Golf and the Spirit: Lessons for the Journey - Softcover

Peck, M. Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0671037749 ISBN 13: 9780671037741

Publisher: Pocket Books, 2001

Synopsis

Golf is the ultimate head game. So when nothing but the best advice will do, turn to the wisdom of a writer who is both a psychiatrist and the author of the bestselling self-improvement book of all time, The Road Less Travelled. In Golf and The Spirit, M. Scott Peck, M.D., has written a book for golfers everywhere, from beginners to masters. It goes beyond mechanics to explore the deeper issue, ways of successfully managing the emotional, psychological, and even spiritual aspects of this most wonderful, maddening, deflating, and inspiring game. Here are some of the many gifts of Golf and The Spirit: appreciating that life is not linear; learning to live with anger; accepting the gift of humility; learning how to benefit from teachers; how to change deep-seated behaviour; appreciating that in weakness there is strength; and realizing that to experience the blessings of golf and life fully, one must accept the divinity that underlies all things. Golf and The Spirit makes a unique and lasting contribution to the literature of golf and life. It is a book that goes beyond the body to address the heart and soul of the game, thereby transforming the lives of its readers - on and off the fairway.

About this title

Review

It is human nature to try and hit a golf ball as hard as you can and to look up while doing so. It is also human nature to be jealous, possessive, greedy, selfish, thoughtless and eager to the point of violence.

Part sport, part open-air struggle against the baser instincts, golf enchants and torments our sense of self like no other leisure activity--how often a gentle round mutates into a 18-hole prosecution of the soul.

Step forward, M Scott Peck--author of the bestselling self-help book of all time The Road Less Travelled--to offer a few pointers on your mental attitude. Resist the urge to beat him briskly about the face and neck with a lofted wood, because his Golf and the Spirit could change the way you think about the game forever.

Set over an imaginary round at Exotica Country Club--golf course of the mind--the book explores the mental machinations that lay behind your 10-yard drives and those occasional belters, finding ways to approach the sport that will have old hands and non-golfers alike eager to tee-off.

Long on developing the mental muscles to enjoy the game, and mercifully short on Americanised psycho-drivel, Scott Peck is a witty, insightful student of his own golfing strengths and weaknesses. If you're looking for advice on adjusting your swing plane for the short irons, look elsewhere. But if your most common post-shot reaction is an expletive-laden cry of anguish then this book could help put the fun back into golf.--Alex Hankin

From the Publisher

THE FAIRWAY LESS TRAVELLED
THE FAIRWAY LESS TRAVELLED
In 1967 M. Scott Peck first took to the greens and picked up his putter. As he played golf over the next thirty years he grew to realise that the game was a spiritual discipline – an opportunity to learn about himself, his journey through life and one of the most wonderful, maddening, rewarding and inspiring games created by man.

In Golf and the Spirit, M. Scott Peck takes the reader round an imaginary golf course of his own devising – comprised of many of the world’s greatest fairways – while playing the greens he explores the history, lore and skills required of golf. Yet, he also explores the deeper issues behind the game, issues that colour and influence everyone’s life, golfer and non-golfer alike.

The front nine holes primarily explore the more physical and external challenges of golf, the back nine look at the internal, psychological and spiritual challenges of the game. The ability to understand anger and how to move beyond it. The capacity to accept and benefit from teachers. The need for competition if we are to thrive. The encouragement of civility to others and ourselves. The realisation that life, like golf, is not linear. Above all else that to experience the blessings of golf and life fully, we must accept the power of divinity that underlies all things.

Golf and the Spirit, celebrates the lessons that golf can teach everyone and makes a lasting contribution to the literature of golf and life in the tradition of Harvey Penick and Michael Murphy, creating an opportunity for transformation both on and off the fairway.

M. Scott Peck is an internationally renowned author, psychiatrist and lecturer on the relationship between religion and psychology. He is the author of the internationally acclaimed The Road Less Travelled, which has spent more than twelve years on the New York Times best-seller list, as well as twelve other works of spirituality, psychology and fiction. In his spare time he has played the fairways and greens of some of the world’s greatest courses. He lives in Connecticut, with his wife Lily.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0671037749
• ISBN 13: 9780671037741
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352