Who knew that Deepak Chopra had written a book about golf?
\When browsing the shelves in Topping & Co, I discovered "Golf for Enlightenment" by happy accident. I believe it sums up many things I've been trying to talk about throughout my blog, especially posts like "Transcendental Golf". If I used the blog to write a book, this would be pretty close! It's not about the technicalities of your swing, it's not about golf instruction, it's about personal growth with golf as the foundation. It's about learning to be a better golfer/person. That mystical "X-Factor" that I've been trying to capture and write about.
My relationship with golf has changed since I started blogging. The original idea was about my "Quest for scratch" and was going to follow my golf lessons and (hopefully) technical improvement as I chased the goal of getting to scratch. But, while that technical golf improvement goal is still there, the journey has become more about becoming a better golfer/person, rather than just getting better at golf. Gratitude, awareness, mindfulness etc. and that's what this book is about. It's about the journey to mastery of yourself.
"Golf in the Kingdom" by Michael Murphy follows a similar theme. Both are stories about a mediocre golfer who finds and gets lessons from a spiritual guru. These lessons teach the golfer more about themselves and their attitude than it does about the technical aspects of golf. With Murphy's it's the mysterious professional, Shivas Irons, and with Chopra's it's Leela. No, she's not the mutant from Futurama, but her inspiration comes from Hindu mythology, where Leela is one of the most revered deities. She teaches the golfer seven short, but important lessons that are more about life in general than they are about golf specifically. I was struck by some of the similarities with Stoicism too; "Whether you win or lose is totally unknown. Stop trying to control the unknown" is classic Stoicism. There are elements of Buddhism in here too, particularly mindfulness and meditation.
If the "spiritual" aspects of this book put you off, then I can also thoroughly recommend "The Inner Game of Golf" by Tim Gallwey as an excellent alternative. Tim was a world-renowned tennis coach and author of "The Inner Game of Tennis" who decided to take up golf. He talks about many similar concepts of trusting your body and quieting your mind, but in a more familiar "coaching" style.
But for me, "Golf for Enlightenment" will be one of my books of the year. It struck a chord, I thoroughly enjoyed it and got a lot out of it.
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