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 Fearless Golf  
Author: Gio Valiante
ISBN: 0385511922
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   Book Review
A pioneering sports psychologist, Dr. Valiante, has studied the sources of an athleteÕs fear, investigated the physiological impact of fear on performance, and developed a groundbreaking program for conquering it. In "Fearless Golf", Valiante explains how fear plays havoc with physical motion and presents specific ways readers can break free of its grasp and perform at their best. Emphasizing the need to replace a fixation-on-results with a commitment to mastery of oneself and oneÕs mind, his approach will not only help golfers reach their true potential, it will make playing every round fun again. With detailed instructions, and quotes and anecdotes given exclusively to Dr. Valiante from the best players in the game - including Jack Nicklaus, Davis Love III, Justin Leonard, Ernie Els, and other tour professionals - this book is the ultimate guide to the mental game.

Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game

FROM THE PUBLISHER

As Jack Nicklaus once observed, fear is the golfer's greatest enemy, inspiring Tiger Woods to "refuse" to give in to this debilitating emotion. It can turn professionals into jelly, and it rules the games of most amateurs. It alters swing paths, causes "tap-in" putts to go awry, and transforms a golfer from a brilliant shot-maker on the practice range into an incompetent hack on the course.

Most golfers know this; they just don't know what they can do about it. That's where Gio Valiante comes in. A pioneering sports psychologist, Dr. Valiante has studied the sources of an athlete's fear, investigated the physiological impact of fear on performance, and, most important of all, developed a groundbreaking program for conquering it. With Valiante's help, Chad Campbell recently moved from 98th in the world to 7th, and Justin Leonard went from 3 consecutive missed cuts to 3 consecutive top 10's. By applying Fearless Golf, Davis Love III went from 0 wins in 2002 to 4 wins in 2003, and Chris DiMarco made the 2004 Ryder Cup Team.

In FEARLESS GOLF, Valiante explains how fear plays havoc with physical motion and presents specific ways readers can break free of its grasp and perform at their best even under the most extreme pressure. Emphasizing the need to replace a fixation-on-results with a commitment to mastery of oneself and one's mind, his approach will not only help golfers reach their true potential, it will make playing every round fun again. With detailed instructions, and quotes and anecdotes given exclusively to Dr. Valiante from the best players in the game-including Jack Nicklaus, Davis Love III, Justin Leonard, Ernie Els, and other tour professionals, FEARLESS GOLFis the ultimate guide to the mental game, the hottest topic in golf today.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Sports psychologist Valiante follows in the footsteps of Bob Rotella (Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect) and W. Timothy Gallwey (The Inner Game of Golf) by coming at golf from a psychological perspective. A "mental game consultant" for Golf Digest, the Golf Channel, and the University of Florida, he has worked with some of the PGA's biggest players. In popular parlance, Valiante is golf's equivalent of Oprah's Dr. Phil. Here, he uses real-life examples to demonstrate his operative principles, of which the foremost is overcoming fear: "When I turn my critical eye on all these [gold championships] there is one thing the great champions manage to overcome." He offers quotes from and anecdotes about both historical greats (Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus) and current top performers on the PGA tour (Chad Campbell, Justin Leonard, Davis Love III). The upside to Fearless Golf is that it is highly readable and offers insight for most golfers. On the other hand, following Rotella's seminal book, this breaks little new ground. Libraries with large sports collections might consider.-Steve Silkunas, North Wales, PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.