I sprained my back on Monday, and after eating painkillers like candy for a couple of days, can at least walk around with some semblance of normalcy but a visit to the doctor confirmed that golf is out of the question for a couple of weeks at least.

Being a golf addict who is unable to golf and needing to stay inspired to write this blog, I decided to dig into my golf bookshelf and started reading.. then started to have quite a bit of fun reading up my old golf books that I've decided to dedicate this posting to some of the must-read books (IMHO) out there. So here they are, in no particular order: (and none of them have given us any money to promote them,honest ! :)) All pictures are copyright of the publishers and authors of course..

 1. The Secret of Golf by George Peper . Folks, this is the golf guide to end all golf guides.  This book's back cover promises "47 Holy Grails" and they are not kidding. From the orthodox (an excerpt from Ben Hogan's Classic Modern Fundamentals of Golf) to the unusual (Natural Golf, where a wide-open stance and a special grip is used) and the slightly weird (Golf Self-Hypnosis), this book got it all. Of course if you try to apply all 47 simultaneously you are almost guaranteed to screw up whatever swing you have at the moment, but this book is great for picking and choosing what 'trick' to try next time at the driving range or course. And of course condensing 47 books into one, it's a great money saver ! :)

2. How to Quit Golf  by Craig Brass. Although written (with its tongue firmly planted in its cheek) as a complete how-to guide on quitting golf and pointing out all the evils of the game, the book ends up being a very enjoyable read by all golfers, if only to point out all the faults and foibles of golf and golfers that we can all relate to and have a good chuckle over. Because being miserable about your game alone equalis tragedy, realising there are many people out there as miserable as you are equals humor.

3. Who's Your Caddy by Rick Reilly. Prominent US sportswriter Rick Reilly persuaded well known personalities such as Jack Nicklaus, John Daly, Deepak Chopra and Donald Trump to let him caddy for them. He also caddied for a blind golfer and some Las Vegas high-stakes golf gamblers. The resulting book is an insightful, frequently funny look into the game of golf seen from a different perspective. Reilly's problems adapting to the caddy role (forgetting clubs, dropping bags, flubbing yardage measurements etc) also made us realize how difficult it can be to be a professional caddy.

4. Golf for Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra. This is the most unusual one in this bunch. Until I picked this book up (I got the e-book version actually) I never realized that spiritual guru even played golf. This book attempts to fuse 7 life lessons into golf, how one player's quest for the perfect swing leads him to learn life lessons about life itself yadda yadda yadda etc etc. I was heavily skeptical about the premise, BUT having read through the whole book I must admit this little book affected me much more than I thought it would. Having had many soul-searching moments where I question my ability, my sanity and my very reason for existing in the seconds between placing my clubhead behind my ball and starting my backswing, I somehow can relate to many of the things this book teaches. It's not easy to describe, but I do suggest you pick up a copy. It might not help your swing but maybe it will make you feel a bit better about life.

 George Plimpton the famous American writer once said this rule about sports writing: The smaller the ball, the better the writing. I am a great fan of Basketball and Football and love reading about it, but after sampling the above, I am sure you'll also agree that Plimpton's rule holds.

After you've read your fill, now would be a good time to go to our Main Page and book your next tee time at one of our partner courses. Pick one tip from the Secrets of Golf book, keep a sense of humor like in the How to Quit Golf book, and you might learn a life lesson along the way like in Deepak Chopra's book ! Click Here to go to our main booking page, and hopefully you get a caddy as fun as Rick Reilly :)

-Himawan Prajogo (who can only fantasize about teeing off for the next 2 weeks)