Golf’s Holy War: The Battle for the Soul of a Game in an Age of Science

New York Post sportswriter Cyrgalis takes a fascinating look at where technological innovation and hallowed tradition meet in the golf world. Cyrgalis tackles the debates around theories of coaching, from the traditional one-on-one coaches to those who champion “the proliferation of high-end technology such as ball-flight monitors and 3-D motion analysis.” He writes that “golf has the most extensive and eclectic literature of any sport,” and begins by highlighting two seemingly arcane books that are “paramount to understanding modern golf”—1969’s The Golfing Machine and Golf in the Kingdom, 1972. From there he discusses many aspects of golf, including the relationship between golf and religion as well as the influence New York Yankee Babe Ruth’s swing had on golf. In a chapter on Tiger Woods, he examines how golfers and coaches sought to emulate Woods’s powerful swing, and also notes that Woods’s recent success has come without a technologically minded coach. This fascinating book is an obvious hole-in-one for golfers and their coaches. (May)