Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Golf has always been a bit of a puzzle to me. Several times in my life I played regularly enough to begin to hope that my game would become really good. That was not to be. Josh Karp gives me hope. "Straight down the Middle" attempts to teach golf in a unique way - effortless golf.
Josh goes on a journey to discover his perfect swing. To find this elusive marvel, Josh reads works of psychology by such authorities as Abraham Maslow, and pursues Eastern philosophy - Buddhist and Zen masters. Josh postulates that by embracing the theory of nothing, a serenity will emerge that will not only bring peace, but the perfect golf game. I love the theory, but wonder about my applying it.
If I take the pages of the book literally, despite my arthritis and general lack of coordination, I could take my aged self to the golf course and by dropping all thoughts about technique and competitiveness, could play a wonderful game.
I remember lessons given by my good friend, a golf pro from Arizona, and when I play my head is full of his rules. But according to Josh, if I ignore "keep your eye on the ball" and instead "become the ball", I make progress toward perfection. Since the lessons really only helped for about a week before I slipped back into my previous problems, maybe I should give Josh Karp a try.
In a way the book reminds me of an episode of "The Mentalist." The main character, Patrick Jane, although admitting to himself he know nothing about the game, teaches a mob boss to improve his game by thinking his favorite song. The mob boss thought of the music, relaxed and his game actually improved. If it worked for the mob boss. It may work for me.
So, my advice for golfers is get this book and let go play a game.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Straight Down the Middle: Shivas Irons, Bagger Vance, and How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Golf Swing
Straight Down the Middle is a humorous and insightful account of journalist and former-18-handicap golfer Josh Karp's quest to achieve inner peace and improve his golf gameall through the art of Zen. Assisted by a quirky roster of excellent practitioners of esoteric, Eastern-fueled, nontraditional golf instruction, Karp embarks on a unique journey across the fairways of North America (and Scotland, of course!) that's as funny as it is illuminating. A golf story in the tradition of The Legend of Bagger Vance, Straight Down the Middle is a blend of helpful tips and hilarious memoir that's a must-read for golfers of all stripes and plaids.
