Christmas Gift ideas: Books

What a crying shame Padraig Harrington was born a Brit. He'd have walked this weekend's Sports Personality award, despite the challenges of Lewis Hamilton, Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe and Justin Rose.

Despite being born just outside Dublin, we've taken him to our hearts as one of us, since his emergence as a top golfer and his claiming the elusive Open title on a thrilling day at Carnoustie in July is a tribute to his tenacity and style.

His colourful book 'Padraig Harrington's Journey to The Open' has been my preferred bedtime reading over the last couple of days and it has left me with an untarnished impression of a golfer you can't help but admire - tough, dedicated and disciplined but who carries out his public duties with a smile on his face.

The book is highly recommended for its flow and literary skill, written mostly through the eyes some of the game's best writers - among them guys I am privileged to know, including Irish journalists Colm Smith, Dermot Gilleece and Charlie Mulqueen. Published by Bantam Press (14.99), it's great story well told and illustrated.

As the title suggests, this is a self-deprecating, off-the-cuff kind of instruction manual for slackers - coaching tips delivered with a shrug of the shoulders. 'This is how I play. Try it, if it don't work, what the hell!'

The inspiration for the book allegedly came from Daly spotting a book by threee times Masters champion Jimmy Demaret. He turned a page and spotted a quote from the man who won 31 times on the PGA tour.

'Golf and sex are about the only things you can have fun doing without being any good at either.' Daly decided he'd found a new hero his 21st century version was launched.

Read between the lines of Daly's Arkansas drawl and he comes up with a string of good tips for the average club golfer. For example:

*Let your belly lead your hands

*Before you rip it, you gotta grip it (properly)

*Leave your Big Dog in the trunk

As a classy volume it's not in the Harrington mould but it's entertainment.

He recalls how in 1977, while drying out after a series of near-death experiences as an alcoholic and a drug taker, he walked the grounds of the sanatorium and discovered it had a golf course.

Back on concert tour he often played 36 holes a day until he got his handicap close to scratch and now counts Tiger Woods, John Daly and Arnold Palmer among his friends.

'Alice Cooper: Golf Monster' (Arum Press £16.99) is an odd mixture of celebrity images and serious golf addiction - you might say between rock and a hard place!

The 2008 Golf Course Guide (AA Lifestyle Guides, £12.99) covers more courses and clubs than ever and includes several new features including a comprehensive index to find a course of your choice by name or a preferred area.

Sadly two courses local to me - North Luffenham and Rutland Water - are both missing from the guide but there are enough destinations to keep most travelling golfers occupied until the end of their days.

Similar to others in this series (including Rowing, Squash, Rugby League and even Fencing), it contains everything you need to know about the sport of your choice in a nutshell, including equipment, the rules, techniques and training tips. Endorsed by the Professional Golfers Association it even reveals that St Andrews was reduced from 22 to 18 holes in 1764 to create the template for all future course designs. Not a lot of people know that!

Golfing Wit (Summerdale £9.99) is a collation of quick-witted quotes, many of which fall between those extracted from cheap Christmas crackers and the subtlety of the Comedy Store.

Here's a sample of Aubrey Malone's collection:

"You don't keep score when you play golf with Gerald Ford, you look back and count the wounded' - Bob Hope

'Golf tips are like aspirin. One may do you good but swallow the bottle and you'll be lucky to survive' - Harvey Pennick

'The only time Nick Faldo opens his mouth is to change feet' - David Feherty

Similarly Severiano Ballesteros will probably be remembered for his spats with his family and with authority in later life rather than the way he played the game. He was retired to course design now, it seems and marks it with 'Seve: The Official Autobiography (Yellow Jersey Press, £18.99). It tells the tale, often in a dull and uninspiring way, of how his career reached its peak then toppled over the edge, often with embarrassingly high scores.

Tell us on the forum what kind of golf book you'd like for Christmas and what you've read recently or in the past that you'd recommend. Do you go for novels, auto-biographical, travel, instruction, reference or humour?