The Future of Golf: How Golf Lost Its Way and How to Get It Back (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Nick Faldo (Foreword) "The sport formerly known as golf was once arguably the most complete of all leisure and professional pursuits..." (more)
Key Phrases: Augusta National, Golf Journal, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Future of Golf reveals how the sport has been kidnapped by equipment manufacturers and knowingly deregulated by its governing bodies. A mix of commentary, analysis, and essays, the book chronicles the misguided strategies made by the once-respected United States Golf Association, showing how the momentum from Tiger Woods's popularity is being squandered by manipulative manufacturers and celebrity worship. Author Geoff Shackelford urges the USGA to re-shoulder its responsibilities to the game while suggesting how the PGA Tour can restore excitement to its championships. He offers solutions for making golf fun, affordable and exciting again by emphasizing course design elements, common sense ideals, and tradition-based values.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books (April 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570614563
• ISBN-13: 978-1570614569
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #494,901 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening and inspiring., June 4, 2005

By	Andrew Wilson (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Finally someone is saying exactly what needs to be said about the current state of golf. "The Future of Golf" opened my eyes to the problems the game is now facing; problems that so many are trying to cover up. As a golf lover I am horrified at the direction the game is going and this book nailed what these problems are, and what needs to be done to fix them.

This is probably Shackelford's best work, as well as his most important, and I'm afraid it will not be recognized as such because of its controversial nature. If this book does not reach an enormous audience it will be an absolute tragedy. I urge everyone who cares about the game of golf and our great courses to read "The Future of Golf". One way or another I am going to get a copy into the hands of every golfer I know. We must start wherever we can and take back the game of golf before it's too late.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An update on a hot topic, November 23, 2005

By	T. Enst - See all my reviews

The subjects of technology, design, and price in golf have been with us for a long while (perhaps longer than most realize), but few books tackle them head on. Here, Geoff Shackelford points out where not only he but many professional tour players, course architects, and even voices from the past believe things have gotten off track.

For anyone who has lost interest in golf on TV, is tired of 6 hours rounds at even "high-end" public facilities, and would love to know why exactly the latest and greatest in driver technology "just keeps getting better" (and more expensive) when, supposedly, the USGA put a roof on it, you will want to read this.

On a final note, while much of the information has been updated for this revised edition, much of the writing will be very familiar to those who regularly follow Geoff Shackelford's articles. First time readers will get much more out it.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most important golf book now in publication., April 11, 2006

By	CDB (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This is nothing less than the most important book on the game of golf now in print. It is the most important golf book of the last 25 years, and is probably the most important golf book since the writing of C. B. Macdonald, Bernard Darwin and even Bob Jones.
It is not an elegant book; others, including Shackelford himself have written books that are far more beautiful in terms of lavish publications. But the comparisons that have been made between this book and Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" are apt. This book is a call to arms in the golf technology arms race.
These are direct, pithy, clear-eyed essays that will provoke any reader to challenge about half of what is becoming the accepted state of affairs in the world of golf.
You cannot be a serious-minded student of the game of golf in the 21st Century without reading, and indeed studying, this book.