The average golfer knows little more about golf clubs than what he or she reads in advertising or sees in Golf Channel infomercials. This lack of knowledge leads, in turn, to a kind of equipment-induced frustration, called the "grass ceiling," which is one of the leading factors in nearly three million people leaving the game each year.

This is the first book that explains to the layman how and why golf clubs work the way they do. It lets you in on the secrets that will allow you to spend your money more wisely and play the game to the best of your ability.

It is also a book that challenges the industry to rethink what it's doing to the golfer and the game in the name of "modern marketing." It calls for a new "golfer-centric" approach to the sport that will insure the health of the game through the 21st Century and beyond. This is the one book EVERY golfer needs to read!!

"A few years ago, Tom Wishon, with his experience as a designer, helped me understand more about a particular aspect of golf-club performance. With this book, Tom will help you understand the entire field, make good buying decisions, and get the most from your game."

--Arnold Palmer, Golf Hall of Fame Member

"In the course of my career I don't know how many pro-am rounds I have played. In all those rounds, rarely have I seen amateurs with clubs that genuinely fit their game. For me, Tom Wishon stripped away the mystery of club fitting, which I believe helped me to become a Top 20 player on the PGA Tour. I am convinced this book will allow average golfers to get on the right track with their equipment as well. It is a 'must read' whether you are a scratch player or a beginner."

--Scott Verplank, PGA Touring Pro

"Tom Wishon's knowledge of golf equipment isn't theoretical. It's practical. He understands not just the theory of why and how golf equipment works, but how all golfers can make technology work for them. Even more important, he makes that knowledge easily understood whether you're a mechanical engineer or a CPA trying to break 90."

--Mike Stachura, Equipment Editor, Golf Digest

Anyone interested in golf equipment needs to encounter Tom Wishon--whether in person or in print. His passion for sharing his knowledge of the equipment we play with borders on the maniacal, yet he always provides clearly mapped out answers to the most complex equipment questions. Tom has always been an indispensable source and I've picked his brain for years. What's left of it is in inside these pages.

--Mike Johnson, Equipment Editor, Golf World

I have written about golf equipment and golf technology for a very long time. I can assure you that nobody in the game today knows more about golf clubs than Tom Wishon. Furthermore, he has a passion for golf that is really fun to behold. If the great mystery is understanding how clubs function in the hands of real golfers, Wishon gets my vote as the Sherlock Holmes of golf.

--James Achenbach, Equipment Editor & Senior Editor, Golfweek

Author: Tom W. Wishon, Tom Grundner
Paperback:  290 pages
Company: Sports Media Group  (2007-04)
ISBN: 1587264439
List Price: $16.95
Amazon Price: $10.73
Used Price: $10.72

How to throw a *!!?**@!!?*!&*#!! golf club!!! is a light-hearted how to book for the experienced and occasional golfers alike. This delightful romp pairs humerous golf club throwing instructions with whimsical illustrations that will make you smile. Learn how to throw a club with pride, achieve the proper mental attitude, adopt the appropriate verbal expressions and much, much more. This is the perfect gift for yourself or the golfers in your life who take the game much too seriously.

Author: Wally Wheeler
Hardcover:  44 pages
Company: Desert Springs Publishing  (2008-03-01)
ISBN: 0972757295
List Price: $14.95
Amazon Price: $14.95

All golfers have fourteen clubs in their bag, but the real winners have a little something extra -- that mental attitude that puts their game above the others. Dr. Bob Rotella, author of the bestselling book Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect, brings together his skills and years of experience as a golf psychologist to give readers the insight they need to improve their game -- before they ever step up to the tee.

The 15th Club is the tool that golf stars like Tiger Woods use to block out negative thoughts, doubt, and fear. It is what allows champions to perform at their peak both in practice and during the game. Golfers who lack it find the game elusive and frustrating. Confident golfers play the game as they have always sensed they could play it. Now, one of the most renowned golf writers offers up the foolproof methods that will allow golfers at any skill level to give their game that extra boost.

Dr. Rotella provides tips and techniques for how to learn from better golfers, overcome fear in pressure situations, and keep a clear mind, no matter what. He tells golfers that inner arrogance is not a negative trait, but instead is something that can improve performance on and off the course. In order to perform at peak levels and achieve your goals, you must believe that you can win. Positive thinking is an incredibly powerful tool, and it can change the way a player approaches the game. Knowing how to focus on the challenge at hand and understanding your own talent are crucial parts of becoming a confident golfer.

Dr. Rotella provides a detailed plan that anyone can use to build the self-image of a winner.He offers a one-year schedule in diary and calendar form that will incorporate the daily mental routines that he assigns to players on the PGA Tour. This is how the pros learn to ignore negative influences, focus on productive advice, and take pride in their abilities.

Your 15th Club will tell golfers of all abilities how to develop the confidence they need to maximize their physical gifts and defeat the Tigers of their world, whether that world is the PGA Tour or the third flight of the club championship.

Author: Dr. Bob Rotella
Hardcover:  208 pages Hard Cover, The Inner Secret To Great Golf
Company: Free Press  (2008-05-13)
ISBN: 1416567968
List Price: $24.00
Amazon Price: $13.67
Used Price: $13.57

Legendary Golf Clubs of the American East takes you inside 12 of the most revered golf clubs in the United States on the East coast. Featuring over 300 original photographs to compliment a text driven by amusing anecdotes and interviews with members and staff, the reader is given a colorful tour of each of these historical golf clubs.

Author: John de St. Jorre, Anthony Edgeworth (Photographer)
Hardcover:  336 pages
Company: Edgeworth Editions  (2003-10-10)
ISBN: 0965890449
List Price: $90.00
Amazon Price: $90.00
Used Price: $190.00

Club throwing is an art! It relieves stress, burns calories and it keeps the other players on the course on their toes. So there's no need to lie, no need to be embarrassed. You're a club thrower--welcome to the club.

Here's your official guide to the art of club throwing, and it includes:

--Throwing clubs for distance and accuracy
--Club throwing Q&A
--The 20 basic throws
--What to do when you're REALLY teed off


Author: Tom Carey
Paperback:  128 pages
Company: Sourcebooks Hysteria  (2006-02-01)
ISBN: 1402205198
List Price: $7.95
Amazon Price: $3.78
Used Price: $0.01

The book entitled How Golf Clubs Really Work and How to Optimize Their Design, is the first book published that focuses on the golf club and the way that golfers can utilize their specific clubs to achieve better shot control, leading to lower scores for all golfers. The book is the end result of a 10-year, full-time dedicated research effort for co-authors Frank D. Werner and Richard C. Grieg. Both have advanced degrees in aerospace engineering and together have over 90 patents.

The authors have discussed many issues relevant to the game of golf and analyzed the way that different factors play a part in shot making. Chapters are included on optimal face curvature (bulge and roll may be extinct), shaft length and head weight to maximize distance, and the effects of wind drag on club head speed (less than you would expect). In addition, the authors have developed new aiming and shot control techniques that could allow golfers to have better control, hit more fairways and greens, and lower their scores.

The book will provide useful insights for a broad spectrum of golfers from touring pros and teaching professionals to struggling beginners and serious golfers looking to shave a few strokes off their game. By providing an analysis of all that happens from impact until the ball stops, the authors have de-mystified one of the world?s greatest games.

Author: Richard C. Grieg, Dr. Frank D. Werner
Paperback:  183 pages
Company: Origin, Inc.  (2000-08-04)
ISBN: 0967762502
List Price: $29.95
Amazon Price: $23.36
Used Price: $18.00

How much do you really know about your golf clubs? Did you know that: The lower the loft on your driver, the farther you'll hit it? Your new driver has a larger "sweetspot?" You are playing a stiff shaft, because it says so on it. Women's clubs are designed for women? Fine, but the problem is... NONE OF THOSE THINGS ARE TRUE Tom Wishon, one of the leading golf club designers in the world, takes you through 10 myths that most golfers believe about their golf clubs. They are based on his best-selling book: The Right Sticks: Equipment Myths that Could Wreck Your Golf Game. "Most golfers are playing with clubs that will not-and can not possibly-meet their needs. They are designed from the factory to be wrong for their size strength and swing characteristics." Do you think: That longer drivers will hit the ball farther? The faster you swing, the stiffer your shaft should be? That your clubs are "just like the ones the pros use?" Concise. Interesting. Authoritative Now learn the things that they do NOT tell you in the golf club ads.

Author: Tom Wishon
Paperback:  68 pages
Company: Fireship Press  (2008-05-06)
ISBN: 1934757322
List Price: $9.95
Amazon Price: $5.94
Used Price: $7.08

The Clubmaker's Art is the most complete, authoritative, and stunningly beautiful book ever produced on antique golf clubs. Eminent golf club collector, dealer, and historian, Jeffery Ellis leads you on an incredible journey into the minds and workshops of golf's greatest craftsmen, exploring the remarkable evolution of the equipment of the game. Sumptuously illustrated with 800 full-color photographs depicting more than 640 antique clubs, The Clubmaker's Art reveals the most astonishing array of sporting equipment ever assembled.

Exhaustively researched and impeccably documented, the text describes in rich detail more than 1000 rare and innovative clubs, and brings to life the fascinating artisans who created and used them. Combining insightful historical information with entertaining anecdotes and quotations, Ellis vividly captures the exquisite artistry of the game and its equipment.

The Clubmaker's Art is for everyone who loves the game of golf. It is an absolute necessity for collectors and students of the game. It will be the standard reference work in the field for decades to come and a treasured possession of everyone who owns it.

Author: Jeff Ellis
Hardcover:  576 pages
Company: Zephyr Productions  (1997-09)
ISBN: 096530390X
List Price: $150.00
Amazon Price: 
Used Price: $200.00

Focuses on the vintage era from the 1920s through the 1940s. Over 450 color photos. Main sections include woods, irons, putters, adjustable clubs, fancy club faces, wedges and utility irons, shafts and grips comparisons, grading and condition scales, 2001 values, and a glossary. Manufacturers represented include Allied, MacGregor, Wilson, Spalding, and McGill.2001 values. AUTHORBIO: Ronald John served six years in the U.S. Air Force and earning doctorate and post doctorate degrees in special education and clinical psychology. His passion for sports has been rechanneled since 1996 because of back fusion surgery and firm doctor's orders into studying the history of golf and golfing equipment and collecting post-WWI clubs. REVIEW: This book helps fill a large gap in understanding a great era of golf, 1919 to 1942, the period of change from the hickory or wooden shaft to steel and innovations in production and designs by great designers - many of who not only designed clubs but are amongst the greatest golfers ever. The book introduces the metal and pyratone covered metal shafted clubs of 1919 - 1942 and the slow retreat until 1932 when very few clubs were made with hickory shaft.

Author: Ronald O. John
Hardcover:  224 pages
Company: Collector Books  (2001-09-09)
ISBN: 1574322648
List Price: $29.95
Amazon Price: $14.95
Used Price: $12.95

THE GOLF CLUB presents over 450 of the most magnificent, historical, and valuable golf clubs ever devised to strike a golf ball during the past 400 years.

Inside are rare treasures made by Scotland's Old Tom Morris, known as "The Grand Old Man of Golf," and Hugh Philp, often called the Stradivarious of clubmakers. You will also find modern masterpieces by Ping, Spalding, Callaway, MacGregor, Titleist, Nike and others. You may even find a club that you own!

You will see the club that Alan Shephard used on the moon, the 1-iron made famous by Ben Hogan when he won the 1950 US Open, the putter used by Willie Park to win the British Open in 1863, the Calamity Jane putter Bobby Jones used to win the Grand Slam in 1930, and the putter Jack Nicklaus used to win 15 of his 20 majors.

Recent Sales prices are given for a number of the clubs shown, and the clubs are accompanied by photographs of over 60 vintage golf balls from across history

Author: Jeffery B. Ellis
Hardcover:  192 pages
Company: Zephyr Productions  (2002-09-01)
ISBN: 0965303926
List Price: $45.00
Amazon Price: $64.99
Used Price: $10.44