Putting Out of Your Mind (Hardcover)

by Dr. Bob Rotella (Author) "AS THE LAST TWOSOME APPROACHED THE 72ND GREEN OF THE 1998 Nissan Open, not many people in Los Angeles gave my friend and client Billy..." (more)
Key Phrases: putting mechanics, wedge game, putting statistics, Jack Nicklaus, Billy Mayfair, Bobby Jones (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Bestselling author Bob Rotella, the guru-cum-sports psychologist of choice among the world's top golfers, lines up a perfect double entendre with Putting Out of Your Mind. To putt out of your mind--to master this crucial part of the game--you've got to get putting out of your mind--to make it so second nature that you're not actually thinking and stressing once you're standing over the ball.

As Brad Faxon, a Rotella devotee and one of the best putters on the PGA Tour, emphasizes in his introduction, "The secret of great putting is not in the stroke. It's in the mind. When you putt, your state of mind is more important than your mechanics." Once you can imagine yourself sinking a putt, you've exponentially improved your possibilities of actually knocking it in. It's an important lesson, and he learned it from Rotella.

Rotella demystifies the mechanics, accenting instead the importance of a pre-shot routine to help you more effectively visualize your putts and serve as a security blanket when you're facing a breaking downhill five-footer with the match on the line. Most important, Rotella preaches the idea that putting is actually fun for good putters. It's the part of the game they relish most. You'll no doubt find yourself relishing it, too. --Jeff Silverman

From Publishers Weekly
The previous generation of golf stars were reluctant to admit to visiting a "sports shrink." But by raising the competitive bar, players like Tiger Woods and David Duval have sent countless professional and amateur golfers to the couch in an attempt to discover if their minds are keeping them from winning the big ones. Writing here with Cullen (Why Golf?), former University of Virginia sports-psychologist-turned-consultant Rotella applies his popular, well-respected methodology to the stroke that wins tournaments. According to Rotella, good putting has less to do with mechanics than attitude: golfers who can empty their minds of any thought other than making the putt, follow their pre-shot routine faithfully and believe, will improve their putting. The book is lucid, well-paced and enlivened by anecdotes of golf champion Jack Nicklaus's selective memory ("He was able to block from his mind all the missed putts. He kept and replayed the memories of made putts"), by an introduction by veteran pro Brad Faxon and by a foreword from Duval. All lovers of the game will benefit from bringing this book to the green. (June 5) Forecast: Rotella's two most recent titles Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect and Golf Is a Game of Confidence have been sports-title bestsellers, spawning a huge sideline in calendars and other paraphernalia; this title should continue the trend. Expect it to be placed point-of-sale at the pro shop.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (June 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743212134
• ISBN-13: 978-0743212137
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #37,133 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Commit to Process Goals for Subconscious Putting Competence, May 13, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

"Take your satisfaction not from whether the putt drops but from whether you got yourself in the right frame of mind to hit it." That quote summarizes the key point of this book.

Think of Dr. Bob Rotella as someone who sees putting as being totally about controlling your mental processes, to eliminate the effect of your conscious mind. He is at the opposite end of the spectrum from Dave Pelz's engineering-based evaluations. I find much value in both approaches. Having taken lessons at Dave Pelz's Short Game School, one of the most useful parts was getting an automatic routine and rhythm for putting that clears my mind of tension-creating thoughts.

The advice in the book is easy to understand, but you will probably find it hard to apply. I suggest that you find a pro to help you create a mind-clearing routine that you feel comfortable with. Then commit to using that routine always.

Here are a few quotes that will give you a further sense of the book's advice:

"No matter how skilled you are . . . you're going to have to make roughly 40 percent of your shots with your putter."

When you arrive at the green, you're going to think: "Oh good! Now we get to putt!"

You will "just focus on the target." You will have "selective amnesia" about putts you've missed in the past.

You will spend 15 minutes a night "visualizing making putts."

Before putting, you will be "always relaxed and confident."

During the putt, you will "putt as though the putt [is] conceded."

When you putt, you will "simply let the putt go and trust."

I especially liked the metaphors from other sports like shooting baskets and making passes in football. Those actions are done in the flow of play, rather than in some rigid, controlled way with the conscious mind.

The book has interesting sections on how to practice putting, and what top putters say about how they go about putting. Many of the pros quoted in the book use Dr. Rotella's methods, so they will help you to understand the message here. You will also find an exercise to encourage you to practice your chipping so you will have shorter putts to make.

One of the most difficult aspects of any activity is explaining how champions think about the activity while they are doing it. I think that Dr. Rotella has done an outstanding job of sharing that information here.

After you have finished enjoying and starting to apply this book to your putting, I suggest that you think about other places where you are trying to use your conscious mind when subconscious processes might work better. Imagine if you always tried to ride a bike by thinking about each thing that you do. That wouldn't be much fun or very successful, would it? Where do you find yourself tied up in tense knots now? That's where you need to let go.

Trust yourself to accomplish more!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best $... You'll Spend On Your Game, July 10, 2000

By	"mysterybill" (Clovis, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Putting Out of Your Mind (Audio Cassette)

I subscribe to a bunch of golf magazines. I own and occasionally re-read many of the best-selling golf instructional books ever written, including Golf Is A Game of Confidence. Most are good for knocking 1-3 strokes off your game per round over the course of 6-9 months. But this tape, with its suggestions for a simpler pre-shot routine and mind-clearing suggestions has taken 3-5 strokes off my putting alone in just 2 months. I listened to it 10 times before even trying out the suggestions, just to make sure they were ingrained in my thinking. It has actually made putting fun for me, rather than an afterthought. His bottom line: we let far too many thoughts run through our mind when we play golf, especially when we putt. His simple drills will help to keep self-doubt off the putting green. Spend the $....

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Putting is all in the mind, January 23, 2002

By	Denis Beauchamp (Charlesbourg, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

If you are looking for a book that is a once informative and entertaining, you have to get this one. What I found interesting in this book are the insights that the author gives us as to how pros and ordinary players think, or should think when preparing to putt. He discusses the importance of the pre-shot routine . As 40% of the shots made in the course of a game are putts, it's simple logic that such a book should interest all golfers whatever the state of their game. If you wish elevate your game another notch, this book is for you.