I can't believe I did not do any Bob Rotella last year. He was my original intro to the mental game of golf and got me interested in sports psychology. Golf is Not a Game of Perfect is his first book and is a 101 level review of playing the mental game of golf. You can also apply most of these concepts to other sports or life in general.
Key Takeaways
Memorable Quotes
Rating: 8/10
This is a must read for any golfer looking to get more out of their technical skills. Especially valuable for tournament or competitive golfers, it covers the basics. Other similar reads include Zen Golf and Harvey Penick's Little Red Book.
Key Takeaways
- Develop a routine to make performance more consistent.
- Create an image of the result you want in your mind.
- Come up with a game plan to limit decision making in the heat of the moment.
- Love the process.
- Your body doesn't respond to "don't," instead, it responds to images.
Memorable Quotes
- A golfer has to learn to enjoy the process of striving to improve. That process, not the end result, enriches life.
- Golfing potential depends primarily on a player’s attitude, on how well he plays with the wedges and the putter, and on how well he thinks.
- The smaller the target, the sharper the athlete’s focus, the better his concentration, and the better the results.
- It will try to send the ball in the direction of the last thing you look at or think about. If that happens to be a pond, you can find yourself in severe trouble. So if you’re preparing to hit an approach shot over water, or a pitch over a bunker to a pin, it’s important that you have an established habit of focusing your mind firmly on your target.
- Attitude would always win out over ability.
- Second, golfers often have a problem of perception. If a player, facing a tee shot, starts to remember shots she’s hit out of bounds, is she being realistic? Or is she being unduly harsh on herself? If she thought about it, she’d probably remember that she’s hit far more tee shots in bounds than out of bounds during the course of her golfing career. Remembering one of the good shots, therefore, would be far more realistic than remembering a shot that sliced out of bounds. But golfers, particularly high-handicappers, often perceive themselves too negatively. They allow the bad shots to dominate their memories.
Rating: 8/10
This is a must read for any golfer looking to get more out of their technical skills. Especially valuable for tournament or competitive golfers, it covers the basics. Other similar reads include Zen Golf and Harvey Penick's Little Red Book.
