Golf S Life Lessons

Harvey Penick's life in golf began when he started caddying at the Austin, (Texas), Country Club at age eight. Eighty-one years later he is still there, still dispensing wisdom to pros and beginners alike. His stature in the golf world is reflected in the remarkable array of champions he's worked with, both men and women, including U.S. Open champion and golf's leading money winner Tom Kite, Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, and LPGA Hall of Famers Mickey Wright, Betsy Rawls, and Kathy Whitworth. It is not for nothing that the Teacher of the Year Award given by the Golf Teachers Association is called the Harvey Penick Award. Now, after sixty years of keeping notes on the things he's seen and learned and on the golfing greats he's taught, Penick is finally letting his Little Red Book (named for the red notebook he's always kept) be seen by the golf world. His simple, direct, practical wisdom pares away all the hypertechnical jargon that's grown up around the golf swing, and lets all golfers, whatever their level, play their best. He avoids negative words; when Tom Kite asked him if he should "choke down" on the club for a particular shot, Harvey told him to "grip down" instead, to keep the word "choke" from entering his mind. He advises golfers to have dinner with people who are good putters; their confidence may rub off, and it's certainly better than listening to bad putters complain. And he shows why, if you've got a bad grip, the last thing you want is a good swing. Throughout, Penick's love of golf and, more importantly, his love of teaching shine through. He gets as much pleasure from watching a beginner get the ball in the air for the first time as he does when one of his students wins the U.S. Open. Harvey Penick's Little Red Book is an instant classic, a book to rank with Ben Hogan's Modern Fundamentals of Golf and Tommy Armour's How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time.

Both life and golf can offer frustrations and also important lessons on topics ranging from "grinding it out" to versatility, sportsmanship, honesty, and of course confidence. In the words of Grantland Rice, "Like life, golf can be humbling. However, little good comes from brooding about mistakes we've made. The next shot, in golf or life, is the big one." In Golf's Life Lessons, Richard Allen details 55 life lessons that we can learn from time spent on the golf course. In doing so, he applies examples and insight from the likes of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Bob Hope, Lee Trevino, Ben Hogan, and many others. Through these anecdotes on the pros, golfers of all skill levels can discover that it’s not only how well you putt or chip, but also how you respond mentally to golf’s—and life’s—many roadblocks. This book makes the perfect gift for duffers and professionals alike!

Deepak Chopra has discovered the delights—and frustrations—of golf, and he is passionate about the game. Confronted by the wild ups and downs of his own play, he consulted with golf professionals and developed a new approach to the game that any golfer can follow—from the novice to the expert. The results can be measured not only in increased enjoyment and skill, but also in greater wisdom about life beyond the 18th hole. Chopra’s own game has improved dramatically since incorporating the elements of his program. Instead of focusing on the mechanics of a “perfect” swing, Chopra reveals how golf can be mastered through mindfulness, a form of awareness that combines sharp focus and relaxation at the same time. Expanded awareness, he tells us, can accomplish much more than external mechanics to improve one’s game. But Golf for Enlightenment is also an engrossing story about Adam, an Everyman who is playing a terrible round of golf when he meets a mysterious young teaching pro named Leela. In seven short but profound lessons detailing spiritual strategies, she teaches Adam the essence of a game that has much to explain about life itself. Chopra has spent the last year taking the unique message in Golf for Enlightenment nationwide, teaching the essential tenets of his program at lectures and seminars to golfers everywhere. His message continues to help players turn an obsession into a positive life path.

Author Lanny Alan Yeske, PhD, managed to avoid the game of golf for fifty years. Even though he had many opportunities to play, Dr. Yeske didn't try the game until he received a set of golf clubs as a fiftieth birthday present from his brother-whom he hasn't stopped swearing at since. Golf-Life Lessons provides clear and concise tips to quickly bring your beginner game down below one hundred and then ninety. Distilled from dozens of professional instructors, books, and personal experiences, Dr. Yeske's advice is interwoven with stories of his hilarious transformation from "golf hater" to just plain "golfer." He includes poignant life lessons on everything from marriage and divorce, golfing at the world-renowned St. Andrews Golf Club in Scotland, and surviving the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Yeske presumes no advance knowledge of the game, but his invaluable instruction will help you to avoid wasted shots-topping, whiffing, shanking, and slicing-from tee to green, from driving to putting. Let Golf-Life Lessons help you take charge of your game. It's like private lessons, but is a cheaper way to golfing respectability!

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTUREstarring Robert Duvall and Lucas BlackThis book is about influence and inspiration and a deeper, more profound way of looking at life. The story is based on thousands of athletes who author and performance psychologist Dr. David Cook has counseled, and the great mentors and teachers from whom he has learned. Told through the lives of two characters—an eccentric rancher with a passion for teaching truth, and a young golf professional at the end of his rope looking to escape the pressures of the game—they represent each one of us in our various stages of growth. And through them we are reminded that, in life, we must be willing to coach and be coached.Life is never the same once you’ve been to Utopia.“Read it. Devour it. Keep it as a reference book. You’ll be glad you did. Golf’s Sacred Journey is a remarkable and encouraging story with an entirely different approach on how to succeed in your golf game.”—Zig Ziglar, leading motivational expert and bestselling author“This book is full of wisdom that will enhance your game and I believe it just may change your life.”—David Robinson, NBA MVP, 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist, Two Time World Champion

This is his first attempt at publishing his work, with follow-up stories on life lessons in football, family, friendships, the classroom, and death.

USA Today Bestseller Jack Nicklaus II shares stories, insights, and lessons he’s learned from his father, the “Golden Bear,” that will delight golf fans of all ages, encourage fathers, and inspire readers to focus on what’s most important in life: family. Best Seat in the House, written with New York Times bestselling author Don Yaeger, gives us eighteen valuable lessons that Jack Nicklaus II learned from his father, PGA champion Jack Nicklaus. Although the “Golden Bear,” as he is known by fans, is widely regarded as the best golfer of all time, with a record number of PGA major championships, his life and values show that true legacy lives on through your children, grandchildren, and others we are blessed to call family and friends. For the first time, the public is given the opportunity to see what made Jack Nicklaus an off-course success, including how he and his wife, Barbara, fashioned fifty-plus years of marriage, understanding that they both had to give of themselves “at least 95 percent of the time” the importance of having boundaries and limits that everyone in the family agrees on how Nicklaus taught his son Jack, who worked as his caddie for several years, to value his competitors and treat them as he would hope to be treated the need to be connected to what we’ll leave behind: our legacies One June day, Jack Nicklaus II had just completed his second round in a Palm Beach County Junior Golf Association tournament and was sitting at the scorer’s table, signing his scorecard, when somebody told him his dad was on the telephone. He was a little frustrated because he didn’t want to be bothered on such an important day, but his dad wanted to know how he had played, so Jack II spent the next twenty minutes detailing every hole and every shot. Afterward, his father said, “Jackie, would you like to know how your dad did today?” Of course he wanted to know, and he felt a little guilty for not asking. “Well, I just won the US Open.” It was Father’s Day 1980, and on that day Jack II learned a valuable lesson that he carried with him into adulthood: family is more important than anything in the world.

On the Nature of Champions The most significant common intangible among the truly great is that they enjoy adversity. They want to be put in fear-inducing situations because they know it is the ultimate test. The true prize is not the trophy. Rather, the prize is the knowledge that at precisely the right moment, one is able to exercise absolute self-control and precise judgment. On Fate We who play the game know that sometimes we get pleasant and unexpected surprises, such as a hole-in-one or a ball that skips off the water and onto dry land. We also know we are equally likely to get a bad break-- a wild bounce of the ball, a sudden gust of wind. The game leaves us no choice but to accept the good with the bad and to move on to the next shot. On Competition The game of golf challenges your mind anew every single day and presents you with the ultimate opponent: yourself. I've always been amazed that people can derive so much satisfaction out of beating others when they have never taken the ultimate test of battling themselves. On the Role of Mind The swing is not the thing. The professional tours were and still are loaded with people who can swing the golf club as gracefully as you please. That does not make them great players. The difference between being a good swinger of the club and a great player lies between the ears, in the mind. To keep your mind open to learning new things is to keep progressing forward in life. On Positive Thinking I will say without hesitation that you cannot achieve any goal if you have negative thoughts running through your head. You must have positive and, what might even seem to others, bold thoughts. This is not to say that you should ignore the strengths of an opponent whether on the golf course, on a sales call, or in the boardroom. Acknowledge his strengths? Yes. Dwell on them? No.