Zen Golf

In this ground-breaking approach to golf instruction, Dr Joseph Parent, both a noted PGA Tour coach and a respected Buddhist teacher, draws on this natural connection to teach golfers how to play with more consistency and less frustration, and consequently how to lower their scores. ‘When body and mind are synchronized, we can uncover our inherent dignity and confidence. The ultimate goal is not just to help people become better golfers, but better human beings.’ Zen Golf offers a fresh perspective for golf and for life. Instead of focusing on what's wrong with us – what's broken, flawed or missing – we can take the attitude that there is something fundamentally, essentially right with us. In chapters such as ‘How to Get from the Practice Tee to the First Tee’, ‘You Practice What You Fear’, and ‘How to Enjoy a Bad Round of Golf’, author Joseph Parent shows how to make one’s mind an ally rather than an enemy: how to stay calm, clear the interference that leads to bad shots, and eliminate bad habits and mental mistakes. Rather than an instruction manual that takes you through a systematic programme, it is a collection of brief chapters offering the wisdom of traditional Zen stories and teachings distilled from a lifetime of actual lessons with golfers, many of whom are PGA professionals. Continued success at golf (and any other endeavour) requires preparation, action and response – these form the framework for the instructions presented in Zen Golf. Applied correctly, they will help every reader of this unique book to achieve their peak performance.

‘The lessons in Zen Golf make the mental game seem so simple’ Vijay Singh, current World No 1 Golfer ‘Soothing and enlightening, Zen Golf exposes us to the storm-tossed waters of the golfer’s psyche’ Golf Digest ‘In Buddhism, if you want to achieve enlightenment, you have to do it through meditation and self-improvement through the mind. That’s something my mother passed on to me: to be able to calm myself down and use my mind as my main asset’ Tiger Woods

Dr Joseph Parent has a PhD in psychology from the University of Colorado, and has taught Buddhist philosophy and stress-reduction techniques for over 25 years. He is also an acclaimed PGA Tour instructor, whose performance-enhancing programme, Mental Game Mastery for Golf, Business and Life, was featured on CNN Headline News. He travels widely as a professional speaker and conducts golf schools and corporate programmes in Santa Barbara, California.