'The Little Book of Indoor Golf Games' by Adrian Winter

By: Jeff Shelley


This tidy tome contains a variety of games that will help golfers keep their games in shape while, presumably, stuck inside their homes as winter snows blanket their favorite golf courses.

Originally from Surrey, England, the appropriately named author has been a long-time golfer who has also coached the game. He's now based in China, where he teaches at a university near Hong Kong.

After an introduction that explains how he came up with the idea for this book, Winter begins by providing putting tips that help you fare better on the greens - or the carpets of your home in this case, while wisely adding that "there is no correct way to putt."

From there, he heads into 18 different putting games involving a variety of objects that serve as "fairway definers," including tees, boxes, playing cards, dollar bills and a drinking cup. After going through Winter's indoor games, I found it readily apparent that a deep shag carpet might not work as many call for the tees to be placed on end, and that simply can't happen on a deep-pile rug.

It's obvious that Winter spent a lot of time devising these simple indoor games, which he began thinking about when he was only six years old. For those of you stuck inside and unable to spank that little white ball around a "real" course, this book provides several ideas for slaking your appetite for golf while outlining various competitions you can play with family members and friends.

"The Little Book of Indoor Golf Games," by Adrian Winter, Published by Sourcebooks, 2010, $10.99, 83 pages, ISBN 13: 978-1-4022-4406-3