Golf's Holy War: The Battle for the Soul of a Game in an Age of Science

by Brett Cyrgalis, Kyle Tait (Read by)

Overview

Just as Michael Lewis’s Moneyball captured baseball at a technological tipping point, Brett Cyrgalis’s Golf’s Holy War captures golf at a monumental turning point between its beloved artistic tradition and its analytic future.

The world of golf is at a crossroads. As technological innovations displace traditional philosophies, the golfing community has splintered into two deeply combative factions: the old-school teachers and players who believe in feel, artistry, and imagination, and the technical-minded who want to remake the game around data—attack angles, spin rotation, ball speed, and more. In Golf’s Holy War, Brett Cyrgalis takes readers inside the heated clash playing out from weekend hackers to Tiger Woods.

At the Titleist Performance Institute in Oceanside, California, golfers clad in full-body sensors target weaknesses in their biomechanics, while others take part in mental exercises designed to test their brain’s psychological resilience. Meanwhile, coaches like Michael Hebron purge golfers of all technical information, tapping into the power of intuitive physical learning by playing rudimentary games. From historic St. Andrews to manicured Augusta, experimental communes in California to corporatized conferences in Orlando, from William James to Ben Hogan to theoretical physics, the factions of the spiritual and technical push to redefine the boundaries of the game.

But Golf’s Holy War is more than just a story about golf—it’s a story about modern life, and how we are torn between resisting and embracing the changes brought about by the advancements of science and technology. It’s also a story about historical legacies, the enriching bonds of education, and the many interpretations of reality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781797108094
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 5.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Brett Cyrgalis is a veteran sports writer covering hockey and golf at the New York Post. He has covered almost all major sporting events, from postseason baseball to the Stanley Cup final to the US Opens in golf and tennis. He is an accomplished golfer, a member of the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association, and he lives on Long Island.

Kyle Tait is a professionally trained voice actor and sports broadcaster based in Atlanta, Georgia. He’s done voice work for TV and radio ads around the world, corporate training videos, whiteboard and explainer videos, documentaries, audiobooks, and more. He’s narrated more than twenty titles on Audible and iTunes, across genres spanning from sports history to crime thrillers to self-help.

In addition to his voice work, Tait is an established sports broadcaster, calling baseball, basketball, and football on ESPN3, as well as serving as a studio host on multiple national college networks with IMG College.

Table of Contents

Prologue New Jersey xiii

1 The Two Central Texts 1

2 Golf and Religion 23

3 Tiger Woods and Dualism 49

4 Science in Slidell, Louisiana 79

5 Babe Ruth and Teaching's Evolutionary Jump 101

6 Technology for Profit 127

7 The Art of Architecture 159

8 William James and the Birth of Sports Psychology 183

9 On Learning: The Essential Disconnect 197

10 Hogan 217

Epilogue Oregon and String Theory 231

Acknowledgments 239

Bibliography 243

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/24/2020

New York Post sportswriter Cyrgalis takes a fascinating look at where technological innovation and hallowed tradition meet in the golf world. Cyrgalis tackles the debates around theories of coaching, from the traditional one-on-one coaches to those who champion “the proliferation of high-end technology such as ball-flight monitors and 3-D motion analysis.” He writes that “golf has the most extensive and eclectic literature of any sport,” and begins by highlighting two seemingly arcane books that are “paramount to understanding modern golf”—1969’s The Golfing Machine and Golf in the Kingdom, 1972. From there he discusses many aspects of golf, including the relationship between golf and religion as well as the influence New York Yankee Babe Ruth’s swing had on golf. In a chapter on Tiger Woods, he examines how golfers and coaches sought to emulate Woods’s powerful swing, and also notes that Woods’s recent success has come without a technologically minded coach. This fascinating book is an obvious hole-in-one for golfers and their coaches. (May)

Publishers Weekly

What Brett does in this book is really sensational. . . . It’s an excellent read and you’ll definitely enjoy it. . . . In this time when we are pondering the role of data, technology, and science in golf, I just couldn’t think of a better book to read.”
—Geoff Shackelford, The Shack Show

“Thought-provoking and comprehensive . . . The author is a serious, intellectually curious writer, and he incorporates quotes and references from many notables including Albert Einstein, William James, Babe Ruth, and Sigmund Freud. Golf’s Holy War is truly unlike any golf book you have read, and one that will be talked about for some time.”
—Les Shupak, The Met Golfer

“A fascinating look at where technological innovation and hallowed tradition meet in the golf world . . . An obvious hole-in-one for golfers and their coaches.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Brett Cyrgalis has written a highly entertaining, very smart book about a maddening, very stupid game. You should read it.”
—James Patterson

“Somehow, this guy gathered an all-world foursome—Sigmund Freud, Babe Ruth, William James, Ben Hogan—in one book. That alone makes it worth the price of admission. Along the way, he goes deep on golf’s most perplexing question: is the game an art, or a science? The answer is yes! Golf’s Holy War shows and tells how and why with rare, true depth.”
—Michael Bamberger

“Brett Cyrgalis understands that golf is about balancing dualities. Intellect and emotion, consciousness and unconsciousness, data and anecdote, art and science. The correct blends remain fluid and mysterious, although a recent tidal wave of advances has seen key elements of the game quantified like never before. Can golf’s maddening code be cracked? Through penetrating portraits of a well-chosen collection of pivotal innovators—some famous, some obscure, all consequential and fascinating—Cyrgalis has expertly connected the right dots to contribute a sophisticated and timely state of the game. Of course the mystery endures, but rarely has a golf writer been as illuminating.”
—Jaime Diaz

“There is intellectual power in solitude, and yet PGA Tour practice facilities are crowded with theorists, pseudo-scientists and teachers, making the practice ranges at Tour events not a place of discovery, but of danger. It’s there that athletes are trading their genius for the ideas of others and losing the intuition that made them great. Golf’s Holy War describes this battle like an entrenched journalist describing a war.”
—Brandel Chamblee

“Golf’s Holy War is a fascinating read for anyone who cares about the state of the contemporary game. A tidal wave of science has washed over the sport in recent years, threatening the foundations of the game’s traditions and the defenders of its more mystical qualities. Brett Cyrgalis investigates the ripples it has caused, from the teaching of the golf swing, and the fitness and strategy of the game’s best players, to the design and maintenance of golf courses.”
—Tom Doak

“Brett’s book is really impressive—thoughtful, very well written, with a really fresh perspective on the game.”
—Sam Weinman of Golf Digest

“Golf’s Holy War is a wonderful survey of the emotional and technical sides of today’s game. Worth buying and reading.”
—Bradley S. Klein on Twitter

“A very rewarding read . . . I learned about so many people I had never come across in any other book or any other medium. . . . It has made the whole golf universe that much richer for me. I greatly enjoyed it. I think any avid golfer or golf fan will enjoy it.”
—Phil Landes, aka “Big Randy,” on No Laying Up’s Trap Draw podcast

From the Publisher

03/06/2020

In order to determine the difference between the gifted amateur and the sports professional, New York Post sports reporter Cyrgalis explores the modern game of golf through the lens of everything from physics, biomechanics, and technology to education and coaching. He begins with Homer Kelly's The Golfing Machine, and moves on to a wide array of theorists and practitioners including Michael Murphy (Golf in the Kingdom), Bob Rotella (Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect), former professional golfer Butch Harmon, and golf instructors Hank Haney and Sean Foley. Cyrgalis asserts that golf is at a crossroads, with one faction advocating the use of big data (similar to Michael Lewis's Moneyball methodology), and another arguing for a return to a more naturalistic, intuitive approach. As a survey, this book omits seminal works, such as John Stobb and Alastair Cochran's Search for the Perfect Swing and Theodore Jorgensen's The Physics of Golf by. VERDICT Cyrgalis does a credible job of covering the current state of golf in what is a passable overview of the sport for casual readers.—Steven Silkunas, Fernandina Beach, FL

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