Gary McCord - Golf For Dummies

Golf For Dummies 2nd Australian & New Zealand Edition

by Gary McCord & Steve Keipert

Golf For Dummies, 2nd Australian & New Zealand Edition

Published by
Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd
42 McDougall Street
Milton, Qld 4064
www.dummies.com

Copyright 2011 Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Author: McCord, Gary.

Title: Golf For Dummies/Gary McCord and Steve Keipert.

ISBN: 978 0 73037 536 4 (pbk.)

Notes: Includes index.

Subjects: Golf.

Other Authors/Contributors: Keipert, Steve.

Dewey Number: 796.352

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Cover image: Stefano Tiraboschi, 2011, Used under license from Shutterstock.com

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About the Authors

Life is full of ups and downs, and it wouldnt be fun any other way. Living by this optimistic philosophy, Gary McCord persisted through years of mediocrity before finding success. An outstanding player, television announcer, instructor, author, speaker and even movie actor, he has become a golf celebrity.

McCord is well known for enduring 23 years and 422 tournaments on the PGA Tour without nabbing a single victory. A man of good humour, he sported a NO WINS licence plate for years to poke fun at his less-than-glamorous work as a professional golfer.

Trapped in the headlights of bankruptcy, as he liked to put it, McCord pursued other avenues in golf and found himself launching a broadcasting career. He scored big when a CBS Sports executive tossed him a headset and asked him to do golf commentary giving him only 15 minutes to prepare. McCord jumped in with no fear and impressed CBS with his performance. Twenty-five years later, hes still providing colourful commentary for CBS golf events. Fans and critics praise him for his knowledgeable perspective, refreshing humour and sometimes irreverent wit towards a game known for taking itself too seriously.

Broadcasting changed his perspective on golf. Realising that a better understanding of the golf swing would help his TV work, McCord studied the swing for two years. He emerged with knowledge, confidence and an improved golf game.

McCords own golf really came together as he began his career on the Champions Tour after his 50th birthday. In 1999, his first full season on that tour, he won two events the Toshiba Senior Classic and the Ingersoll-Rand Senior Tour Championship to finish 17th on the official money list with nearly $1 million in prize money. Since then, he has often finished in the top 30 on the money list while playing a limited schedule of 10 to 15 events per year.

When he isnt broadcasting or playing golf, McCord keeps busy with myriad other projects. He portrayed himself in and served as technical director for the golf movie Tin Cup , starring Kevin Costner, Rene Russo and Don Johnson. Hes also a writer. In addition to writing Golf For Dummies , Garys the author of a collection of essays about his life on tour, Just a Range Ball in a Box of Titleists . His bestselling Golf For Dummies was released in DVD form in 2004.

McCord and his friend and CBS Sports colleague David Feherty became known to millions of golf fans and gamers as the voices of EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour video games. McCord also instructs and consults with more than 20 PGA Tour players.

Gary brings a sense of fun to everything he does and never takes himself too seriously. He and his wife, Diane, share the ups and downs of a busy life together at their homes in Scottsdale and Denver.

Late one afternoon in February 1987, a 10-year-old Steve Keipert , and his father, strolled onto North Turramurra Golf Course in northern Sydney and within a casual nine holes sparked an obsession with golf that grew with every round and each passing year.

Steve has never and will never reach the on-course feats of his co-author Gary McCord, but his passion for the game and knowledge of the biggest events and leading players is first rate. A university-educated journalist who entered the golf media more than a decade ago, Keiperts first involvement with Australian Golf Digest came in 1997 as a final-year journalism student seeking work experience.

Three years later he joined the editorial staff of Australias leading golf magazine and in 2004 assumed the role of editor, a position he still holds today. While his lowest handicap is six and today he remains mired in the good-but-not-great level of low-80s scores, Steves love for golf has never waned.

Steve lives with his wife and two young daughters in Sydney.

Dedication

Gary dedicates this book to spike marks, the wind just came up from the other direction, bad bounces, wrong yardage, rising barometric pressure, solar storms, dirt got in my eyes, yin and yang, the big bang theory, Brownian motion, dark energy, escape velocity, entropy, Newtons laws of motion and a bad caddie. All the things we golfers can blame our erratic play on instead of ourselves, providing peace of mind in the unstable environment of this maniacal endeavour.

Steve dedicates this book to Claire, Ashleigh and Jillian, whose smiling faces make even the worst round acceptable. Also to my dad, who started me off in this mad, mad game all those years ago and my mum, who kept me at it once the golf bug had taken hold.