ARMOUR, in which he steers his 90-shooting friend around the course in 79 by making him play within his limitations, is also excellent.

All aspects,physical and mental, are covered in simple, layman's terms. It is excellent for the beginning golfer, but just as important, it is a wonderful reference for experienced golfers. For over 30 years I have gone back to it whenever my game turns sour. It always helps.

Read every page of this book twice and practice everything diligently, guaranteed you;ll become a low 80's golfer. I purchased a paperback copy of this book over 35 years ago, when it retailed for 50 cents, and have referred to it annually to help me maintain a low 80's status. Believe me, it will do the same for you.

This book is an excellent follow-up to Ben Hogan's Five Lessons. Hogan covering the backround theory in more detail and Armour emphasizing the practical application.

There are differences opinion: Hogan wants the hands to act as a unit while Armour says to whack the ball with your right hand. But they agree on much more than they disagree, and Armour explains how, through basic footwork and other simple measures, you can be sure you are swinging correctly. Armour also goes into more detail about specific shots such as chipping, pitching or driving.

Theory, then applcation. You can't go wrong if you read Hogan and Armour back to back, in that order.

Hit 'em straight.

This is a simple book that I have read and reread for profit and for pleasure many times since I was a teenager working as a caddy and golfing as often as possible. Although I was unable to play too much golf during the past summer on account of a hospitalization, I know that I will be rereading this succinct primer over the winter in anticipation of hitting the links again next Spring.

Tommy Armour writes with precision and grace. His brief book is truly intended to help the novice golfer and contains valuable advice that will help these players take several shots off of their scores. It is filled with basic instructions that are easy to understand, commit to memory and implement. I always found the material on assuming the proper stance and employing the proper footwork to be most beneficial.

To a small degree, some of the advice contained in the book, which was published fifty plus years ago, may be somewhat dated. Armour was writing in an era when golfers still used actual persimmon woods (driver, brassie and two spoons), not oversized drivers and forgiving metal woods for their tee shots. New technologies have allowed professionals to hit drives that would have been unimagineable in the past. Long drives once measured two hundred fifty to two hundred seventy-five yards. Now, many top players can exceed those distances. Nonetheless, apart from the instructions on tee shots and hitting a driver, much of the material contained in the book is still relevant for contemporary golfers.

Armour discussed realistic strategies that will help most ordinary players eliminate strokes from their scorecards and improve their enjoyment of the game. I am an enthusiastic, but not particularly consistent golfer, but I still try apply these common sense lessons whenever I play. Armour was an advocate of scrambling and not quitting on a hole despite a bad tee shot. You could recover from a poor drive and still try to make a one putt par.

Tommy Armour's great strength as a writer is that he explains things in nontechnical language that can be clearly followed. Diagrams and charts are basic and kept to a minimum. Unlike so many other pros, Armour also had a sense of humor: on the subject of putting, he admitted that he was not an expert by any means and, apart from imparting some essentials, he simply recommended that his pupils stick with whatever works for them!

Armour was a tournament champion, who later went on to have a successful career as a teaching professional and club designer. The popular Armour line of clubs is still being manufactured today.

If you prefer to pay for golf instruction by the pound and insist upon illustrated diagrams and stop sequence photos, this book is not for you.

I only get out to play golf once or twice a year. I carry this book in my golf bag; Two days ago when I started to play, my shots were erratic. Within thirty minutes after reviewing some of the material, my game straightened out. A great guide!

This book, along with Hogan's 'Five Lessions,' contains classic golf instruction that provides the basis for a great golf game. Forget all those golf magazines. Just read Armour and Hogan, then practice what they teach.

How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time, by Tommy Armour is the single most comprehensive golf instructional text bound together in a concise and elegant fashion. Armour not only teaches you golf , he also imbibes in you a pronounced willingness not only to play better, but an appreciation for the art that is the game. Simplicity and awareness are the essential ideologies found within these pages, and once absorbed can leave you with a strong foundation and understanding for the fundamentals; which could only improve anyone's game. Even if golf is not your game, Armour's philosophy is so crafted in verse, that you might soon find this title shelved along-side some of the world's most revered classic authors.