“Real Golf: Taking Your Best Game To The Course” now on sale
GLENVIEW, Illinois (Dec. 17, 2013) – Well-known Chicago area golf instructor Joe Bosco has released his first book, Real Golf: Taking Your Best Game to the Course. In it, he introduces a new and needed way of thinking about the future of golf instruction from the perspective of both teacher and student.
A longtime fixture in Chicago’s golf-loving North Shore suburbs, Bosco advocates a game improvement strategy that encourages players to nurture their skills dynamically on the golf course instead of statically on the driving range.
Crafted with the expert assistance of veteran Golf Digest writer and multiple instruction book author Matt Rudy, Bosco’s mercifully brief and non-technical 78-page treatise advocates that playing lessons are the best way for golfers of all abilities to learn the game, because they simulate the real shots players will hit during competitive or casual rounds.
While such a perspective may seem logical or even obvious, the truth is that most golf instruction takes place on the driving range – typically a 200-yard-wide, flat expanse of grass devoid of nuances such as sand traps, water hazards, elevation changes, inconveniently-located oak trees, hard-pan areas, heavy rough, bad lies, and fairway divots, not to mention mental challenges such as nerves, strategic decision-making or opportunities to choke.
In the one-dimensional driving range environment, Bosco argues, shots have no consequence; therefore little, if anything, can be learned from having hit them. True, he says, a player can and must learn certain fundamental swing mechanics at the range, but the place to master those mechanics and to become a real golfer is on the course.
In pursuit of the happiness provided by on-course learning, Bosco advocates a special practice regimen based on a personal three-ball scramble over nine holes. Bosco says he learned this game several years ago from Tiger Woods’ first teaching pro, Rudy Duran, who used it with his young prodigy.
With the one-man, three-ball scramble, the golfer takes the best score from each of his three-for-one “shots” and adds up the lowest score for each hole. The resulting three-ball “ringer” score normally is far lower than his usual nine-hole score, thereby giving him a sense of his potential, and genuine hope for improvement.
Bosco has special scorecards available on his website for players who record in detail the results of their three-ball scramble.
Real Golf is not a book that contains a lot of technical information on traditional subjects, such as grip, stance, posture, etc., all of which have been covered ad nauseam in the large lexicon of golf publications. It’s more the anti-thesis of Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons in which anatomical drawings combine with words like “supination” to cause many amateurs’ eyes to glaze over.
Co-author Matt Rudy has written golf instruction books with the likes of “name” players, such as Dave Stockton, Stan Utley, Hank Haney and Johnny Miller, but he likes Bosco’s approach. (Utley, who has worked closely with Bosco over the years, wrote the Forward to Real Golf.)
“I’ve done a lot of these [books] and the thing that interested me about Joe’s book is the difference in his approach – the playing lesson angle,” Rudy said. With no emphasis on fundamentals, Rudy said, “It’s sort of the ‘un-golf book’ for people who don’t normally consider themselves to be golf instruction book people.”
Because the book doesn’t advocate a certain teaching dogma, it doesn’t threaten existing student-teacher relationships. “If you like your teacher, you can keep your teacher,” said Rudy, with a smile. “And that’s actually true. The book works in concert with any golf instructor.”
Real Golf is available on Amazon.com.
JOE BOSCO has more than 25 years experience as a golf instructor during which he has worked alongside teaching legends such as Mike Adams, Hank Haney, Rudy Duran and Stan Utley. He has coached more than 50 club champion adults and dozens of high school state champion junior players. He is based at The Glen Club in Glenview, Ill. outside Chicago. He can be reached at joeboscogolf@gmail.com.
MATT RUDY is a veteran golf writer for Golf Digest magazine. Over the years, Matt has developed a unique expertise as the “go-to” co-author of golf instruction books from high-profile teachers and pros.
Contact:
Joe Bosco
Joe Bosco Golf
joeboscogolf@gmail.com
847-826-0045
or
Barry Cronin
Cronin Communications, Inc.
847-698-1801
bcronin@cronincommunications.com
