In each chapter, mixed among the many stories of challengs, triumphs and defeats of amateur and professional golfers and their coaches, are italicized principles and rules for thinking well as a player. In this appendix, each is listed on its own. If a golfer chooses to go after greatness, whether he defines greatness as winning the U.S. Open or winning the championship at his club, he must understand that he will encounter frustration and disappointment along the way. Tom Kite played in and lost more than a dozen U.S. Opens before he finally won one. Big improvements require working and chipping away for years. A golfer has to learn to enjoy the process of striving to improve. Pat continued to win, and in 1991, with her fourth victory that year, she qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony was at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston, and Pat invited my wife, Darlene, and me. We came into the lobby and saw Pat and her mother, Kathleen. We exchanged hugs. Golf is a game played by people and all people have problems. Therefore golf is largely a game of mistakes. It’s not a game of perfect.

Perfectionist golfers have some advantages, such as a high work ethic, commitment, and are goal oriented. However these advantages of being a perfectionist in golf are overshadowed by the many disadvantages… The Big Problem with Perfectionism in Golf Dreams are the spice of life. They compel and propel golfers forward through the eventual tough times they will encounter along the way. Even if you fall short of an audacious goal like wanting to receive a full ride to play golf at USC, you will still accomplish more than you probably thought possible. solid short game can turn someone with terrible tee to green play into a high 70s or low 80s player. Ch 6 conveys old Scottish wisdom: one cannot think about the details of swing mechanic details and perform a successful shot. This was lost through technology, teachers with "secrets", and the golf world's obsession with and misperceptions of Ben Hogan. His victories came not from hours of training and a pure swing, but beginning in 1946 when he trusted that he knew the fundamentals and no longer worried about them.Rotella has a wealth of experience working with PGA and LPGA pros, including some of the all-time greats. He shares some interesting stories throughout the book. It comes off as genuine, if only because he has lived through these experiences alongside the pros. That's because the world is full of people happy to tell you that your dreams are unrealistic, that you don't have the talent to realize them. In fact, I think it's often more difficult for a person branded with what most people perceive as potential to become great than it was for, say, Pat Bradley. Patience is a cardinal virtue in golf. To improve, a golfer must learn how to wait for practice and good thinking to bear fruit. Decide before the round starts how you are going to think and think this way on every shot. Choose to think well.

Good golfers don't allow events to influence their thoughts--they use their thoughts to influence events. Everything that happens from the tee to that 120-yard range is almost insignificant compared with what happens thereafter. In fact, I’ll occasionally tell a player that I don’t care what he does with his long game – whether he focuses on a target and follows a routine or not – as long as he tries what I suggest about wedging, chipping, and putting. Each tab is a passage that I found meaning in. I think Dr. Cohn’s research with players, and studying great players, being around great players, and working with players, has given him the insights and the keys to what makes a great putter. Dr. Cohn’s instruction will help players of any skill level improve their putting.” Ch 11 is the title chapter about a human game, thus filled with mistakes and not perfect. How you take the bad shots makes all the difference. Accepting the shot hit must be incorporated into your shot routine. Anger makes one tight, analytical, and judgmental. Stay loose, casually indifferent, and ready to hit the next shot the best that you can. To do so you must remain optimistic and enthusiastic — have fun! A golfer cannot let the first few holes, shots, or putts determine his thinking for the rest of the round. A golfer should strive to be looser, freer, and more confident with every hole. This will combat the tendency to get tighter, more careful, and more doubtful.Golf is a game played by human beings. Therefore, it is a game of mistakes. Successful Golfers know how to respond to mistakes. If ever I have asked a fellow golfer about the best golf book to read for game improvement, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect was recommended frequently, which gave me the reassurance that it was well worth a read. If someone came to me and said, "I'm forty-five years old, my handicap is 25, and my dream is to make a living on the Senior Tour," I would say, "Fantastic! You're just the kind of person who excites the living daylights out of me. Just the fact that you're shooting 95 and you're talking about being able to shoot 70 every day means you have the kind of mind that has a chance. I live to work with people like you."

Ch 12 details confidence, which anyone can develop. It’s a mindset during each shot, that it’s going to the target. And about your game overall — it’s about driving it well, hitting accurate approaches, wedging it well & great bunker play, and superb putting. In tournaments it’s about that + shooting a low score, hitting good shots under pressure, and winning. Remain confident despite golf’s challenges. of your practice time (whether on long or short game) should be on acceptance, targets and routines, 40% on technicals. The correlation between thinking well and making successful shots is not 100 percent. But the correlation between thinking badly and unsuccessful shots is much higher.The correlation between thinking well and making successful shots is not 100 percent. But the correlation between thinking badly and unsuccessful shots is much higher." Always aim to hole the ball. Believe the putt in going in but don’t care if it doesn’t. Be decisive. Visualise the line but make a straight putt to a target you judge the ball will turn from. Take practice putts with your eyes on the hole. (This has been a very helpful tip for me).

Golfers who realize their potential generally cultivate the three D's-desire, determination and discipline; the three P's- persistence, patience and practice; and the three C's-confidence, concentration and composure. Another great piece of advice (that is not so much about golf) I’ve adopted from this book was oddly a piece about basketball. The author talks about his sports psychology coaching and how a professional player was missing free throws. This was his job and he was missing a bunch yet not getting frustrated, instead he was smiling! The basketball player stated when confronted, “a missed shot doesn’t lower my chances, it just raises the probability that the next shot will make it.” PDF / EPUB File Name: Golf_is_Not_a_Game_of_Perfect_-_Bob_Rotella.pdf, Golf_is_Not_a_Game_of_Perfect_-_Bob_Rotella.epub

The most interesting “golf” advice I took from this book (the below starred* paragraphs are filled with more advice from this book too) was the authors analogy on trusting your golf swing. He states, paraphrased, that you can walk on a 2x4 that’s flat on the ground. You trust your walk. But, raise that 2x4 forty feet in the air, and you become wobbly, you distrust your steps. You already know how to walk, trust it and go across the 2x4 - it’s the same either way, but your mind isn’t. Much like a golf swing, learn to swing then trust it. When you think about the swing, it compounds the error. There’s also a time and place to work on your swing, and it’s not on the course.