A Hole By Hole Special--
The 1999 Holiday Gift Golf Book Selections!

One or more of the six books below will make a very nice gift for golfers of all types. One is a handy pocket-sized guide that should go in most golf bags along with the clubs, balls, and tees. Another one is great for those who don't take the game too seriously. Others are classic coffee table books.

If you are looking for more gift book selections, just click over to the Coffee Table Golf Book page, or to the page of Little Golf Books, or to the 2000 Holiday Gift Golf Book Selections.

If you're looking for more substantial books for the golfer you're trying to please, just click to the Pastbooks Page and pick a review.

Click on the covers or text links below to buy these books for gift-giving this holiday season or later. These books are perfectly fine gifts for others, or for yourself for that matter.

This is the companion volume to the fine U.S. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary that ran on American television earlier this year.

Peper, the Editor-in-Chief of GOLF Magazine, put together a well-done collection of stories, pictures, and anecdotes to tell the history of golf from its earliest beginnings to the present.

Its outsize dimensions and at least 200 illustrations make this a coffee table book, but with more than enough substance to go beyond the normal meaning of the term.

Peper co-wrote Cinderella Story with Bill Murray, also published this year. This book was much better, in my humble opinion.

When they say "spectacular" they really mean it.

This coffee table golf book includes huge, beautiful photographs that open out to nearly 4 feet from end to end. The Golf Digest photographers who shot these pictures should be proud.

The usual suspects are there, such as Augusa National, Shinnecock Hills, and St. Andrews. In addition, new courses such as Ben Crenshaw's Sand Hills in Nebraska also provide a visual feast for the winter-bound golfer.

Another great book for golf history buffs and those with a keen interest in golf course design.

Shackelford, editor of Masters of the Links, does it again with this beautifully produced book of vintage photographs, drawings, and biographical sketches of the early masters of golf course architecture. The image to the right of this review doesn't do justice to the actual cover.

Even the non-golfers in my family were deeply impressed by this one.

This is a handy little book.

Russell, a PGA TOUR official and former club pro, put together a useful guide to over 35 common rules problems, helped by popular golf writer Andrisani.

Each section includes a short description of a typical problem, the common mistakes made, and the correct way to handle it.

This little book will be a good stocking stuffer. It should fit well in most golf bags, where it could really help.

After writing a serious golf book (The Making of The Masters), David Owen returns to more whimsical material, such as what made My Usual Game so enjoyable.

In deadpan prose, this humorous concoction is an instructional manual for playing golf in the office, using a mix of golf equipment and office supplies.

The 100 or so pages include 12 color cardstock pages, 9 of which are punch-out, actual size golf holes. Readers also obtain an official Office Golf Association membership card and bag tag.

Office Golf is a nice gag gift for golfers that can't yet retire from the job that keeps them off the golf course.

For golfers who either retired or won the lottery, and therefore wouldn't be interested in Office Golf, this coffee table golf book should have enormous appeal.

McCallen, a senior editor at GOLF Magazine, gilves a detailed guide to 100 United States golf courses open to visitors. As with that magazine's regular series, readers will earn what it takes to play the courses, as well as a useful guide to accommodations, dining, side trips, and nearby places to play.

Enticing photographs grace this large format offering, which should be routinely updated in later editions to be really useful for golfers with wanderlust and a fair amount of disposable income.

If you're looking for golf books we haven't reviewed yet, click on this image:

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