GOLF


M. Scott Peck (1999). Golf and the Spirit: Lessons for the Journey.


Peck was a psychiatrist and died 5 years after publishing this book. I gave the book to my Dad in 2002 when Peck was still alive and I see where my Dad underlined parts in the book but never wrote anything in the margins as i nearly always do...my Dad died in 2023, and this is one of the books i retrieved from his bookshelf after the funeral...i often felt his presence while reading. The book also holds special meaning because Dad taught me how to golf as a youngster and we played many a round together growing up...we also played a round or hit a bucket of balls when i'd visit (he lived out of state) until he could no longer golf due to back and shoulder pain in his 60's.


Peck applies the game of golf to life, especially the spiritual journey, by taking the reader through an 18-hole golf course that he designed. There is much to learn about paradox, being, competition, sex, flow, and spirituality.

some of the fun parts:

  • half the game of golf is near and on the green (often people think that long drives and irons are vital to scoring well, but this is not so) 
  •  it's paradoxical that we need to strive in golf but not too hard (or we flub a shot), and that we need to relax when we swing but not too much (or we also flub the shot).
  • in the book, Golf Games with the Game, there are 196 different ways to play golf!

  • when you play a round of golf, you KNOW you will be humiliated, you just don't know when 
  • usually, the golfer does not hit where they are aiming, they either slice (curve to the right) or hook (curve to the left); hence, when the ball does go where we're aiming, it feels so good that one becomes addicted to seeking that feeling even if it doesn't happen again for a long time (random reinforcement) 
  • always putt a bit past the hole, never let the ball pull up short of the hole (never up, never in) 
  • best general advice for golfing: swing easy, head down, eye on the ball, follow through toward the pin

 





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