Golf is Not a Game of Perfect by Dr. Bob Rotella with Bob Cullen, is an interesting look at the mental aspect of golf.

He boils mental game keys down into simple, easy to understand instructions, going so far as to add an appendix called “Rotella’s Rules” that can be studied periodically to keep the ideas fresh in the mind.

The book flows extremely well, due mostly to the straight forward, yet interesting, writing style. It’s a relatively short book, with the hard cover edition weighing in at just over 220 pages (in a fairly small footprint), but there’s no shortage of valuable information.

Rotella relates some of the things he’s learned from a few of the various tour pros he’s worked with over the years. That’s one of the things that makes this book so fascinating. It’s not just about what Dr. Rotella teaches his players, but it’s also about what they’ve taught him.

Chapter List

1. On My Interpretation of Dreams
2. What Nick Price Learned from William James
3. Train It and Trust It
4. How Stuart Anderson Created His Own Reality
5. The Hot Streak: Staying Out of Your Own Way
6. Rediscovering Old Scottish Wisdom
7. What the Third Eye Sees
8. Your Rod and Staff
9. Let the Short Game Flow
10. What I Learned from Bobby Locke
11. Golf is Not a Game of Perfect
12. Anyone Can Develop Confidence
13. What Mark Twain and Fred Couples Have in Common
14. Fighting Through Fear
15. What I Learned from Seve Ballesteros
16. Conservative Strategy, Cocky Swing
17. Game Plan
18. Thriving Under Pressure
19. When the Scorecard Looks at You
20. Competitors
21. Practicing to Improve
22. What I Learned from Paul Runyan
23. Appendix: Rotella’s Rules

The Good

• Gives a great look at what separates the best from the rest.
• The book flowed very well and has a simple, easy to follow writing style that kept me interested the whole way.
• Includes looks into the minds of some of the great players in golf history.
• Gives practical advice that can help golfers of all skill levels.
• While I have never met Dr. Rotella, he seems like a person with an extremely positive outlook and I felt like I absorbed a little of that as I read the book.

The Bad

• The book was a bit short. It’s certainly complete, but when I got to the end, I wanted more. I guess that’s not bad, so much, but I always try to balance out my reviews and I needed to put something here.

Conclusion

This book has definitely earned a place in my “must-read” list. As I read it, I began to try and incorporate the techniques into my own game. In the several rounds I’ve played since I started reading it, I believe I have seen a serious improvement in my game. Some of that is due to swing changes I’ve been making, but my mental outlook on the course is miles ahead of where it has ever been previously. I feel like I have the ability to always follow up a bad shot with a good one, without question.

I feel like this book connected with me in a very positive way. I was even more thrilled when I got to the end and started reading “Rotella’s Rules” in the appendix. The first two have stuck with me:

1. A person with great dreams can achieve great things
2. People by and large become what they think about themselves

These are two simple, yet powerful ideas. They capture perfectly the reason that some people melt comfortably into the status quo while others dare to dream and find a path to greatness.

Did you like this post? Get free RSS updates!

Leave a comment | Comment Policy | Trackback URL