The Science of Golf
I wrote a book.
I almost put a question mark at the end of that first sentence. With the likely scatterbrained-ness that is to follow in this post about that endeavor, you may also be questioning that decision as well. Why The Science of Golf? Good question…
If you are skimming the front of my meager website to read this non-marketing pitch to take the plunge and buy this book (which you can do HERE, HERE or even HERE), you might also notice a podcast feed over there —->
The Perfect Number Podcast was a four-year journey of golf discovery for me, a selfish act to give me a controllable outlet of golf talk AND a place to learn from people smarter than me. While I have spent 25+ years broadcasting a multitude of sports, I’m really a golf guy now, and while I’ve played and worked around golf most of my life, I didn’t truly understand all aspects of the game even when I arrived on the PGA Tour a decade ago to call the sport at the highest level.
The Science of Golf is the assembly of that four-year education, plus some more research to fill in the cracks. The book doesn’t aim to derive absolute truths about the sport (although there are experts in it who will stand by their truth). Instead, I wrote this book to inform any fan of the sport about the various elements that shape it, told through the lens of somebody who has seen some of the most remarkable golf played at the highest professional levels.
The chapters, while titled a bit more creatively, aim to cover all(?) of the scientific elements in the sport:
Contact –> Ball Flight
Body Motion
Exercise, Strength and Nutrition
Psychology
Stats & Strategy
Ball Technology
Club Technology
Putting
Agronomy & Weather
Can this book make you a better golfer? I think so, because knowledge is power, but there aren’t swing tips in it. I don’t talk about how to hit your perfect shot. I talk about what happens to make you swing your club and what happens to the ball afterwards. Has writing this book made me a better golfer? Well, yes, yes it did. Again, knowledge is power.
Can this book make you enjoy watching golf more? I hope so, because the best in the world are doing EVERYTHING in this book. Some may focus on elements more than others, but an undercurrent in the anecdotal evidence in this book is to show how golfers on the PGA Tour know more than ever before about the sport they play. While Lee Trevino intuitively knew what his golf ball would do, his successors at the heights of the game know what their balls will do because of science (and confirmed intuition).
Can this book make you understand golf more? I firmly believe so. When I talk, in 2023, about a shot, a player, a tournament or a theme in the world of golf, I know that I am framing that conversation (or debate) from a much more informed perspective than when I got my first national taste of golf broadcasting a dozen years ago. That’s what this book is. It is my accumulation of knowledge about the game. It’s a resource. If you’d like to add it to your golf resource library, I’d appreciate it.
Will Haskett 
I just listened to your interview on “On the mark “ podcast.
I have read lots on the mental game. I could fill a small library! Haha ! I FINALLY get the think box /play box , internal/external , etc for a way to look at balance !!!!
Thanks for helping an old lady open her mind!
Ps
I ordered the book. Can’t wait
Thank you, Sue!