Author: M. Scott Peck Narrator: M. Scott Peck Publisher: Macmillan Audio Abridged Edition (Unabridged Available) Running Time: 6 Hrs.

Buy from a third party: (Amazon.com) # of Discs : 6 (Amazon.com) # of Tapes : 4

Average Rating: 2.5  Based on 2 ratings Click Stars to Rate: Review this title

Golf and the Spirit Lessons for the Journey by M. Scott Peck

Peck, a golfer since his army days in the '60s, fairly and fittingly uses the game as a metaphor for spiritual growth. Dividing his book into 18 holes with titles like Civility, Human Nature, The Invisible, Deftness (and, for good measure, a 19th called Closure), he navigates his course prudently and self-referentially with a bag full of mysticism, religion, and psychology, and acquits himself with a safe par performance. Nothing particularly dangerous or spectacular emerges from his thinking about the game. Instead, he puts a New Age spin on it--"Golf is probably the most nonlinear pastime on the face of the earth"; "A day of golf may seem like a personal holiday ... but it is hardly a holy day"; "I do believe that golf can be a wonderful spiritual path of growth toward God, but only if one chooses to use it as such"--on the roads already well traveled by such masterful analysts of golf's raptures and ridicules as Harvey Penick, Michael Murphy, Jim Flick, Tommy Armour, Bobby Jones, and Bob Rotella. Peck, of course, is right about golf being a spiritual journey; it's an inner game of personal demons that demands its players to get as much of a grip on themselves as on their clubs. The bogey on his scorecard is that those who play golf already know this.

Write a Review of Golf and the Spirit

LOLJPB, February 17, 2006
Reviewer: LOLJPB

M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled, is one of the most popular writers of our day on the subjects of psychiatry and self-help. In Golf and the Spirit he takes the listener through an imaginary golf course of his creation. Each hole has a different theme such as “Civility”, “Human Nature” or “Closure”. These themes tend to mix together a rudimentary introduction to golf, Peck’s own experiences and the lessons he’s learned from them and philosophical and psychological musings on the sport and life.

As a fairly knowledgable golfer I have to admit that this book ranged from extremely interesting to quite tedious depending upon what Peck was discussing. When Peck was offering his insights on the “philosophy of golf” I thought the book was downright remarkable. I liked Peck’s self-depreciating style and his appreciation for the intricacies of the game. However, when he moved into the realm of “explaining golf” I wanted to fast-forward the cassette. It seemed as if Peck was attempting to make the book accessible to someone who had never heard of the game of golf. While that is fine, it makes a good chunk of the book fairly boring for those of us who have played more than a few rounds of golf in our life.

I was able to get past that however and even found some of the explanation enlightening as I hadn’t realized how much about golf I’ve learned since I started playing. On the whole, listening to Peck’s wisdom and some of the remarkable stories he tells make it all worthwhile. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in spirituality, philosophy, psychology or golf. And if you’re interested in all of those areas? Well then you’ll love this one.

Audio-Specific Content: I listened to the unabridged (8 cassettes, approximately 12 hours) version of this book. It was read by Michael Kramer who I felt did one of the best jobs of narration I’ve heard in a long time. The production value of this title was quite high which made it highly listenable.

This Author: M. Scott Peck This Narrator: M. Scott Peck This Publisher: Macmillan Audio

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