Golf in the Kingdom

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Mr. Murphy attempts to bind golf and a strange brand of mystical experience into a life altering event with far reaching ramifications both on, and off the course. It may have changed his life and improved his game, it will do little for yours. As a golf book, the writing is adequate, even above average in places. The problem is there is too little writing about golf.As a philosophical tome this effort falls flat. Shivas Irons is elevated to the level of guru because, I suppose, he gives Mr. Murphy a golf lesson with Irons’ mystical, occult philosophy centered around golf thrown in, which Irons in turn picked up from the mysterious Seamus McDuff who never really appeared in the novel (I think). Irons advocates crackpot theories about dualism, “mind at large”, “higher self”, “fertile void”, a golfers zodiac, and true gravity to the point where you begin to wonder if the author is veering off into comedy, or if Shivas Irons has and Mr. Murphy is his unwitting foil.Overall, this book reeks of sixties style psycho-babble and hippie mysticism which are both best left behind. The golf writing almost saves this book, but you can pick up most of it by skimming the first fifty pages or so. After that the book sinks into the absurd and you find yourself constantly having to stretch the limits of belief to take any of it in. Perhaps, as I do, you love golf. Fair enough. But, perhaps also, you realize that golf is just a game best understood and played from a straightforward, practical approach. A golf ball is just a golf ball, not a mystical orb symbolizing all that came before and all that is yet to come in the universe as it majestically floats against a backdrop of blue sky and still, somehow, manages to land in the rough...as this book does.

OK, so I'm an avid golfer who had never heard of this book. It popped up somewhere and the reviews looked interesting so I bought it expecting some exciting reading about golf and basic philosophy. I really got neither golf nor philosophy.I gave it three stars because it's just that - OK. The first half of the book is good reading with the discovery of the spirit of McDuff living in a cave on an anonymous golf course in Scotland by the author and a Scottish golfing legend named Shivas Irons. Murphy writes in the first person and at times it's easy to lapse into seeing the story as an actual experience, not a novel. Shivas takes Murphy through a hard learning experience during a round of golf the two play (with a third member)that starts off with Murphy being penalized for a shot that in reality, he shouldn't have been. By making Murphy play the round by the strictest of adherence to the rules of golf, he opens his mind to reality. The new revelation takes hold so fast that Murphy plays the back nine under par. Then they spend much time together in the small village and the interaction at dinner with a local family is entertaining, if not enlightening.The second half of the book had me speed-reading through philosophical clap-trap that was laborious and confusing. Aligning philosophy and golf is a stretch that Murphy doesn't quite pull off and for me, was disjointed and in many cases left me wondering what he was trying to communicate. I must say though that I have since tried to develop a relationship with my golf ball as in the book. Unfortunately, the ball often severs the relationship by divorcing me with a trip into a water hazard or stand of trees. So, it wasn't great for me but it was OK. I won't be buying the book he wrote about Shivas because this was plenty and my golf scores haven't dropped.

I found the first part of this book to be much like what most of the other readers have said: It is an entertaining story about the author's encounter with Shivas Irons.The second part of this book: Let me put it like this: There is a series of commercials airing...I don't recall what product they are advertising. In the commercials, the same three guys are standing around a barbeque grill in someone's backyard. It appears they are having some sort of football tailgate party. One of the three guys is trying to explain how grilling is related to football on some higher plane. For instance, in one commercial, he says that the lines on the grill represent the yard lines on a football field. In another, he states that they are "huddling" around the grill much like football players huddle before a play. Also, he mentions that the top to the grill is like a retractable dome on a football stadium. Well, the second half of Golf in the Kingdom is like these commercials. The author is trying to relate golf, the ball, the hole, etc. to some type of spiritual existence. Personally, I don't get it...and I've been playing golf for decades and am a practicing Buddhist. What I will admit is that how someone carries himself on the golf course is a good reflection of how he carries himself in real life (follows rules or cheats, fixes ball marks or ignores them, throws a tantrum or remains calm). However, I don't see the golf ball as some intergalactic satellite and myself as God controlling it.

This book can be described as either 99% story and 1% traditional golf instruction or 1% story and 99% non-traditional golf instruction. Either way you'd be right. If you enjoyed Quantum Golf then you will also like this book, although Golf in the Kingdom definitely goes deeper down into the rabbit hole. I can see how reviewers either love or hate this book because it is not your typical golf book. It's definitely geared more toward the "Zen" golfer who seeks improvement through abstract concepts versus hard and fast mechanical technique. Overall I enjoyed this book and I feel it is one that you can go back and re read every once in a while.

Having read over 20 golf psychology books some mentioning Golf in the Kingdom, I finally read it. Despite trying to be open to its philosophies, I found this to be almost ridiculous. I considered reading it again but can't put myself through it. Maybe I'll come back it some day.

Interesting but more about the mind than the golf

Using golf as a metaphor for understanding not just the world around us but the world inside each of us. Very good, a little more confusing than 'The legend of Bagger Vance' but on the same lines for golf as a spiritual journey to inner development. Worth reading several times to fully grasp all of the information.

A classic in alternative thinking, humour and history of rthe maddening game of golf. I really enjoyed it and am now reading it for the third time!!!

It's an okay read but there are much better books on these topics - especially those by Fred Shoemaker, who provides much clearer suggestions