M. Scott Peck - Golf and the Spirit: Lessons for the Journey

B ecause its about the sport I most love, initially I thought this would be an easy book to write. As is typical of assumptions made about golf, I was wrong. Although this book has been a joy to write, it has also been very difficult.

Most golf books are written for those who are already enthusiasts of the game, and I hope they will be part of the audience for this one as well. But I also wanted to write for my traditional audience: women and men on a journey of spiritual growth, many of whom know nothing of golf or couldnt care less about itindeed, some of whom, on the basis of unfortunate personal experience, actively despise the sport.

So from the outset I had a dilemma: How does one simultaneously address the sophisticated and the innocent? The experienced and the inexperienced? The passionate and the uninterested? The degree to which I have succeeded in my paradoxical aims remains to be seen. But I do ask an indulgence from the reader: Temporarily set aside some of your knowledge, prejudices, and preconceptions about golf. Specifically, I request experienced golfers not to think that you know all there is to know about the game or that spirituality is of little consequence to it. Of nongolfers, including those who have been burned by the game in the past, I ask that you not consider golf to be merely frivolous on the one hand or downright masochistic on the other.

One more thing I ask. A lot about golf strikes me as frankly funnyat least when I am in a good mood. Consequently, this is the most humorous of my books, while at the same time quite serious. On occasion I have been able to juxtapose these two levels in the text. At other times I have not and have therefore relegated my sometimes lengthy humorous asides to the notes. This is not to demean them, however, and I urge you not to skip the notes. Still, to simplify your experience of the text, I have placed them at the end of each chapter, or hole. Nonetheless, I believe you will find the book more enjoyable and rewarding if you honor these notes as necessary devices to assist you in jumping back and forth between the different levels of the worlds most many-leveled sport.

Because there are so many levels to golf, each chapter, or hole, herein will function in many ways. Even on the course itself, the most experienced golfers often lose sight of the point of the game. To help you keep focused, I have begun each chapter with a brief aphorism that attempts to capture the chapters most essential message. Some of these aphorisms may seem a bit cryptic at the start. Should this be the case, I suggest you return to the aphorism as soon as you have completed that particular chapter. If you still find it cryptic, then please take the time to meditate upon it.

Thank you.