Golf Is a Game of Confidence

January 1, 1996
Director of sports psychology at the University of Virginia, Rotella (Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect) writing with freelancer Cullen, offers advice not unlike that preached by Harvey Penick, which is to visualize each shot before it is made. But he has other words of wisdom as well: have an overall game plan; practice enough so that in tourney play it is almost automatic; learn when to be patient and when to be aggressive; and, above all, have fun. Rotella illustrates his lessons with chapters based on 18 golfers he has worked or talked with, some famous like Byron Nelson, Pat Bradley, Davis Love III and Tom Kite, but others less well known, like a New Jersey accountant who finally broke 80, a Virginian who won that state's Senior Amateur tournament and his own father, whom he introduced to the game at age 63. He also has observations on controlling anger, bouncing back from defeat, coping with near-disabling illness and learning confidence. Links addicts at any level can learn from Rotella's recommendations.

May 15, 1996
If golf is 90 percent walking, 9 percent talking, and 1 percent swinging, the other half--as Yogi Berra would say--is mental. Hence the abundance of head-game advice, to which golf psychologist Rotella, author of the popular "Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect" (1995), adds this collection of 18 case histories. Though his "patients" range from pros like Brad Faxon and Davis Love to unknown hackers, Rotella supplies the same prescription for them all: "Confidence is playing with your eyes." He explains what he means by this aphorism through the experiences of his patients, all of whom learn that the mental side of the game drives the physical. An inspirational illustration of the problems and possibilities that every golfer faces. ((Reviewed May 15, 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)