The Golf of Your Dreams

Book excerpt: Fifteen years ago, the average American male golfer's handicap was 16.2. The average female golfer's handicap was 29. Today, the average American male golfer's handicap is 16.2 and the average female golfer's is 29. American golfers have not gotten any better.World-renowned performance consultant and sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella, author of the best-selling booksGolf Is Not a Game of PerfectandGolf Is a Game of Confidence,has writtenThe Golf of Your Dreamsfor the golfer who is determined to get better but hasn't figured out how to go about it. Building on his success with golfers, Dr. Rotella now teaches and details a plan for lowering your handicap, ensuring your improvement if you follow his plan. His program for success in playing the golf of your dreams is based on strategies found to be successful with tour players such as Tom Kite, Brad Faxon, Pat Bradley, and Davis Love III, and is similar to approaches used by Rotella's other clients who are top athletes in a variety of different sports.WhereasGolf Is Not a Game of PerfectandGolf Is a Game of Confidencecovered the mental aspects of the game,The Golf of Your Dreamsoffers a programmatic guide for getting down to scratch or single digits. It is an approach that Dr. Rotella and his clients have tested for over twenty years, one that has been proven to work consistently with all levels of golfers.Dr. Rotella knows that if you want to play your best golf ever, you must admit to yourself that you want to be good and that you have the necessary talent to play well. But that's not all. You must commit yourself to a process that will improve your game. InThe Golf of Your DreamsDr. Rotella provides tips on how to:* Choose the fight teaching professional* Communicate your dreams and goals to your teacher* Get your teacher to teach you as a student serious about improving* Make a plan for improvement with your teacher and stay committed* Sustain and honor your commitment* Break old habits and develop new ones* Practice efficiently and effectively so you can take your learning from the practice area to the golf courseDr. Rotella also discusses a piece of very good news for any golfer: Great physical ability is not required in order to play exceptional golf. Rotella demonstrates how characteristics such as desire, patience, and persistence,more than physical talent,enable golfers to improve their performance dramatically. When these characteristics are combined with a proven plan for success, modest talent is more than enough.Dr. Rotella will reveal why, despite the billions of dollars they have spent on new golf clubs, balls, and lessons, average American golfers' skills are stagnant and their performance is lackluster year after year. Dr. Rotella knows, above all, that simply reading a book or watching a video will not make anyone a better golfer. But readingThe Golf of Your Dreamswill make you keenly aware of what you have to do in order to play the kind of golf you've always sensed you were capable of playing.