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Breaking the Slump: How Great Players Survived Their Darkest Moments in Golf — and What You Can Learn from Them
Jimmy Roberts
By
Published: Apr 13, 2009
Category:
Non Fiction
The most fun I had involving golf occurred half a century ago, when I watched John Sebastian start to remove a red dress from his prom date on the putting green of our prep school’s course. He got expelled, which was no big deal for him — a year later, he started a band called The Lovin’ Spoonful. It totally spoiled golf for me, however; nothing Tiger Woods achieves with a club can ever equal what John Sebastian could do with one hand.
Almost forty million Americans don’t feel this way, and they not only watch a white pellet disappear into a blue sky on their giant home screens, they actually leave home to play this sport. Most don’t seem to do it well — I guess it’s a hard game to master. And if book sales are any guide, folks who might never pick up a novel will rush out to buy some new tome about chip shots.
Jimmy Roberts should be congratulated for his restraint — the sportscaster won eleven Emmys before he decided to add Breaking the Slump to the tower of golf books. And he should be commended for his modesty; by his account, he’s a lackluster golfer. Then he decided to take golf more seriously. One way was to work on his game. The other was to interview great golfers about the days — or months — when they found themselves playing lackluster golf. To each, he asked: How did you get out of your slump?
Eighteen quality golfers responded. (Well, seventeen if you don’t include one famous duffer, former President George H.W. Bush, who offers such useful advice as
