Added: November 14, 2005, 1:09 pm

Great Golf

Sign up for the Hamptons Weekly Brief and win one of ten copies of "Great Golf: 150 Years of Essential Instruction From The Best Players, Teachers, And Writers Of All Time"!

The three sports that have inspired the best writing are baseball, boxing, and golf. With the latter, much of that great writing can be found in instructional essays. Danny Peary and Allen Richardson, both residents of the East End, had the brilliant notion of collecting the best essays into one volume, and the result is "Great Golf: 150 Years of Essential Instruction From The Best Players, Teachers And Writers Of All Time". It is just hitting bookstores now (think holiday gift!), published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, with a Foreword by Gary Player.

However, whether or not your game improves after reading this book is almost besides the point. "Great Golf" is to be read and savored. Here is how the amateur champion and course designer Walter Travis opens his essay, 'Holing the Ball': "Once the golfer has managed, more or less successfully, to get on the green, the serious business of getting the ball into the hole in one or two strokes presents itself. And mighty serious business it is too. Putting, that is consistently good putting, is perhaps the most difficult part of the game . . . [and] calls for the highest degree of skill and the nicest kind of judgment both as regards accuracy and strength."

There are 126 more original essays by 95 other authors (including Tiger Woods) in this handsomely designed book. Typically, golf books are published in the late winter and spring when the PGA Tour and the hopes of countless hackers are renewed. "Great Golf" is being published now, and I suspect that is because many people who purchase it will find it just as or even more enjoyable to curl up with during a long winter's night and soak in over a century of wisdom. The photos and illustrations in the book are fun and useful too.

Our own Tom Clavin reviewd the book a few weeks ago, take a peek and see all the reasons you'll love this book. You can of course buy your own copy of this book online at www.amazon.com for $29.95 or you can win one of ten copies of "Great Golf: 150 Years of Essential Instruction From The Best Players, Teachers, And Writers Of All Time"! from Hamptonsview.com just by being a member and signing up for the Hamptons Weekly Brief. We'll post the winners here next week.

Click here to sign up for the Hamptons Weekly Brief. Remember to check back here each week to see if you've won - good luck!