Part travelogue, part memoir, part meditation, part paean to the greenest sport known to man, The Soul of Golf chronicles the author's journey across the United States to penetrate--and illuminate--the soul of the game.

Four Iron in the Soul by Lawrence Donegan - the hilarious inside story of Golf In this very funny sports book, young journalist Lawrence Donegan tells the story of the summer he spent caddying for Scottish golfer Ross Drummond, ranked over 400 in the world,on the European Tour. This is the amazing story of the geniuses,the cheats, the gurus and the hangers-on that make up the golf scene. A cross between Nick Hornby and Bill Bryson, this book will be loved by readers of Fever Pitch and Notes from a Small Island. 'A joy to read. Not since Bill Bryson plotted a random route through small-town America has such a breezy idea for a book had a happier or funnier result' - Lynne Truss, The Times 'Funny, beautifully observed and it tells you things about sport in general and golf in particular that nobody else had thought to pass on' - Patrick Collins, Mail on Sunday Lawrence Donegan was born in Scotland in 1961. He went to Stirling University, and had a brief spell as a pop star - he was in the band THE BLUEBELLS, who had a big hit with the infuriatingly catchy "Young at Heart", before joining the Guardian. He lives in Glasgow.

Collects fifty valuable lessons about golf and life, including anecdotes about perseverance, courage, perspective, patience, self-belief, and not taking the game--or life--too seriously.

In a game where players are expected to call their own penalties and scoring the least points leads to victory, decorum takes precedence over showmanship and philosophical questions become par for the course. Few other sports are as suited for ethical and metaphysical examination as golf. It is a game defined by dichotomies -- relaxing, yet frustrating, social, yet solitary -- and between these extremes there is room for much philosophical inquiry. In Golf and Philosophy: Lessons from the Links, a clubhouse full of skilled contributors tee off on a range of philosophical topics within the framework of the fairway. The book's chapters are arranged in the style of an eighteen-hole golf course, with the front nine exploring ethical matters of rationality and social civility in a world of moral hazards and roughs. The back nine pries even deeper, slicing into matters of the metaphysical, including chapters on mysticism, idealism, identity, and meaning. Taken together, the collection examines the intellectual nature of this beloved pastime, considering the many nuances of a sport that requires high levels of concentration, patience, and consistency, as well as upstanding moral character. Golf and Philosophy celebrates the joys and complexities of the game, demonstrating that golf has much to teach both its spectators and participants about modern life.

Golf. It's the ultimate head game. And when nothing but the best advice will do, along comes M. Scott Peck, M.D., the celebrated psychiatrist and author of the best-selling self-help book of all time, The Road Less Traveled. In Golf and the Spirit, M. Scott Peck writes a book for beginners and masters alike--and even for nongolfers. It goes beyond mechanics to explore the deeper issues, ways of successfully managing the emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of this most wonderful, maddening, deflating, and inspiring game. Playing side by side with M. Scott Peck on an imaginary course of his own design--complete with illustrations of each hole--you will come to see the profound truths in this seemingly simple game. Appreciate that life is not linear. Come to understand your own anger and how to heal that which gets in your way. Accept the gifts of humility. Appreciate kenosis, the process by which the self empties itself of self. Benefit from teachers. Know that in weakness often there is strength. Realize that to experience the blessings of golf and life fully, you must accept the divinity that underlies all things. Like the best-selling volumes of Harvey Penick and Michael Murphy, Golf and the Spirit makes a unique contribution to the literature of golf and life. It goes beyond the body to address the heart and soul of the game, creating a rare opportunity for transformation in the lives of its readers, both on and off the fairway. It seems to me the human condition is most basically that we are willful creatures living in a world that, much of the time, doesn't behave the way we want it to. We live in the tension between our will and reality. Sometimes with great effort and expertise, we can change reality or bend it to our will. At other times--also with great effort and expertise--it is we who must change by coming to accept the limitations of the world and of ourselves. How we do this--how we deal with the hazards of life--is quite akin to how we deal with the hazards of a golf course. Sooner or later golfers who stick with the game long enough will almost always come to see it as a metaphor for life. But the word metaphor fails to do justice to all that golf has to teach us. I would go even further and say that, in its own way, golf is life and, not only that, life condensed. If we choose to use it as such, I believe that golf, next to marriage and parenthood, can routinely be the greatest of life's learning opportunities.