Now that summer is here, it's time to think about playing outdoors. And playing a sport well is the best fun. But if you really wanted to learn how to be efficient, effective, and joyful at tennis, golf, baseball, and/or swimming, which books would you choose to read?
Below are my favorite instruction books for these sports. I have used them all for years and each has changed how I play each game. Also, they have given me a better understanding of the principles of efficient use of my physical and mental energy toward a goal of playing well and simply having fun.
Happy reading.
Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier - Terry Laughlin
Description:
Author Terry Laughlin was a competitive swimmer all his life including college, but gave it up due to the boredom of endless laps and lack of personal progress in speed and efficiency. Entering Masters competitions renewed his interest in pursuing a revolutionary method of swimming and training: using streamlining and gliding techniques rather than energy-inefficient power strokes. Easy to comprehend and easy to practice, these step-by-step progressions practiced in short bursts of one lap provide fun, highly obtainable results. Really changed my stroke and enjoyment as now I can swim over a mile smoothly without becoming winded.
Five Simple Steps to Perfect Golf - Count Yogi
Description:
Count Yogi was a highly successful golfer who hustled for money and gave demonstrations on California courses using a simplified approach to mastering the few essentials of the sports: grip, balance, approaching the ball, total swing, and putting.
Instead of breaking down the swing into minute elements no one can remember or implement, he simply focuses on stroke smoothness and a few minor tips (hitting through the ball). Count Yogi also adds plenty of snarky comments about current pros and their detailed books which offer advice the pros/author don't use on the course ... because they all are actually using Count Yogi's techniques, of course. A hard book to find, but worth the effort. Lots of fun to read and plenty of great tips.
The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance - Tim Galloway
Description:
Self One and Self Two are constantly battling inside the head of every tennis player. Self One, the critical one, says "Why did you do that, you moron," while Self Two, quietly envisions the success of the shot. Author Galloway argues that silencing Self One and focusing on Self Two via visualization of quality shots and results will be more successful than endless drills and techniques. His offers an easy-to-comprehend philosophy, relying on imaging and quietness of the mind to achieve goals. Fascinating, and it actually produces great results both in shots and one's enjoyment of the game.
The Science of Hitting - Ted Williams
Description:
Williams, the last baseball hitter to end a season with a .400 average, shares the science and practice behind successfully hitting the ball. He has broken this seemingly simple action into details that are easily understood, but require practice, discipline, and then even more practice to achieve the goals. Very solid writing and theories behind this difficult art.
Below are my favorite instruction books for these sports. I have used them all for years and each has changed how I play each game. Also, they have given me a better understanding of the principles of efficient use of my physical and mental energy toward a goal of playing well and simply having fun.
Happy reading.
_______________________
First Sentences
If you're like almost every other tennis player, you've reached a plateau on which you're stuck.
No matter how hard you practice, no matter how many lessons you take, you're stuck on that level.
Description:
Peter Burwash, a former tennis professional from Canada, observed the common traits followed by successful pros and then incorporated them into lessons for us ordinary players. He discards the usual advice such as "Watch the ball" and "Racquet back," and instead stresses techniques that actually influence the ball. Burwash emphasizes the importance of the contact point between racquet and ball (backswing and follow-through do not actually direct the ball since the ball is not on the strings during each of these!); snapping the wrist in serving; "catching" volleys like a baseball player; and responding to emergency situations when perfect strokes are not possible.
He breaks the game down into techniques easily understood, remembered, and applied. These techniques work for players of all levels. Believe me, I've seen it happen countless times when I taught beginning and nationally-ranked players using these same concepts. Definitely a game-changer of a book.
He breaks the game down into techniques easily understood, remembered, and applied. These techniques work for players of all levels. Believe me, I've seen it happen countless times when I taught beginning and nationally-ranked players using these same concepts. Definitely a game-changer of a book.
_______________________
First Sentences
It's no mystery why people why people have trouble swimming as fast or as far or as smoothly as they'd like: Most of them are doing it backwards.
"Don't worry if you form's not perfect," coaches and instructors have always assured us. "Just get those laps in. Eventually you'll be fit enough to develop a smoother, stronger stroke."
It really works the other way around, but that's not how it's been taught.
Description:
Author Terry Laughlin was a competitive swimmer all his life including college, but gave it up due to the boredom of endless laps and lack of personal progress in speed and efficiency. Entering Masters competitions renewed his interest in pursuing a revolutionary method of swimming and training: using streamlining and gliding techniques rather than energy-inefficient power strokes. Easy to comprehend and easy to practice, these step-by-step progressions practiced in short bursts of one lap provide fun, highly obtainable results. Really changed my stroke and enjoyment as now I can swim over a mile smoothly without becoming winded.
_______________________
First Sentences
It has always been said that good golf starts with a good grip. That is true.
Description:
Count Yogi was a highly successful golfer who hustled for money and gave demonstrations on California courses using a simplified approach to mastering the few essentials of the sports: grip, balance, approaching the ball, total swing, and putting.
Instead of breaking down the swing into minute elements no one can remember or implement, he simply focuses on stroke smoothness and a few minor tips (hitting through the ball). Count Yogi also adds plenty of snarky comments about current pros and their detailed books which offer advice the pros/author don't use on the course ... because they all are actually using Count Yogi's techniques, of course. A hard book to find, but worth the effort. Lots of fun to read and plenty of great tips.
_______________________
First Sentences
The problems which most perplex tennis players are not those dealing with the proper way to swing a racket....
The most common complaint of sportsmen ringing down the corridors of the ages is, "It's not that I don't know what to do, it's that I don't do what I know."
Description:
Self One and Self Two are constantly battling inside the head of every tennis player. Self One, the critical one, says "Why did you do that, you moron," while Self Two, quietly envisions the success of the shot. Author Galloway argues that silencing Self One and focusing on Self Two via visualization of quality shots and results will be more successful than endless drills and techniques. His offers an easy-to-comprehend philosophy, relying on imaging and quietness of the mind to achieve goals. Fascinating, and it actually produces great results both in shots and one's enjoyment of the game.
_______________________
First Sentences
Hitting a baseball -- I've said it a thousand times before -- is the single most difficult thing to do in sport.
Description:
Williams, the last baseball hitter to end a season with a .400 average, shares the science and practice behind successfully hitting the ball. He has broken this seemingly simple action into details that are easily understood, but require practice, discipline, and then even more practice to achieve the goals. Very solid writing and theories behind this difficult art.
