Join the millions who decide to take up golf each year when you follow a complete introduction to the sport with the specific purpose of helping you lower your score as fast as possible. The essential strokes and strategies get full treatment, along with the all-important mental aspects. Basic approaches to your long and short games appear in close-ups of every phase of your swing as you get comfortable driving off the first tee. Avoid hazards, select the right clubs for each stroke, sink long and short putts, and finish your 18th hole a winner. A study in course management emphasizes ways to consistently reduce your handicap, break bad habits before they start, and talk yourself out of making a bad shot worse. Follow a typical round and see how to decide each stroke, assisted and inspired on every page by tips and photos of golfing greats past and present.