Be a Keeper of the Game. Join our effort.
What you get is a nifty bag tag, ball repair tool and our newsletter. You will also contribute to the future of the game.
The cost? $50 initiation (and remainder of that year) and $20 for each full year thereafter. Each year we ask that you honor a fellow player by paying for his or her membership at only $25 initiation. All are U.S. tax deductible.
We're seeking "members" (once a Keeper, always a Keeper) who like the idea of donating the cost of one round for the good of the game.
Please send a check with pertinent details such as name, address, etc. and we will happily add you to our rolls.
Our bag tag is unique and our newsletter thought provoking. Any other contribution you may wish to make will be helpful to our effort of retaining and expanding golf's core values.
To support Keepers send a check to:
Keepers of the Game
3583 Overlook Drive
Langley WA 98260
USA
We are a 501(c)3 organization. Your donation should be U.S. tax deductible.
Thank you for your support.
Available from Keepers while supplies last, THE WAY OF GOLF.
Donate $15 within the United States, $20 world-wide, postage paid. Eloquent and vibrant-a most absorbing experience; Grant Spaeth, past USGA president
A very timely book...I feel strongly about what The Way of Golf has to say and says so well; Ben Crenshaw
Other Golf Books
People who are interested in Keepers are usually readers of golf books. To help you make a decision about joining us, here are some of our favorite golf classics and near classics.
Golf literature abounds with books, many of them simple bromides by ghostwriters promoting the current player-commodity. One is hard pressed today to find a new book that is worth more than a quick glance. Yet there are many that should be read and reread time and time again, for with each rereading there is the happy discovery of another nuance to this life long quest to understand the game.
Finding a new and good book on golf, sitting in an easy chair during the early evening and cracking open the sticky pages of a hardback offers the same pleasure as arriving at a new course and becoming captivated by the holes that greet the eye. To be fully educated as a player, one must "know" some of the classics, be familiar with other important contributions, and dabble in a few of the more obscure writings.
The books listed below are basic. Once started, the reading golfer will go on to discover other books of perhaps even greater value, which, it is hoped, will be shared with others. Here are our choices.
Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, Ben Hogan with Herbert Warren Wind.
The best introduction and explanation of the physical aspects of golf. There are older books that are interesting, like Jones' Bobby Jones on Golf and Percy Boomer's On Learning Golf, and more modern ones like Nicklaus' Golf My Way and a zillion others. Five Lessons is tops.
A Round of Golf with Tommy Armour, Tommy Armour.
Found in used book stores (or new in a reprint), this fifty year old book is the best shot by shot description of how to actually play golf, versus swinging at a golf ball.
The Search for the Perfect Swing, Alastair Cochran and John Stobbs.
This British book (reprinted in the U.S. by the booklegger) contains the findings of a wide-ranging collection of scientists who obviously loved their search to understand the golf swing. This contains more than you'll need to know, and some of the information is dated, but for understanding what happens in the swing, this is the source.
The PGA Manual of Golf, Gary Wiren.
This 450 page, large format book provides the answer to almost every question a normal person could have about golf. It doesn't go into detail in many areas, yet covers all of them well enough, and intelligently enough, to make this one an important resource.
A History of Golf, Robert Browning.
Helpful to develop the perspective necessary to appreciate the total game (and hard to find). Grimsley's Golf: Its History, People and Events is also worthwhile.
The Complete Golfer , Herbert Warren Wind.
This forty-year old book, a collection of writings from many sources, will also help the reader gain a deeper appreciation for the history of the game, its players, and its foibles. Read, too, The Story of American Golf, also by HWW.
The Golf Courses of the British Isles, Bernard Darwin.
A classic and well written. Modern readers might gain more from Scotland's Golf Courses , Robert Price, which is a detailed analysis of geology, geography, and golf courses with fascinating pictures and diagrams. Well worth the two or three readings it will take to digest most of it.
The Golfing Machine, Homer Kelly.
Hardly anyone has read this book. Fewer still understand it. But it wouldn't hurt to know something of the golfing machine.
Following Through, Herbert Warren Wind.
Read at least twice, keep it handy for perusing, and have an extra copy to lend.
Golf in the Kingdom, Michael Murphy. Not quite as wonderful and magical as you might have been led to believe. The second half is somewhat laborious. But it's a delightful journey into the spirit of the game and the character Shivas Irons and a definite must try to finish. One may even join The Shivas Irons Society (P.O. Box 222339, Carmel, CA, 93922-2339).
Quantum Golf, Kjell Enhager. A little known, little book, which nails the mental portion of the game dead to rights. An enjoyable and simple story.
The Rules of Golf, and Decisions on the Rules of Golf, by the United States Golf Association or the same material from the Royal and Ancient in St. Andrews.
The outstanding book on the mental game has yet to be written. Most are "wallpaper psychology," covering psychic cracks with imaginative visualizations. There are a few worth reading, however. Richard Coop's Mind Over Golf, Rotella and Bunker's Mind Mastery for Winning Golf, and The Golfing Mind by Robert Brown are pretty good. Also worth a look is "Nice Shot" the video by Chuck Hogan as is Gary Wiren's pick, The Winning Touch in Golf. It was written forty years ago by psychologist Peter Cranford, who might be the mental game's Harvey Penick.
Golf Dreams, by John Updike.
Written with insight and clarity about the psychological impact of the game. But can leave the reader with the same feeling one would have pulling the shroud off of the body of a loved one. Of special interest might be his "U.S. Golf" or perhaps "Is Life Too Short For Golf?"
Golf's Golden Grind, Al Barkow. An eminently readable excursion into the post World War Two professional tour up until America lost its innocence for the third or fourth time.
Fore: The Best of Wodehouse on Golf, and read everything else written by P.G. Wodehouse on golf.
The Anatomy of a Golf Course, Tom Doak.
An insider's look at a golf course, easily read and understood. For more detailed information of specific courses and more pictures, The Golf Course, Geoffrey Cornish and Ronald Whitten. Also wonderful in parts is Alister MacKenzie's The Spirit of St. Andrews.
Mostly Golf, Bernard Darwin.
An anthology by one of the absolute best golf writers. Especially touching is "Nailed Shoes over Waterloo Bridge," written in 1925.
There are older books, there are more valuable books, and equally good ones, but the list above will teach you much of what you need to know.
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Members
We have members from Alaska to Zimbabwe. Some are golf professionals, some caddies, some homemakers, some retired and some no longer play golf. What we all have in common is a love of golf and a desire to keep it the great game it has been for over 500 years. If you join, please commit to finding a problem in golf and working to overcome it.
We want to hear what you're doing. We can also help you get connected with others.
F r e q u e n t l y A s k e d Q u e s t i o n s
What exactly does Keepers of the Game want to accomplish?
Two things. One, we want to raise the awareness of golfers and nongolfers about the wonderful benefits of playing the game according to the old standards of honesty, courtesy, and the like.
And two, we want to do whatever it takes to ensure these standards are continued and even expand their impact beyond golf.
Our fantasy is that the guy who makes what looks like the game winning catch in the end zone with no time left in the Super Bowl football game is a golfer and a Keeper of the Game, and he runs to the official to declare the catch wasn't a legal one.
Is golf changing?
We thought golf was changing, and not for the better. But we didn't want to rely only on our opinion so we did some investigating. Part of this Bob did for his book The Way of Golf and much of our investigating was simply asking golfers for their opinions. Our forum and surveys are ways we want to continue gathering information.
We learned that golf is slowly changing in response to a number of factors. The end result is that golf is vulnerable to becoming less conducive to building honor and becoming more like other sports.
Does Keepers think it's important to keep the character building aspects of golf alive?
Yes. Sports is a wonderful way for kids to learn a number of things: discipline, how to win and how to lose, honesty, team work, relying on oneself, and perhaps most importantly, having the character to accept an error and call a penalty when no one else would have known.
That is the core of the game we don't want to lose in an era of increasingly bad sportsmanship.
How is Keepers of the Game going to do accomplish its goals?
Two ways. The first is to design and implement our own projects, publicize them, and support others in doing the same. These will include golf etiquette projects, creating and funding a "Golf Heritage" fellowship for golf teachers to spend a year in Scotland, possibly funding student scholarships to study in St. Andrews, and other similar efforts to raise awareness and improve character.
The second effort will be to stimulate others to conduct needs assessments and do projects and coordinate the exchange of information. Our effort will be to help establish small or large groups of Keepers worldwide who are working toward the same ends.
Opportunities
Keepers is looking for a few good volunteers to join our workgroups. Once you are a member, join a workgroup and make our mission a reality.
4-5 people to promote the kid's character building tool kit
6-10 people to raise two million dollars to fund the Golf Heritage Fellowship
Web page experts
3-6 people for our membership committee
Data base experts
4-8 people to identify and pursue project opportunities
3-5 people to find member benefits
If interested, contact bob@keepersofthegame.org
