Article Review: Ottawa Citizen
A Woman's Touch

I receive a lot of golf instruction books through the course of each year.
Most of them, frankly, I don't read, my theory being that each volume is essentially that person's view of how the game should be played, and not all of the points made will apply to me or help my performance on the golf course.

That said, I was intrigued by something entitled A Girl's On-Course Survival Guide to Golf.
It was written, designed and produced by Christina Ricci — not the actress from The Addams Family, but a 30-something marketing executive from Miami — who professes to have gone from a 30-handicap to a five in five years thanks to good instruction and lots of practice.

The book is 283 pages, but I'd describe it as an extra-thick course guide, with a coil spine that, according to the author/designer/producer, can be clipped to your golf bag for use during on-course emergencies. I wouldn't go that far since even flipping through the index and finding the right pages might slow your pace of play, but the tips are bite-sized, and you could easily review one or two in the locker room or the parking lot before a round starts.
The accompanying photographs are also helpful, though I'd quibble over the lack of specification when it comes to setting up a proper grip. Ricci tells you how to grip the club with each hand and then describes the differences between strong, weak and neutral grips, but doesn't say whether a player should use the 10-finger, interlock or overlap grips.

Through her publicist, I asked about that, and Ricci, a high school field hockey and tennis team captain and, before that a basketball and softball player, confirms she uses the interlock grip. More extensive tips on the grip will be covered in videos will be housed on the affiliated website www.golfsurvivalguide.com, which is to be launched in May. You knew there would be a website, of course.

Now, guys, I know you're wondering why you should take a look at this book.
The answer is that this is a relatively easy book to navigate, and it's almost entirely gender-non-specific. Sure, the cover is splashed with pink, and it's called a girl's on-course survival guide, but almost all of the points in it can be applied to either men or women, with a few exceptions.
The first is a suggestion on how large-chested women can "swing freely around those puppies," and the others come up in the etiquette section: The man doesn't automatically drive the power cart (that's the host player's duty), and women can keep male clients from insisting on paying for a round by arranging credit-card payments in advance.

Frankly, I'd say the variable factors in this book have less to do with gender than with golf experience. Some sections are clearly aimed at novices, but there are just as many that would be of use to those who have played for many years.

One final note: There's a tip on page 197 that has been overtaken by a subsequent rule change approved by golf's governing bodies. A player is now allowed to identify a ball in a hazard, and the exemption from the one-stroke penalty for playing a wrong ball from a hazard has been revoked.
A Girl's On-Course Survival Guide to Golf: By Christina Ricci, published in 2007 by Thomas Nelson, released in March 2008