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Zen Golf Newsletter - September 2003 Update on Zen Golf and the Next Book Zen GolfLessons: Excerpts from the Next Book Zen Golf Schools Tour Notes Charity Tournaments Zen Golf for Business Zen GolfLessons: Excerpts from the Next Book
UPDATE ON ZEN GOLFAND THE NEXT BOOK Hardcover: An 8th printing of 15,000 copies is completed,bringing the total in print to 77,000. Audiobook: A second pressing of the 4-CD set is underway. Two major charity tournaments are including it in their gift bags to all participants (See Charity Tournaments below). - the San Francisco Special Olympics Golf Tournament, being held at Olympic Club in San Francisco, and the Friends of Golf Celebrity Tournament hosted by Eddie Merrins at Bel-Air CC in Beverly Hills. Currently still only available in retail on Amazon.com, it should be in bookstores before the holiday season. Bulk orders at a 25% discount (10 or more) can be done through the Zen Golf office. The Next Book: Meeting with the editor at Doubleday in October; Dr. Parent hopes to submit it this fall so it will be published next year. Tentatively titled Zen Golf Lessons, it will likely be in a similar format to Zen Golf, with chapters grouped by aspects of 'playing the game' - 'On the Tee', 'Zen Putting', 'Taking Lessons', etc. It will include more situation specific chapters (such as how to choose when you're between clubs, what is the most effective imaging to use from fairway bunkers, how to dealing with distracting noises, awkward stances, blind tee shots, bumpy greens, etc.) as well as chapters going deeper into working with thoughts and emotions (relating with different personalities in playing partners, ego issues in putting and chipping, fears on the tee, etc.). There will be chapters that go further into how people applied what they learned from Zen Golf. You Can Have Input: If you have suggestions/requests for 1) new topics, 2) more about topics that were in Zen Golf; or 3) commentary on how you applied things you learned from Zen Golf, we'd be happy to hear from you and consider them as topics to be addressed in the next book.
ZEN GOLF SCHOOLS At Rancho San Marcos Golf Club, Santa Barbara, CA September 20-21 October 24-26 (Optional 3rd day) All other schools through January at Rancho San Marcos will be Custom Zen Golf Schools, which you can arrange by appointment. At Desert Willow Golf Resort, Palm Desert, CA November 10-11 November 12-13 January 5-7 (Optional 3rd day) Taking it to the Course: In August, just before going to the PGA Championship, Dr. Parent taught a golf school with Michael Hunt, a Master Instructor at the Jim McLean Golf School. Michael's summer teaching site is the new Friar's Head CC on Long Island. This was a combined swing technique and mental game school, focused on helping golfers to get the most out of the skills they've developed on the range when they take them to the course. Participants found the program very worthwhile, and Michael and Doc plan to do more.
PGA Apprentice: Congratulations to Steve Moore on shooting a 79 during his PGA Player Ability Test to qualify for entry into the PGA Apprenticeship Program! Steve started as program coordinator of Zen Golf Schools two years ago, in his fifties and a 16-handicapper with the idea of becoming a golf coach as his second career. (He was also editor for this newsletter and is still helping out while we search for a new website/database/newsletter person). Steve now has a single-digit handicap, is teaching at Cypress Ridge Golf Academy in Arroyo Grande, CA, and is well on his way to PGA certification. Way to go, Steve!
TOUR NOTES Brad Benke is a tour player and golf instructor whom Dr. Parent has coached for the last two years. He has been an assistant coach at Zen Golf Schools. Here is his story of Zen Golf coaching while caddying for another tour player: “I caddied for Nate Whitson at The Long Beach (CA) Open, and started Zen Golf lessons with him that week. I showed Nate how to prepare before a tournament using the putting routine in the chapter, ‘Putt with Imagination.’We called the range ‘the sending area’ (as in the chapter ‘What is Your Target’) and we worked on getting a clear picture before each shot. At the end of the 3rd round of on-and-off play I told Nate that it appeared that sometimes he gets out of synch because he doesn’t get grounded before swinging. I showed him how to do it using the breathing techniques in Zen Golf and what a difference it made. Nate climbed to finish 35th out of nearly 300 players. The next week he played The Gateway Tour event at Greyhawk GC in Scottsdale, AZ.Before every shot I told him, "Clear picture, get grounded.” He had executed many good shots at Long Beach, so I would remind him of shots similar to the one he was about to play and tell him to recall that ball flight, then send it to the target. He shot a 67in the first round with 5 birdies and the rest pars. The next day he had two birdies and two bogies on the front nine and was even par. He was upset because he knew that even par on that course would move him back in the standings. I encouraged him to stay patient, not to predict the future or dwell on the past. Nate played the back nine in 7-under-par and shot 65. During that amazing stretch of golf, I helped to keep him focused by having him practice sense awareness from the chapter ‘Vividness of the Moment’ whenever he had to wait on the tee. For example, we would look to see as much detail as we could in each of the unique plants in the desert. It had rained a lot, and players were allowed to 'lift, clean, and place'through the green. He didn’t like it, but I made Nate lift clean and place before every single shot on the practice range when he warmed up, to get him into the rhythm he’d be playing on the course, as in the chapter ‘How to Get From the Practice Tee to the First Tee.’ He was only one shot back on the final day, and I felt this would help get him off to a good start, which it did. We talked about the leaderboard the previous day and decided not to look at it. He never did, even on the back nine. When we teed off on the 18th hole he had the lead for the first time, by one shot. It was a par 5 and we laid back to 100 yards like the day before when he made birdie. His fellow competitor hit a long drive and then a 3-wood onto the green, 30 feet from the pin. We decided on a target about 6 feet left of the pin. Nate fired away and sent it there, just the way he pictured it. His competitor’s eagle putt came up 3 feet short. Nate focused onpace and path for his putt, as in the chapter ‘How to Make Every Putt.' He made it, and holed it. He pumped his fist twice and came over to me and said, “That score’s at least a tie, right?” And I said, “No, there’s no one who can touch it.” He had won his first big tournament as a pro, and tears came down my face."
The San Francisco Special Olympics Golf Tournament, held September 8 at Olympic Club in San Francisco, included the Zen Golf Audiobook as a tee prize for all the participants, thanks to the efforts of Vince Tringali of Kelseyville, CA. The "Friends of Golf" Celebrity Tournament, hosted by Pro-Emeritus Eddie Merrins at Bel-Air CC in Beverly Hills, will also give the Zen Golf Audiobook or hardcover to each of the participants, sponsored by Wachovia thanks to the efforts of Mark Mushkin. Dr. Parent will be there on September 22nd to answer questions. Dr. Parent will also be giving a clinic and doing coaching at the Byron Scott Celebrity Golf Tournament benefiting YOU (Youth Opportunities United) at Brookside CC in Pasadena on September 15, thanks to the efforts of UCLA Financial Aid Director Ronald Johnson.
ZEN GOLF FOR BUSINESS Dr. Parent's most popular corporate outings are scaled-down versions of his golf schools. They begin with a one-hour talk (often over breakfast or lunch) followed by a short period of instruction on the putting green and/or short game area. After warm up on the range there is on-the-course instruction, with Dr. Parent playing one or two holes with each group. Then it's back to the 19th hole for refreshments and discussion. Summer events included Nations Fund sponsored outings in San Jose, Temecula, Rancho Bernardo, and Half Moon Bay in California; Sun Valley in Idaho; and Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tucson in Arizona, as well as other programs in British Columbia and Michigan. October will include travel to Washington, D.C. and Wisconsin. Dr. Parent is pleased to announce his representation by JMG (James Management Group) for speaking engagements and corporate events.
ZEN GOLF LESSONS: EXCERPTS FROM THE NEXT BOOK
Sense of Humor The CEO of a company rarely played, and wasn’t a very proficient golfer. Each year at the annual company outing, the employees would beg him to join them in the golf tournament. Each year he found a reason to decline. Finally, he ran out of reasons and excuses, and agreed to play. The day of the tournament came. He was first on the tee. The whole company gathered around. He stood to address the ball, made a little waggle, and then a full swing. Swoosh. He had whiffed, missed it completely. He gathered himself, stepped back up to the ball, waggled and swung. Swoosh. The ball was still sitting there on the tee. A murmur passed through the crowd of employees. He composed himself again, took a practice swing, and addressed the ball a third time. He swung and topped the ball; it bounced along the ground about ten yards, onto the forward tee. The CEO turned to the gathered onlookers and said, “Whew! Tough course!”
That’s an example of a great sense of humor. Humor is one of the Four Principles of Shambhala Golf, and its hallmark is the absence of self-importance. Enlightened humor isn’t dependent on laughs at someone else’s expense, nor being overly self-deprecating. It is not taking oneself or one’s project too seriously, and so expresses an atmosphere of lightness and enjoyment. Not taking oneself too seriously on the golf course means having expectations that are in line with the situation. Unrealistic expectations cause a great amount of frustration and therefore lack of humor and enjoyment. Great golfers don’t hit every fairway, don’t hit every green, don’t chip it close every time, and don’t make every putt. How often they do accomplish those feats is a tribute to the amount that they practice and play: years of practice, thousands of range balls, hundreds of rounds. And an under-par handicap. So if you are a fifteen handicap who doesn’t play or practice nearly as much as a tour pro, why are you so frustrated and surprised when you miss a fairway or green, or lip out a putt. Get realistic, get a better perspective, and you’ll enjoy a better sense of humor. You’ll have a lot better time, and your friends will definitely appreciate it. During the question and answer period at a reading and book-signing for Zen Golf, a man raised his hand and asked, “I only play once or twice a month, and never have time to practice. Do you have any advice for me?” “Yes,” I answered. “Cultivate your sense of humor.”
Yours in Virtue, Discipline, Humor and Friendship, The Zen Golf Staff (805)884-1978
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