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my eye, or the way he addressed the ball, but rather the fact that he never had time to practise himself because so many of his colleagues kept asking for advice. As always it was given freely. John remains the supreme enthusiast gaining his pleasure from helping fellow pros and amateurs – thousands over the years – play the game better and enjoy it more. I seek out John two or three times a year to have a look at my swing and he has never let me down. Come to think of it, I’d question whether he has ever let anyone down.’
Bernard Gallacher
‘The two biggest influences are my dad and John Jacobs. I like the way John talks about the swing path all the time. The way he makes everything very simple and straightforward – that’s the way I like to teach.’
Butch Harmon
‘John’s achievements are endless as a player, teacher, writer, communicator, golf course designer, and executive director of the men’s European Tour. I can think of no better host, or better companion.’
Mickey Walker
John Jacobs isn’t just a great teacher, though. He could play a bit himself and was, at times, good enough to beat the best. He competed in the Ryder Cup and won tournaments, including the Dutch Open in 1957 and a memorable victory over Grand Slam winner Gary Player, in the final of the South African Matchplay Championship.
John had an equally significant influence on the administration of the game, having been instrumental in setting up what is now the European Tour. Indeed, John sees this as perhaps his greatest achievement, a view endorsed by Mark McCormack in his World of Professional Golf Annual in 1973. McCormack wrote of the haphazard affair that constituted the British Pro golf scene and the plan devised by John Jacobs to overcome the crisis situation.
‘The Jacobs plan worked. The crowds did come back. Public interest was reawakened. And the ultimate proof that golf was back in favour was that both the BBC and the independent companies returned coverage of PGA tournaments to their schedules. The outlook for pro golf, which had seemed so desolate twelve months previously, had taken a decided turn for the better. The mood among the players was buoyant. Golf had begun to believe in itself again. I for one do not doubt that 1972 was a year of high significance. It might be no more than slight exaggeration to say that these twelve months saw British golf progress by a quarter of a century. And that is quite a trick.’
John has also authored numerous bestselling books on how to play the game, many of which are still considered benchmark manuals, revered and studied decades after they first went into print. For the record, these include:
Golf, first published in 1963, with a foreword by Laddie Lucas. This was made up of a collection of articles which first appeared in the pages of Golfing magazine during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Play Better Golf, published in 1969, based on the manuscripts from the hugely popular Yorkshire TV series of the same name. John made a series of thirteen 30-minute programmes, followed by two further series, during which time the director suggested he write a book to go with it. It went on to sell well over half-a-million copies.
Practical Golf, first published in 1972 with a foreword by Tony Jacklin, went on to become a bestseller. John considers it ‘the most important book I wrote.’ It contained many articles from the first ten years of Golf World and was compiled by that magazine’s editor Ken Bowden, who later went on to edit Golf Digest in the US and write much of Jack Nicklaus’ published work.
John Jacobs Analyses Golf’s Superstars, published in 1974, in collaboration with Ken Bowden. This was perhaps the first book of its type, focusing as it did on the swings of the leading players of the day, with analysis from John and words of wisdom to help the average golfer learn from the greats.
Golf Doctor was first published in 1979 and entitled Curing Faults for Weekend Golfers in the US editions (a title which incidentally killed it from a sales perspective, because people thought it was simply a band-aid), with a foreword by Jack Nicklaus and co-written with Dick Aultman. John says he wrote this as much for the pro to teach, as for the pupils. However it is interpreted, there is no doubt that a quarter of a century after it first went into print, it remains golf’s ultimate ‘self help’ manual.
The Golf Swing Simplified, first published in 1993 and again co-written by Ken Bowden, was a wonderfully succinct study of the golf swing, devoted to its most critical component: the action required to strike the ball most effectively from the tee and then on to the green.
Golf in a Nutshell, first published in 1995, was written with the legendary golf journalist Peter Dobereiner. This project came about when Dobereiner wrote an article in Golf Digest magazine praising the talents of John Jacobs and highlighting the merits of Practical Golf, the bestselling golf book of all time until Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book. John suggested to Peter that they write their own little red book … and this was it.
The 50 Greatest Golf Lessons of the 20th Century is John’s most recent book, published in 1999, which I had the pleasure of collaborating on. Rather in the style of John’s earlier book on golf’s superstars, this work featured a biography on the great golfers of the 20th century with insightful analysis from John on the way they played the game and how we mere mortals can benefit.
This is an appropriate moment to go right back to the start, though, to John’s first ever instruction book, Golf, for it was in the foreword that John’s good friend and former Walker Cup captain Laddie Lucas wrote: ‘John teaches the skilled and the average, the illustrious and the humble, with a success which has earned him, deservedly, the pseudonym ‘Dr Golf’. I have a feeling that this substantial treatise is only the forerunner of what may flow from this fertile mind.’ How prophetic that statement proved to be.
Now for the first time ever, the collective works of John’s books, as listed above, are brought together in this one volume – 50 Years of Golfing Wisdom. It’s the best of the best, in every sense. It represents an unmissable opportunity for golfers of all abilities to benefit from one of the keenest, wisest, most knowledgeable minds in golf.
50 Years of Golfing Wisdom includes all of the lessons and advice that made John the original, and many say still the ultimate, golfing guru. Where appropriate, we’ve even included contemporary drawings from the relevant book. Every department of the game receives the Jacobs treatment – in other words, simple, easy to understand, effective advice on how to maximize your potential and play your best golf. From the fundamentals, to problem solving, and curing your bad shots, to instruction on hitting every shot from the longest drive to the most testing putt, and everything in between. There are also studies of some of the great players in history and what you can learn from them.
50 Years of Golfing Wisdom is so comprehensive, so packed full of good advice, it may just be the only instruction book you’ll ever need. As Tony Jacklin said in the foreword to Practical Golf, ‘Putting golf technique down on paper is extremely difficult. I think Jacobs does it superbly. This book is a wonderful distillation of an exceptional man’s knowledge, and I don’t see how it can fail to help any golfer play better.’ My sentiments exactly.
Steve Newell
Golf is what the ball does, which is totally dependent upon what the club is doing at impact. The variants at impact are:
The clubface: which can be open, closed or square (strong or weak).
The swing path: which can be in-to-out, out-to-in, or straight.
The angle of attack: which can be too steep, too shallow, or correct for the individual club.
The clubhead speed: to suit the shot in hand.
These dimensions, the clubface, swing path, and angle of attack, all of which determine the