Customer Reviews

Beyond the Fairway: Zen Lessons, Insights, and Inner Attitudes of Golf

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this book. I've read a lot of instructional works, but I think this book may do more for my game than all those others put together. I was not familiar with the ways of Zen before I read this, and I think Jeff gave just enough information about it to intrigue me. This book will help your game.

Author Jeff Wallach takes the golfer to places he may never have been. Not only physically, but spiritually. Jeff writes about playing golf in many areas of the world, but also about using golf to explore many areas of the mind and one's own emotions. The Zen philosophy is clearly the road map for this journey, and Wallach is able to pull together aspects of the sport's traditions, frustrations and beauty to show us how golf is far more than just a game. The chapter about playing golf in Scotland and the one on meeting Peter Martin, a golf professional in New York state's Adirondack mountains who believes golf can enlighten us, are the two most enjoyable passages in this book. It's a better read and any overly detailed instructional book. And it probably will help your game more, too.

This is a very hard book to enjoy. Although it is written about my favorite subject, it is also written with a somewhat snobbish attitude. I don't care to be told that all the courses I play and have played don't constitute real golf because they aren't in Scotland. Once I got past my annoyance at these revelations, I found there are actually many good moments in the book. The Zen golf koans are also enjoyable. I'm glad I bought it used.

Jeff Wallach succeeds in every way in his book, Beyond The Fairway. A collection of apparently simple anecdotes takes the reader into a variety of unusual golfing experiences. Mr. Wallach sews the game of golf to the divergent realities of life itself, indicating that an underlying meaning and message exist for each action, experience and moment. Beyond The Fairway transforms into a didactic treatise (that's not a bad thing, folks) on golf and life. Each anecdote is to be pondered, meditated, and ultimately related to the reader's similar experiences. I do promise you, as well, that you will laugh out loud as you pass over a number of passages in the book. As soon as I turned the last page, I rued its end, and looked forward to the day on which I could pick it up and begin again. I hold out tremendous hope for the next piece by this writer. He is a gifted storyteller and a true lover of the English language. I recommend his work wholeheartedly.