Books about Nicklaus from Amazon.com

Surprisingly, one of sport's most contentious, complex, and defining clashes played out not in the boxing ring or at the line of scrimmage but on the genteel green fairways of the world's finest golf courses Arnie and Jack. Palmer and Nicklaus Their fifty-year duel, in both the clubhouse and the boardroom, propelled each to the status of American icon and pushed modern golf to the heights and popularity it enjoys today.

Yet for all the ink that has been spilled on these two essential golf figures individually, no one has ever examined their relationship in this way. Arnie was the cowboy, with rugged good looks, Popeye-like forearms, a flailing swing, and charm enough to win fans worldwide. Jack was scientific, precise, conservative, aloof, even fat and awkward. Ultimately, Nicklaus got the better of Palmer on the course, beating him in major victories, 18-7. But Palmer bested Nicklaus almost everywhere else, especially in the hearts of the public and in endorsement dollars -- Palmer was the top-grossing athlete for thirty years, until Michael Jordan surpassed him.

With dogged reporting and crisp, colorful storytelling, the award-winning sports columnist Ian O'Connor explores this heated professional and personal battle in fascinating, intimate, and revelatory detail. Drawing on unique and exclusive access to Palmer and Nicklaus, and informed by some two hundred new interviews, O'Connor illuminates the two men's extreme differences and sprawling influence through mini-dramas, such as their little-known first meeting on the course at the topsy-turvy U.S. Open in 1962, their early involvement with marketing and a small agency called IMG, and their intense competition for golf-course designs in their later years.

By the end of this page-turning narrative, which spans five remarkable decades, we see that each man wanted what the other had: Arnold had the adoring fans but wanted the trophies. Jack had the trophies but wanted the love..
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Hailed as a classic and read everywhere golf is played, Golf My Way has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide since it was first published in 1974.

Finally, Jack Nicklaus, golf's leading master, definitively covers the whole of his game through a lifetime of greatness. Golf My Way presents an all-inclusive, A-to-Z explanation of how this greatest of champions thinks about and plays the game.

· New introduction, endpiece, and illustrations

· Brand-new chapters discussing the changes in Nicklaus's outlook and techniques

· Reflections on the differences in tournament golf today compared with when Nicklaus joined the PGA tour in 1962

· Advice on the mental elements of improved playing that are not directly related to ball-striking or shot-making.
Price: $10.13 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, Sam Snead, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer.... The list of elite golfers that Ken Bowden has studied, befriended, and written about is mind-boggling indeed. Over the course of more than four decades, Bowden has lived a life that is the stuff of dreams: traveling the world, golfing the planet's best courses, and rubbing elbows with the game's elite players. The unparalleled access provided as a top editor for Golf World and, later, Golf Digest, allowed Bowden to observe these stars in their natural element. Along the way, he compiled an unmatched collection of golf stories--and gained considerable insight into the royal and ancient game--that he shares in this very unique book, which promises to amuse, enlighten, surprise, and entertain anybody who loves chasing small white balls through beautiful green fields..
Price: $12.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Frank Thomas is the world's leading expert on golf equipment As a design engineer at Shakespeare Sporting Goods in the 1960s and 70s, he invented the graphite shaft, a piece of technology found in the bag of nearly every golfer today. As Technical Director of the United States Golf Association, he issued thousands upon thousands of rulings on equipment, literally writing the rules that govern the implements of the game.

In Just Hit It, Thomas shares his knowledge with every golfer. In clear and concise language, he separates the blather of advertising claims from the nuggets of truth, explaining how golf equipment works, describing which features matter and which ones don t, providing the most thoughtful overview of the subject ever written. He debunks common misperceptions, and demonstrates that what s newest and latest may not be any better than what you already own.

But Just Hit It isn t just an equipment guide. It also examines the marketing culture that threatens to separate the game from its core values. Thomas understands the golfer s desire to find the magic club that will change his game and wipe away his flaws, but he also recognizes the way this belief in magic can be exploited by others for profit. Further, he explores how this selling climate eats away at the fundamental reasons we play the game, whether we realize it or not: the desire to test ourselves against an objective standard while overcoming the obstacles set in our path. He describes how the rules of the game can best serve our purpose, and proposes steps that can be taken by golfers, course designers, developers, and governing bodies to reconnect the game with what it ought to be.

Practical, philosophical, and historical all at once, Just Hit It is a unique contribution to the literature of golf..
Price: $22.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Was there ever a year in golf like 1960?
        It was the year that the sport and its vivid personalities exploded on the consciousness of the nation, when the past, present, and future of the sport collided Here was Arnold Palmer, the workingman's hero, "sweating, chain-smoking, shirt-tail flying"; Ben Hogan, the greatest player of the fifties, a perfectionist battling twin demons of age and nerves; and, making his big-time debut, a crew-cut college kid who seemed to have the makings of a champion: twenty-year-old Jack Nicklaus.
        And of course, the rest: Ken Venturi, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Doug Sanders, Gary Player, and the many other colorful characters who chased around a little white ball--and a dream.
        Would Palmer win the mythical Grand Slam of golf? Could Hogan win one more major tournament? Was Nicklaus the real thing? Even more than an intimate portrait of these men and their exciting times, The Eternal Summer is also an entertaining, perceptive, and hypnotically readable exploration of professional golf in America..
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In The Nicklaus Way, acclaimed golf writer John Andrisani analyzes how Nicklaus created such a powerful swing and developed near perfect shot selection. Andrisani also reveals the secrets to Nicklaus's mental and course-management games, and shows golfers how to prepare thoroughly for a round of golf -- Nicklaus style.

What makes this book unique is that Andrisani goes far beyond the fundamentals of the setup and swing that Nicklaus learned from teacher Jack Grout and that enabled him to win so many major championships. Taking the instructional analysis process to the next level, Andrisani identifies for the first time subtle technical points of Nicklaus's swing that are not talked about in any of his instructional books or videos, as well as some new swing fundamentals Nicklaus learned from other top teachers such as Rick Smith.

In The Nicklaus Way, Andrisani also looks at Nicklaus's tee-to-green game, sharing with golfers the ins and outs of this great golfer's uncanny shot-making game. The instruction is easy to follow, so golfers will have no excuse for not being able to hit everything from a power fade drive to a biting short iron to a long putt..
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Fore! The perfect holiday gift for dads!

Lee Trevino confessed his one superstition: never to use a yellow tee. Earl Woods (Tiger’s late father) tenderly recalled his son’s childhood struggles with stuttering and “sand twaps.” Hall of Famer–turned–TV commentator Judy Rankin could never, ever forget a spectacular shot she saw Greg Norman make on the 16th hole at the ’89 British Open. And Bobby Jones hated the nickname Bobby. (He much preferred being called Bob.)

For years, Golf Digest’s monthly “My Shot” column has informed, entertained, and emotionally touched the magazine’s readers with its first-person accounts of golfers’ lives and careers. Now, the best of those columns have been gathered together in a book that is this year’s must-give gift for any golf enthusiast.

In its pages, golfing greats of past and present—the amateurs and the pros, the men and the women, the indisputable legends and the merely very famous—talk about themselves in a remarkably candid way. They crack jokes, gossip, reveal their quirks and foibles, and, along the way, dispense a winner’s share of wisdom about the game called golf and that other game—the one called life. Striking photographic portraits illustrate each story in this revealing, often riveting collection of reminiscences..
Price: $13.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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The original purpose of iaido was to slay an opponent with one stroke of the sword upon unsheathing. This manual of Eishin-Ryu or "Pure Faith" iaido teaches the most widely practiced sword style, and is illustrated with step-by-step drawings to help students, from beginners to advanced, hone their forms and techniques. Introductory chapters explain the history and evolution of the art, the Japanese sword and related equipment, and the etiquette and code of the samurai, while an extensive glossary and bibliography are provided for further reference..
Price: $14.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]