Golf for Enlightenment

January 20, 2003
Chopra turns his mind-body eye on golf, a recently acquired personal hobby. Unfortunately, he juxtaposes his metaphysical approach to enjoyment and mastery of the game with a less-than-masterful fiction about Adam Seaver, a 36-year-old Bostonian who often lets his emotions and ego interfere with his golf swing. Adam encounters a mysterious male stranger during a particularly horrendous round of golf. When Adam follows the stranger's instructions and shows up at an isolated shack for some much-needed lessons, a young, attractive woman named Wendy appears and proceeds to teach Adam about his inner game. Each lesson is separated into three parts: The Lesson (the fiction), Playing the Game (what the lesson taught Adam about golf) and Applied to Life (the relationship of golf to a happier, more spiritual life). Adam eventually falls in love with Wendy and achieves the perfect swing, only to have both suddenly disappear. Chopra posits that life and golf are similar games and each can be mastered—offering maxims such as, "You and the ball are one," "Play from your heart to the hole," and "Let the game play you"—but the appeal to the average golfer may be limited. (Mar.)Forecast:While the golfing crowd may not flock to this book, with national publicity, national radio campaign, six-city author tour, cross-promotion with Taylor Made Golf Apparel and Golf for Enlightenment seminars, the bestselling author of
Ageless Body, Timeless Mind is sure to find an audience for this latest offering.

January 1, 2003
Look who has taken up the Scottish game: the global proselytizer of health and spirituality, New Age style. Given golf's susceptibility to soakings of mysticism, it's remarkable that Chopra has gone 30 books into his consciousness-raising career before recognizing what a lucrative mark the sport might be for his shtick. What will the myriad purchasers of this book take away from Chopra's ruminations? Not much technical advice: the author seems shrewd enough to know that few hackers would be gulled by tips from a relative novice. Rather, Chopra affords the unhappy player a chance to drain the mind of anger and ready it for transformation into a soothing spiritual comity with the universe. Said player is asked to identify with Adam, who, on a day particularly productive of shanks and slices, is accosted by an apparition who adjures the despairing soul to consult golf pro Wendy, likewise an ethereal being. In a seven-part "fable," Wendy heightens Adams' awareness of "now," relieves him of his control compulsions, and restores his golfing life to balance and harmony. The authorial brand and publicity ensure that Chopra's confection will be highly, if transiently, popular.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)