7 Golf Books For The Off-Season Reader

A good golf book can help to pass the time during the long off-season months. For some of us, it is dreadfully long. Here in Wisconsin, it is considered a good year if we are playing consistently by early April and finishing the first couple weeks of November (not always in enjoyable weather on either end, mind you).

Whether you’re looking to gain some insight on ways to improve your game for the coming season, find new methods to approach goal setting or expand your knowledge on the history of golf, reading options are vast.

Here are seven of the top books to check out as we work towards the 2025 golf season.

Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons

With more than one million copies in print, Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons is a timeless classic which outlines the building blocks of winning golf from one of the greatest to ever play the game. Hogan believed that any golfer with average coordination could learn to break 80 by applying themselves with patience and intelligence. Fully illustrated with drawings and diagrams, this book can help you transform your game, one step at a time.

Burn Your Goals

While not considered a “golf” book, Burn Your Goals has relevance within the scope of the game. Learn a different strategy to goal-setting and achieving your greatest potential in life through the stories, strategies and tools within this book leading to inspiration and encouragement. If you are looking to achieve your greatest potential on the journey of life, this is the book for you.

The Mental Game

A fiction-inspired read, The Mental Game follows professional golfer Jake McKee who has just suffered the most humiliating meltdown of his career. On the verge of giving up his dream of making it on the PGA Tour, he reaches out to one of the game’s greatest players in a last-ditch effort to save his career. Through this story, you’ll learn how to take control of your thoughts, how to develop a morning and evening mental routine, the fastest way to fight off worry and negative thoughts and more.

The Tiger Slam

Arguably the greatest golf feat in history, The Tiger Slam recounts Tiger Woods’ incredible 2000 run of four consecutive Grand Slam victories. Kevin Cook delivers a gripping, inside-the-ropes account of an astonishing streak of victories. Some of golf ’s biggest names offer fresh insight into the electric highs of victory and the obstacles on and off the course that threatened his unrelenting pursuit of perfection.

The Four Foundations of Golf

Swing tips are a dime a dozen but building foundational skills of golf last forever. The Four Foundations of Golf will give you the blueprint to build a strong, longer-lasting game whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned veteran.

Dream Golf: The Making of Bandon Dunes

Mike Keiser had a dream: to build a British-style “links” course on a stretch of Oregon’s coast. Dream Golf is the first account of how he brought his passion and dream to reality. Bandon Dunes is one of, if not the, premier golfing destinations in America. Get a detailed recount of Old Macdonald, a Tom Doak masterpiece, that has bolstered Bandon Dunes’ reputation as a place where golf captures the magic of the game.

The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever

As a 10-year-old, Eddie Lowery famously carried the bag for Francis Ouimet when he won the 1913 U.S. Open. In 1956, now a wealthy businessman, Lowery bets fellow millionaire George Coleman that two of his employees, Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi, cannot be beaten in a best-ball match. Challenged to bring any two golfers of his choosing, Coleman arrives the next day with Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson who between them have won 14 major championships. The story of this event, widely regarded as the greatest private match of golf ever played, is recounted by Mark Frost through the recollections of all participants with powerful, edge-of-your-seat suspense.