Customer Reviews

Golf's Three Noble Truths: The Fine Art of Playing Awake

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't know much about golf...I know even less about the teachings of the Buddha...but I DO know that I thoroughly enjoyed the wisdom and humor Ragonnet offers in Golf's Three Noble Truths! Treat yourself to a well crafted, concise set of stories.

I recently read Dr. James Ragonnet's new book THE THREE NOBLE TRUTH'S OF GOLF and thoroughly enjoyed it. Since retiring eleven years ago and taking up golf, I have read what seems like hundreds of books, on the topic of how to play golf, but this book in my opinion, is the ultimate golf book. It has changed my life as well as my golf game. I have bought two books for myself, one for reference and one to share with my friends. After reading it themselves, they in turn have purchased two to do the same thing. All have remarked saying that it is their first choice for holiday or birthday giving.

This book will change ones' life as well as change their golf game. On a basis of one to five, with five being perfect, I give this "noble" work a perfect five rating. I am now living and playing golf awake.

Frank A. Wolcott
Professor Emeriti, Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance
NCAA Men's Gymnastic Coach of the Year, Division II 1977
President, National Association of Collegiate Gymnastic Coaches 1976-1979
Member, United States Gymnastic Hall of Fame 1976
Three time (1964,1968,1972)member, United States Gymnastic Olympic Committee

If you are an avid golfer, I am confident that this book will improve your game. For better, for worse, I am not.

If you are an avid person, this book will improve your life. It is filled with humor and insight that encourages the reader to be more fully alive. Ragonnet possesses a savage wit and a deep heart. It is the human equivalent of someone who can smack 300-yard drives down the center of the fairway and also coolly sink pressure putts on 18. He might not be Tiger, but his book is burning bright.

Offers the serious golfer a deep insight into the mystique of golf (and life). I don't pretend to say that it was only Mr Ragonnets merit, but in a competition the other day amongst 50 elderly gentlemen - with his thoughts in mind - I finished second and I have seldom or never played so well. (His book is so good that I hesitate to recommend it to my fellow competitors)

Golf's Three Noble Truths is a collection of carefully crafted brief essays that show a strong influence of the teachings of the Buddha. In many of the essays Ragonnet presents disarmingly simple parables that reveal a depth of understanding of the human psyche. Best of all he makes these insights readily available to all of his readers.

The brevity of these essays is a very desirable feature. It is a book that should be sipped and enjoyed like a fine wine, not guzzled like a mug of beer.

While your golf may not be any better from having read this book, your golfing will be.

I have been playing golf on and off for more than 35 years and during that time, I have played lots of golf courses including the one I own, Blue Ridge Shadows, had lots of golf lessons and read lots of golf books. However, I have never been exposed to the enlightened perspective contained in James Ragonnet's book, Golf's Three Noble Truths. The book has increased my "awareness" and general appreciation for the golf experience more than any single thing in all my history with the game. I was very much like the golfers that James refers to in his book, not "dead" but certainly "asleep" during most of my rounds. Having read his book, I am now much more aware of the total experience. My game has improved a little but my enjoyment of the golfing experience has increased tremendously. Thanks James

James Ragonnet's book "Golf's Three Noble Truths-The Fine Art of Playing Awake, enables me to be myself, stay in the moment and to enjoy golf and all the wonderful things that if offers. Additionally, approaching golf by calmly abiding with the The Three Noble Truths and their related benefits, your game does improve. I'm going a step further and applying this philosphy in other parts of my life. I do believe I might just get to be a better person. Both golf and my life have moved up a few pegs. My thanks to Mr Ragonnet for this wonderful book. A job well done.

Walter Kelley

I enjoyed the easy to read aspect of this book. The author writes as if he is sitting next to you on the tee box bench, helping you to enjoy the experience of the links. After a few good (short)examples comparing the golf experience to Eastern philosophy, the two of you tee off (the chapter ends). Turn the page, and you're at the next tee, with more wisdom. This book may help you swing better, but it will help you appreciate your time on the course, and integrate it with making you experience life more fully.

As a senior golfer with a golf book library of nearly 5,000 titles, a member of both the U.S. & U.K. Golf Collectors Societies, and a youth spent in the study of Buddhism both in Japan & in an Oriental bookstore in N.Y.; I recommend "Golf's Three Noble Truths" as one of the very best & most accessible of all the "new age" golf psychology efforts.

This is an amazing book. For golfers with even the slightest of philosophical bents, this is a must read. If your bookshelves contain books like Michael Murphy's Golf in the Kingdom, Timothy Gallwey's The Inner Game of Golf, Fred Shoemaker's Extraordinary Golf, and Joseph Parent's Zen Golf, then Golf's Three Noble Truths: The Fine Art of Playing Awake should be on your bookshelf as well.

I'm finding so much in it that I've almost discovered before... it reads, in that sense, a little like memory. We golfers need more books like this! How can it be that with instruction book after instruction book after instruction book, we don't seem to be getting better at this game? How can it be that the average handicap stays about the same, regardless of technological improvements, countless rounds, golf pro lessons, and bookshelves full of "tips" books dissecting the swing? What is missing?

Ragonnet has an intriguing answer. Drawing on Eastern philosophy, primarily Buddhism, Ragonnet suggests that we golfers are simply not awake to what is really happening right now, right here, before our very eyes. Rather, we are trapped in the "monkey mind." Endless internal chatter about previous shots, what we might shoot today, technical swing thoughts, doubts, fears, anxiety, etc., etc., ad infinitum. No wonder we're not improving!

Ragonnet offers wise words on how we can stop the chatter and return to the moment. He encourages us to appreciate the wonder of everyday existence... the wind through the trees, the shadows on the greens, the wondrous flight of the ball, the butterfly that lands on your golf shoe. But be not deceived... this is no hokey New Agey gimmick schtick. James Ragonnet is heavy duty scholar, thinker, and engaging writer. I dare say he is a real life Shivas Irons. This is a book that can improve not only your golf game... but your life as well.