Golf and the Spirit: Lessons for the Journey

The author of the phenomenally popular The Road Less Traveled brings his down-to-earth blend of psychology and spirituality to the well-trod paths of the fairway. Golf serves Peck as a metaphor for life, and he uses the game to urge readers to strive to do well but not to be concerned about their score, to be attentive of life's hazards but not to be scared of them. As Peck describes how golf is so meaningful to his life, however, he loses sight of the essence of the game--the joy of play and success within the boundaries of the rules and the course. To anyone who has golfed more than once, reading this book will be like being stuck playing a round with a septuagenarian short hitter. Peck's book is for Peck fans, not golf fans--or fans of good golf books. What Peck doesn't capture is the elation of hitting the perfect shot, the exhilaration of seeing perfection (even when, as is usually the case, it's somebody else's perfection). For such joys and a sense of how golf fits into the fabric of life, readers will do better to turn to Harvey Penick or Steven Pressfield's inspirational golf novel, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Major ad/promo. (May)