So I am on vacation one day and I come across a childhood friend of mine in a restaurant. It turns out he followed in his father's footsteps and became a club pro. So he invites me to play a round with him and a couple rising stars. One thing led to the other and I wound up inviting the 2 rising golf professionals to come out to California for a week of fun and a little golf loop around the State: Riviera, Torrey Pines, etc.
Since I made sure I loaded up on strokes from them at the beginning of each round, I realized that they needed a little mental coaching because I was giving them a run for the strokes they gave me (and I was playing from the amateur tees vs their pro tees). I do some research and I stumble on Vijay Singh and Cristie Kerr's mental coach, Dr. Joseph Parent (together in the picture). He helped both of them get to #1 in the World. I was looking for miracles since my 2 golf pros were leaving in a few days.
I call up Doc, lucky us, he was not travelling that week and can drive down from Ojai to L.A. for a 2 day mental coaching mini-camp. WOW! I was amazed. I read his book Zen Golf and realized that this was beyond swing, alignment, skill or even gift. It was all about freeing yourself from yourself...
Since then, I've become good friends with Doc. We've been to PGA tournaments together and played rounds with a number of PGA and LPGA professionals. His teachings go beyond golf, they rest on the teachings of zen buddhism for everyday life.
