Play Better Golf Birdies the Funny Pages

I find some golf books in random swings by the book store, wandering internet searches, and other times walking along family bookshelves. I think that is where the true treasures reside. On a trip to my parents house, I was scanning the spines of their golf books and saw a beat up paperback in the middle. The title drew my eye: Play Better Golf by Jack Nicklaus. Anything by the Golden Bear is worth a read. I opened the book and was blown away. For a book published in 1980, its presentation shook me and pulled me in.

Play Better Golf’s Unique

This book is not a series of chapters with a black and white photos of Jack or a compilation of articles published in Golf Digest. The pages contain comics published by King Features Syndicate produced of Jack Nicklaus’ golfing wisdom. Jim McQueen illustrated the panels to capture the insight and provide an image of Jack in action illuminating the point. Imagine Prince Valiant cast aside his sword for a 7 iron.

In the introduction, Jack offers a very important warning while reading this book:

One word of warning. If you choose to read the book first time around from cover to cover, you’ll quickly realize that it contains a large amount of information. Don’t try to put everything into effect at once, or even to absorb it all at one reading. Be selective in relation to your own present golfing capabilities and problems, and try always to work on one thing at a time,….

Play Better Golf

Proof in the Pages

Here are some samples of the illustrations. Notice the details and simplicity of Jack’s advice.

Play Better Golf: Buy, Borrow, or Bypass

One of the first apps, I bought for my iPhone was the Jack Nicklaus: Golf My Way app. Its original VHS format was just a diced up into a new presentation with chapter to jump between. So, I think anything jack Nicklaus puts out is worth a buy. The unique nature of this book makes this near collector status for me as well. If you find this book, buy it.