Golf and the Spirit
by M. Scott Peck, Michael Kramer
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Book Summary Information
Author: M. Scott Peck, Michael KramerEdition: Audio Cassette
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Published: 1999-07-02
ISBN: 1559275529
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Book Reviews of Golf and the Spirit
Book Review: Really a lot of self-grandisement hidden behind psyco-babble
Summary: 1 Stars
I picked up this book, from the library, because it looked interesting. I had heard of his previous book, The Road Less Traveled, but never picked it up because the subject didn't interest me. Well, this is apparently that book in spades. And, what makes it worse is that Peck decides to profer lame golf tips along the way. He proudly proclaims that he's never had a lesson and that he has never been a good golfer. That's fine and good until he starts to give advice on how to play! And, then, it goes from bad to worse when he starts quoting his own books (apparently, he's written 13 or more), not only the book, but the exact pages (to help you look up his references, I guess). He is so self-absorbed that it's hard to grab some of the random good points that he makes in the book. None of which have anything to do with golf, btw. I will give credit to his fantasy golf course, however. It would be a fun course to play. He also makes a few good points when he talks about the dichotomy that is golf. How one needs to hold opposing thoughts at the same time and how one needs to be able to separate himself from his game. But, interesting tidbits like this are used up early in the book. The rest is just wasted and annoying filler. If I hadn't gotten this book on tape, I'd have started skimming before he got to his imaginary 6th hole. But, as it was on tape, I was forced to listen to each and every painful redundant, narcissistic, amateurish muttering.
Around the 6th hole, I was thinking of buying a couple of copies of this book for golfing buddies of mine. After the 6th hole, all that I was thinking of doing was returning the book to the library and cleaning my book palate with something better, like Dr. Seuss.
Summary of Golf and the Spirit
M. Scott Peck, renowned author of The Road Less Traveled, reveals how the game of golf has taught him -- and can teach you -- some of life's most important lessons. Whether you're a master, a beginner, or know nothing about golf and couldn't care less about it, by playing side by side with Dr. Peck on an imaginary course of his own design, you'll come to learn the rich spiritual truths the game holds. This program goes far beyond mechanics to explore deeper issues -- ways of successfully managing emotional, psychological, and even spiritual aspects of this most wonderful, maddening, deflating, and inspiring game.
Here are some of the many gifts from 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 and how to change deep-seated behaviors; 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 program that goes beyond the body to address the heart and soul of the game, and will thereby transform your life -- on and off the fairway.
Here are some of the many gifts from 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 and how to change deep-seated behaviors; 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 program that goes beyond the body to address the heart and soul of the game, and will thereby transform your life -- on and off the fairway.
Having toured The Road Less Traveled in previous bestsellers, psychiatrist and self-help guru Peck finally sets out on the cartpath. His destination? A journey into the mysteries of the royal and ancient game. Given the tenor of his earlier work, it's surprising he took so long to take aim at this particularly pilgrim-filled target area.
Peck, a golfer since his army days in the '60s, fairly and fittingly uses the game as a metaphor for spiritual growth. Dividing his book into 18 holes with titles like Civility, Human Nature, The Invisible, Deftness (and, for good measure, a 19th called Closure), he navigates his course prudently and self-referentially with a bag full of mysticism, religion, and psychology, and acquits himself with a safe par performance. Nothing particularly dangerous or spectacular emerges from his thinking about the game. Instead, he puts a New Age spin on it--"Golf is probably the most nonlinear pastime on the face of the earth"; "A day of golf may seem like a personal holiday ... but it is hardly a holy day"; "I do believe that golf can be a wonderful spiritual path of growth toward God, but only if one chooses to use it as such"--on the roads already well traveled by such masterful analysts of golf's raptures and ridicules as Harvey Penick, Michael Murphy, Jim Flick, Tommy Armour, Bobby Jones, and Bob Rotella. Peck, of course, is right about golf being a spiritual journey; it's an inner game of personal demons that demands its players to get as much of a grip on themselves as on their clubs. The bogey on his scorecard is that those who play golf already know this. --Jeff Silverman
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