Straight Down the Middle: Shivas Irons, Bagger Vance, and How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Golf Swing [Hardcover]

Josh Karp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 2010

Straight Down the Middle is a humorous and insightful account of journalist and former-18-handicap golfer Josh Karp's quest to achieve inner peace and improve his golf gameall through the art of Zen. Assisted by a quirky roster of excellent practitioners of esoteric, Eastern-fueled, nontraditional golf instruction, Karp embarks on a unique journey across the fairways of North America (and Scotland, of course!) that's as funny as it is illuminating. A golf story in the tradition of The Legend of Bagger Vance, Straight Down the Middle is a blend of helpful tips and hilarious memoir that's a must-read for golfers of all stripes and plaids.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Josh Karp first played golf in the 6th grade and became one of the worst players on very bad high school and college golf teams. Karp is a journalist and the author of A Futile and Stupid Gesture. He lives in Glencoe, Illinois, with his wife and four kids.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; 1 edition (February 17, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081186359X
• ISBN-13: 978-0811863599
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #818,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Effortless Golf, March 18, 2010

By 

W. Easley "Opa" (Colorado Rocky Mountains) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Straight Down the Middle: Shivas Irons, Bagger Vance, and How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Golf Swing (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Golf has always been a bit of a puzzle to me. Several times in my life I played regularly enough to begin to hope that my game would become really good. That was not to be. Josh Karp gives me hope. "Straight down the Middle" attempts to teach golf in a unique way - effortless golf.

Josh goes on a journey to discover his perfect swing. To find this elusive marvel, Josh reads works of psychology by such authorities as Abraham Maslow, and pursues Eastern philosophy - Buddhist and Zen masters. Josh postulates that by embracing the theory of nothing, a serenity will emerge that will not only bring peace, but the perfect golf game. I love the theory, but wonder about my applying it.

If I take the pages of the book literally, despite my arthritis and general lack of coordination, I could take my aged self to the golf course and by dropping all thoughts about technique and competitiveness, could play a wonderful game.

I remember lessons given by my good friend, a golf pro from Arizona, and when I play my head is full of his rules. But according to Josh, if I ignore "keep your eye on the ball" and instead "become the ball", I make progress toward perfection. Since the lessons really only helped for about a week before I slipped back into my previous problems, maybe I should give Josh Karp a try.

In a way the book reminds me of an episode of "The Mentalist." The main character, Patrick Jane, although admitting to himself he know nothing about the game, teaches a mob boss to improve his game by thinking his favorite song. The mob boss thought of the music, relaxed and his game actually improved. If it worked for the mob boss. It may work for me.

So, my advice for golfers is get this book and let go play a game.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We don't play golf, we work golf., April 16, 2010

By 

Amateur curmudgeon "kaleun76" (Lakewood, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Straight Down the Middle: Shivas Irons, Bagger Vance, and How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Golf Swing (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Most of the mental game golf books I've seen read like an infomercial for whatever seminar, resort, or institution the author owns or works for. I am glad to say that this is not one of those books.

Josh Karp chronicles his efforts to improve his golf, lower his handicap and seek enlightment at the same time; or perhaps to seek enlightment in order to improve his golf. This quest takes him all over the country and even to the Mecca of Golf, to the Kingdom, Scotland. He describes his relationship to all kinds of quirky Golf/Zen gurus, each zanier than the last.

A common denominator of most mental game instruction is to stop worrying about the score, don't keep score and your game will improve. Of course if you don't keep score: How will you know if it improves? One of his gurus states that we duffers do not play golf, we work golf: This is the take home message of the whole saga: Next time you are out on the course, play golf, don't work golf.

The narration is full of humor, most often at the writer's expense, as the time he plays with a Rabbi and feels like screaming at the heavens: "Haven't Jews suffered enough?"

This little book might not improve your game but it is sure to make it more enjoyable. And if it doesn't, it is still time well spent.

5.0 out of 5 stars A breath of fresh air in golf books, November 25, 2010

By 

Roy Palmer "Author of Golf Sense: Practical T... (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Straight Down the Middle: Shivas Irons, Bagger Vance, and How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Golf Swing (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed reading about Josh's journey to playing better golf. It's a no-nonsense practical book that shows how a quiet, empty mind leads to an improvement in performance. Worrying about how you're going to play does nothing for your game, yet many golfers waste far too much effort doing just that. Josh's account of how he addressed physical and mental aspects of his game (bringing them together) is both a humorous and informative one. It's not a prescriptive technical book but rather a 'do as I did' path to follow and you'll find the way to love your golf and improve your game as a result.

Golf is a journey in itself and an excellent way to self-improvement. This is a great book, I would recommend it to any golfer who is failing to get the full benefit from this great game.