HOT CORNER

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What: “Guide to the Golf Revolution: How Technology is Driving the Game.”

Author: Andy Brumer.

Publisher: TechTV and Peachpit Press.

Price: $24.99.

What golfer hasn’t, at some point, blamed his clubs for a bad shot, or a bad round? Or spent a few extra bucks on golf balls that are advertised to go farther and/or straighter? Or purchased some kind of training contraption guaranteed to improve one’s game?

Technology plays a bigger role in golf than any other sport. And here is an 8-by-10, 168-page book that takes an in-depth, visual and compelling look at that technology.

Author Andy Brumer of Alhambra, who has been writing about golf for various publications for years, explores a wide range of topics, including clubs, balls, grips, golf fitness, swing analysis, apparel, bags, shoes and courses.

Contributors include Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard, Nick Price, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Amy Alcott, to name a few, plus many of the top names in the golf equipment industry.

They all weigh in on the importance of having the proper clubs, the correct ball, the right putter and so on. Mickelson, of his favorite putter, says, “It’s downright ugly. But I have gotten used to how it looks, and I feel I putt better with it.”

But the book doesn’t contend that technology is the answer to all the secrets of the game. Alcott offers this: “Although I believe technology has revolutionized the sport, I’m also a believer that if you’re a great swinger of the club, you can play with anything. ... I won two tournaments back to back in the 1980s with a putter that I found at a miniature golf course.”

Brumer chronicles the development of golf technology, profiling many of the key people in the industry, such as Kartsen Solheim, Gary Adams and Ely Callaway, and also looks at the future.

In the introduction, Brumer writes, “It is in itself a bit mind-boggling to consider just how complex and sophisticated golf equipment has become.” He states that his goal with this book is to examine and explore that technology and help golfers to use that technology and play better golf.

-- Larry Stewart