Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect

by Bob Rotella | Simon & Schuster © 1995 · 224 pages

This book is not only a golf/sports psychology classic, but a great primer on approaching life with the right mindset. If you’re into golf, you’ll love it. Big Ideas we explore include: Being an expander rather than a shrink, smaller targets leading to greater focus, the importance of your short game (in golf AND in life), fear vs. nervousness, paying a caddie to berate you and expectations: the good and the bad.


The challenge lies not in understanding the concepts I teach, for, as I’ve said, they’re simple and make common sense. The challenge lies in thinking this way every day on every shot.
Bob Rotella

“Sport psychology, as I teach it, is about learning to think in the most effective and efficient way possible every day. It’s the psychology of excellence. My job as a coach of mental skills is to help players go where they might not be able to go on their own, given their old ways of thinking. . . .

Though I teach psychology, I have never known for sure where the mind ends and where the heart, soul, courage and the human spirit begin. But I do know that it is somewhere in this nexus of mind and spirit, which we call free will, that all great champions find the strength to dream their destinies and to honor their commitments to excellence. All great champions are strong on the inside.”

~ Bob Rotella from Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect

I read this book years ago when I was on a bit of a golf kick.

It’s not only a golf/sports psychology classic, but a great primer on approaching life with the right mindset.

If you’re into golf and haven’t read it yet, I think you’ll love it! (Get it here.)

(And, check out our growing collection of sports + mental training books. These are some of the most popular and perfect to share with spouses or kids who may be into sports but not *that* into optimal living.

For example, basketball fans might dig The Hoops Whisperer + The Mindful Athlete; tennis players might dig The Inner Game of Tennis; swimmers will enjoy No Limits; martial artists The Way of the Fight + My Fight Your Fight; football players Win Forever.)

The book is packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

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About the author

Authors

Bob Rotella

Famed sports psychologist.