The Women's Golf Guide

Golf is most of all a game of fun, says writer/host/LPGA professional Helene Landers...unless of course you do something like Melanie, whose ball lands on a leaf. Now as we all know "a dead leaf is a natural but unliving and unattached part of the golf course, so therefore she's allowed to move it." The leaf, not the ball; unfortunately, Melanie moves the latter, and it costs her two strokes. Opening with good advice on club and ball selection, golfing attire, and club house etiquette, the program then follows Landers and three companions on to the links where they play 18 holes, while Landers points out the rules and courtesies of the game. Viewers will learn how to drive a golf cart, the many different ways to earn penalty strokes (my own favorite shot, the "whiff," earns one), scorekeeping and how the handicap system works, handling water hazards (to which my shots are, for some reason, unavoidably attracted), and more picayune items like what to do when a ball lands in front of a sprinkler box (an "immovable woman-made obstruction"). Similar in concern to Putton Wages War on the Rude Golfer (VL-1/94), but much, much better, The Women's Golf Guide does an excellent job of introducing new players to the game's rules and etiquette, while correcting a seasoned player's mistakes. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)