Ian Poulter wrote the foreward for Pro Secrets of Golf
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It's perhaps appropriate that in the week that sees 156 players tee up for one of the most gruelling tournaments in golf - the European tour Final Qualifying School - a new book should be published exploding a few myths about the glamorous side of golf.
'Pro Golf Secrets Revealed - the inside story of how to make it as a pro golfer' scrapes off some of the gloss surrounding a tournament player's life and introduces a bundle of home truths for those considering stepping on to the first rung of the Tour ladder.
Stephen Govenlock has been around golf and golfers for nearly 40 years and once tried - and failed - to win a place in the 1984 Open Championship (won by Seve Ballesteros at St Andrews). Since then he has been managing players who have won a total of 26 pro events so knows his stuff when it comes to the agony and ecstasy of trying to make a living hitting fairways and greens and holing putts.
Rather than take a serious, no holds barred approach to the fearsome prospects of life on Tour, which talented potential stars may declare too daunting, Stephen has chosen to make his approach light-hearted, using a fictitious mentor (appropriately named Bob) and cartoons briliantly crafted by illustrator Pete Smith.
He also approached Ian Poulter, the archetypal 'local boy makes good' to contribute a foreward to the book. Poulter, now a multi-millionaire Ryder Cup player with a distinctive worldwide image, knows what it's like to have a dream and to experience the pitfalls of the pro circuit before making a breakthrough.
Poulter started as an assistant at Leighton Buzzard Golf Club giving £10 lessons and serving 7.30am Mars bars to members before making it through qualifying school in 1999 at the fourth attempt to secure his Tour card and win the Italian Open the following year.
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