The Inner Game of Golf

For many years, people I play with have complained about my handicap. Yet I seldom play more than a stroke or two above or below my handicap. Yet during a round I will hit many fine shots seldom seen by someone with my handicap (a high one). Clearly, I must know what to do, but cannot do it consistently. People shake their heads at that explanation, and predict that my handicap will soon fall -- which it doesn't.
Having just read Mr. Gallwey's excellent book, The Inner Game of Work, I could immediately sense that he was on to something with regard to his concept of paying attention to critical features of your activities as a way to learn how to improve rapidly. That's a point that we stress in The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The 2,000 Percent Solution.
As an example of this point, I had stopped taking lessons over the last year-and-a-half, and my tee shots and fairway woods greatly improved. The main thing I noticed is that I began to rely on myself to figure out what I was doing wrong, rather than waiting to have my pro show me. As a result, I figured out a lot of long-term faults never unearthed in the lessons and corrected them.
I was very excited to find a number of other drills I could use in this fine book to locate other faults and correct them. Just thinking about the drills allowed me to locate four faults that I had not been aware of before. I can hardly wait to see how I hit the ball tomorrow!
One of the places where my game started to get better was when I noticed that if I played with no focus on winning or score I played much better. Mr. Gallwey provides several tools for extending that psychology that I intend to use as well.
Some people had taught me other ways to keep score: How many putts, how many fairways and greens in regulation, quota points, and square shots. Mr. Gallwey's book adds learning and enjoyment scores as well. I think those will add a lot to my game, as well. It helps to be given permission to think about something other than the gross score.
Mr. Gallwey unerringly describes every harmful mental process I use to hit poor shots, deny myself fun and learning, and to make myself miserable. Even if my golf doesn't get any better (and I would be surprised if that happened), this book will add a lot to my enjoyment of golf and life.
If you don't already understand the key elements of the swing, it may be that this book will not help you as much. If you are a long-term golfer who has taken a lot of lessons, watches good players, and wants to get more out of your game, this book is a great use of your time and money.
I also recommend Dave Pelz's new book, Dave Pelz's Putting Bible. Mr. Pelz does a great job of combining physical, technique and mental processes to help your putting. I realized from The Inner Game of Golf that some of what I learned from Pelz's short game school that works for me relies on tools that Mr. Gallwey speaks about in this book. That gave me more confidence to try out Mr. Gallwey's suggestions.
Hit 'em all like you'd like to!
Donald Mitchell
Coauthor of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise (available in August 2000) and The 2,000 Percent Solution
([email protected])

"The Inner Game of Golf" has been on bookstore shelves for 20 years because it appeals to a segment of the golfing public that eschews traditional instruction. It is not a book about how to play golf; it is a book about how to learn golf. The author's approach is a straightforward application of Eastern psychology and targets the subconscious mind of the golfer as the primary player of the game. Most of the methods described in the book are directed toward quieting the conscious (verbal) mind so that the subconscious (non-verbal) mind can learn from experience.
Here's an example. In the traditional approach to playing the game, the golfer watches the flight of the ball after contact and deduces from it how he must have swung. From that information he makes mechanical corrections that are applied to the next swing. In the Inner Game approach, the golfer does not watch, but feels the flight of the ball after contact. From this feedback the subconscious mind automatically makes corrections that are applied to subsequent shots. For me, the former approach has always led to frustration. Driving range corrections always fall apart after 3 holes on the course, and mechanical analyses lead to doubt. But with the Inner Game approach, my swing gets stronger thru the round, and I hit with greater and greater confidence as the round progresses. It is often a confident feeling that I carry with me for many hours after leaving the course. In that respect, a round of golf early in the morning is, like meditation, a conditioner for the daily activities that follow.
This updated version of "The Inner Game of Golf" is a substantial revision of the original, and owners of the 1981 edition may well want to consider buying the update. While several sections remain untouched, there is fresh material inserted throughout as well as a couple of completely new chapters. But the most significant revision is one of tone. Gone is the enthusiastic arrogance of the original which aggressively promoted the Inner Game approach as superior to traditional teaching methods. Indeed, the 1981 version flatly stated that Inner Game techniques should not be used in conjunction with traditional methods. While this tone may have helped elevate the book to its cult status, it ultimately turned off the serious golfing community to the point where the author's name is rarely mentioned by traditional golf instructors. In the revision, the author changes direction completely and now says that the inner game approach should be merged with traditional instruction to create a new, synthesized approach to learning. He even offers a few techniques for achieving such a synthesis.
But, what hasn't changed is the author's central thesis that it is the golfer's understanding of why he plays the game that leads to both success with the sport and contentment as a result of it. The reader who understands and accepts this fundamental concept will find himself transformed in a way he would never have predicted from a mere golf book.

I was introduced to the author through his even more famous book, The Inner Game of Tennis. What I love about this book is the focus on lots of PRACTICAL advice on how to play better right away, combined with, to me anyway, a very interesting set of lessons on how to perform better in general. If I could summarize the approach, it is that you can naturally learn to do things if you can focus more on awareness and feedback than on the internal drill sergeant barking orders. Instead of yelling at your self to "hit down into the ball you %$*! idiot, stopping topping the ball" instead you DISTRACT that part of your brain by, e.g. saying, out loud a nonsense syllable like "DAH" three times, (1) when you start your swing (2) at the top of your backswing, and (3) as you hit the ball. Sounds crazy but it actually WORKS.

Ever since Adam and Eve, through knowledge, abandoned innocence, man has been more concerned with its own self than with the act of seeing and appreciating things as they are. The human body is a miracle and capable of doing incredible things, and the golf swing does not represent a big performance problem, if only we could let it feel, learn and perform the way is was meant to do it. The golfer's ego, however, is constantly trying to interfere in order to justify itself; to find a way to achieve fame and glory, proving not to others, but to itself, that it deserves admiration, respect or at least recognition. This ego -the ego not originally created with the human body, and therefore not capable to perform with the requirements of golf- will never let the golfer do the things the human body is capable of doing, unless we learn to quiet this ego. The technics shown in this book are the best way I can think of to start learning to focus, feel, learn and perform to excel in golf. This will in turn will teach the golfer to pursue performance in any other field of human activity.

This book provided for me a new perspective on how I approach shotmaking. I've always had a decent short game and plenty of power, but inacuracy in ball striking has hurt my ability to score. Since reading this book one year ago I've moved from a 14 hdcp into the single digits. The book is not a miracle product, but if you are familiar with the mechanical fundamentals (read Hogan's 5 fundamentals if you aren't) and you are willing to practice, the Inner Game techniques can help one to improve. In my case this improvement was rapid, dramatic, and has stuck. I will say, that not every technique in the book has clicked with me, at least as of yet. I tried most of the methods outlined, and embraced some while setting others aside for now. For me the single instruction to visualize yourself throwing the golf ball at your target as you swing made such a dramatic improvement to my accuracy that it alone payed for the book many times over. As a more general comment, the philosophy put forth in these pages has improved my time spent on the course. I for one feel much better about my game when I focus on letting my natural abilities come through. I know that my best shots have the same quality as those of the PGA pros. Physical skill is not a deterant in my game. The only thing keeping me from performing consistently at their level is between my ears. When I head out on the course knowing that I am not going to clutter my mind with thoughts about where my right elbow is at the top of the backswing, I enjoy the game much more and shoot lower scores. Thanks much Mr. Gallwey!

The ideas presented in this book are very useful for golfers who are developing their golf swing and for those who already have a fully developed golf swing. Performing the mental exercises suggested in the book expands your prespective of what is involved in swinging a golf club. Combine the mental exercises with good mechnaics and the benefits magnify. This book is a worthwhile read and if you haven't read it, take the time to read it and try the exercises. A few thoughts from the author of The Golf Swing: It's All in the Hands.

Proposes, defends, and offers detailed first-hand phenomenological insight into a radical (by Western standards) approach to learning that maintains the master skill of all learning is "relaxed concentration" (p. xiii) coupled with trust in the body's (and mind's) ability to learn. As a sequel to the author's previous work on learning to play tennis, the book provides instruction, examples, and encouragement in becoming receptive to a natural form of learning based on focused attention and non-judgmental awareness. While the approach admittedly can seem somewhat Zen-like to most Westerners, it is consistent with the Socratic learning approach underlying much of classical education.

Oh, and by the way, it WILL reduce your handicap.

It is one of those books that concentrate on golf as a mind game. It is helpful in explaining why golf shots are difficult to repeat and we should not try to do so. Instead, look at every shot afresh and let the mind (called Self2)takes over. Self 1 is a critic and doubter and should be silenced if you are to improve your score.
While my score has not improved yet, I am beginning to enjoy my swings and putts better. Hopefully, I can do what the author did - play only once a week and still break 80.
Good read if techniques are getting you nowhere in your game.

Probably the best golf book written by a non professional. W. Timothy Gallwey is a tennis player that applied the physics of tennis ball flight to golf. (The Inner Game of Tennis)

Practical usable information, physics and practical application as well.

This is a book that belongs in every golfers library,

Probably the best golf book written by a non professional. W. Timothy Gallwey is a tennis player that applied the physics of tennis ball flight to golf. (The Inner Game of Tennis)

Practical usable information, physics and practical application as well.

This is a book that belongs in every golfers library,

I bought the original version quite a while ago and wanted to revisit the topic, so I bought this revised edition. The inner game principles and exercises remain valid, but are enhanced by apporpriate connection to technical teaching. The simple act of paying attention in various ways to the various aspects of the game does actually enhance the enjoyment of the game -- at least for me. One can get over-driven to be technically correct and results focused and forget the simple pleasure of the game. So far I am only dabbling with this, but I am already feeling more natural in my learning and overall approach to the game.

The Inner Game of Tennis was an extremely powerful book for me, so I had high hopes for the Inner Game of golf. I think the Inner Game of tennis captures his inner game thoughts a little more effectively.

A timeless classic that helped start the "inner game" revolution - this is the book that points golfers to the other half of the game, the inner aspect of the game. Practical without being hoakey or too metaphysical. One of those book you'll keep on your shelf forever.

While I was reading the book, I realised how dramatically true it all was !!! It's an absolute "must have" for all golfers. Your approach to the game will take a 180° twist and it will awaken your hidden golf talents. Enjoy the reading !