Golf is a major global industry. The sport is played by more than 60 million people worldwide and there are more than 32,000 courses in 140 countries across the globe. This book looks at the power relationships in and around golf, examining whether the industry has demonstrated sufficient leadership on environmental matters to be trusted to make weighty decisions with implications for public and environmental health. The first comprehensive study of the varying responses to golf-related environmental issues, it is based on extensive empirical work, including research into historical materials and interviews with stakeholders in golf such as course superintendents, protesters and health professionals. The authors examine golf as a sport and as a global industry, drawing on and contributing to literatures pertaining to environmental sociology, global social movements, institutional change, corporate environmentalism and the sociology of sport.

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) open access license. Golf is a major global industry. The sport is played by more than 60 million people worldwide and there are more than 32,000 courses in 140 countries across the globe. This book looks at the power relationships in and around golf, examining whether the industry has demonstrated sufficient leadership on environmental matters to be trusted to make weighty decisions with implications for public and environmental health. The first comprehensive study of the varying responses to golf-related environmental issues, it is based on extensive empirical work, including research into historical materials and interviews with stakeholders in golf such as course superintendents, protesters and health professionals. The authors examine golf as a sport and as a global industry, drawing on and contributing to literatures pertaining to environmental sociology, global social movements, institutional change, corporate environmentalism and the sociology of sport.

In the tradition of John McPhee and Tracy Kidder, John Strawn's book is a brilliant analysis of how a golf course was built in the Florida scrubland and of the people who assemble for its creation. A must-read for any golfer -- or for anyone interested in how complex things come to be.

"Was golf better (to use one of Tiger's favorite phrases) back in the day? In [this book], Michael Bamberger, who fell for the game as a teenager in its wild Sansabelt-and-persimmon 1970s heyday, goes on a quest to try to find out. The result is a candid, nostalgic, intimate portrait of golf's greatest generation--then and now"--Dust jacket flap.

Golf is perhaps the most complicated simple game ever invented. Watching the professionals gives you only a glimpse of the complexity of what is happening, with each shot involving biomechanics, aerodynamics, ballistics, materials science, probability, even meteorology. Golf Science takes a timely new look at the game by investigating the scientific wonders that transfer the ball from tee to hole. Each chapter investigates a different area of the game and is organized around a series of Q&As. What is the optimum length for a driver? How does backspin work? The answers and the data are presented through illuminating info-graphics. The perfect way to analyse your own kit and technique, by studying the techniques of the professionals and the latest innovations in design and coaching. Golf Science is the ultimate accessory for any golfer wishing to understand their craft.

To win, golfers have to get it all together and master every aspect of the game: the mental, the physical, and the mechanical. And that’s exactly what they’ll learn to do with the help of three top experts who work with the pros. Swing coach Gary Gilchrist, golf fitness trainer Susan Hill, and sports psychologist Jeff Troesch unite their talents in this cutting-edge guide to periodization, an optimal training method popularized by Tiger Woods. Periodization varies the intensity and volume of training in both long- and short-term plans in order to optimize the body’s ability to recover and rebuild. The result: superior performance, less risk of injury, and a game that just gets better and better!

Shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book Awards Biography of the Year 'A splendid new biography. How good was young Tom Morris? Stephen Proctor makes his case cogently. Young Tom Morris was one of the greatest of them all' - Allan Massie Young Tom Morris, the son of the legendary pioneer of golf, Tom Morris, was golf's first superstar. Born at a pivotal moment in history, just as the new and inexpensive 'gutty' ball was making golf affordable and drawing thousands of new players to the game, his genius and his swashbuckling personality would set a game that had been frozen in amber for four centuries on the pathway to becoming worldwide spectator sport we know today. Exhaustively researched and beautifully illustrated, Monarch of the Green is a stirring and evocative history of Tommy's life (which also includes, for the first time, a compilation of his competitive record in stroke-play tournaments, singles matches, and foursomes) and demonstrates how, in one dazzling decade, this young superstar dominated the sport like few others have ever done.