The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf and the Game of Life

The Bhagavad Gita is a rather complex book to tackle and render in terms of today's society that is radically different from the one in Ancient India stretching back at least 3000 years ago in which the original text was composed. What many modern first time readers might find seemingly antiquated (based on how effectively the translator of the text from Sanskrit can manage to convey) is actually the original author's sole point of making a fine line between the materialistic expectations of contemporary society of living an ideal life and how the reader himself should expect to live it.Thus, when the warrior prince Arjuna is suffering from anguish over having to face his own kin in battle, he uses his contemporary society as the scapegoat for his own personal inertia into joining the fight. His counsel, Krishna sees through his self deception and enlightens him on the true nature of the Self and how it is imperative he acts according to his duties as a warrior without becoming detached to the materialistic expectations. Thus, begins the narrative of the Bhagavad Gita in which Krishna uses a mix of metaphysics ,philosophy and general rationality to show Arjuna the path of doing one's "dharma" , or sacred duty.The author of Bagger Vance , Pressfield, has done a laudable job of extracting the core philosophical tenets from the Gita and present them to an American audience in a setting that they may be more familiar with, the Great Depression which was a period of suffering for many in the country. Just as Krishna counseled Arjuna thousands of years ago on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, we find our protagonist , the golfer R. Junnah , being led through the same journey of Self discovery by his caddie, the mysterious Bagger Vance. Now, to gain a true appreciation of the teachings of the Gita, one often has to repeatedly go back to the text and reabsorb the tenets . Obviously, with a novel, this is really not typical practice. Thus, Pressfield definitely faced some problems in truly bringing to life the Gita's teachings. However, he makes up for this as much as possible by sprinkling in some humor from time to time.I personally liked his interpretation of Krishna's famous teaching of the "Field and the Knower of the Field".The ending seems a bit contrite and completely lunges on the supernatural .By contrast, the Gita within its narrative managed to maintain the fine line between the metaphysics and the real life implications. But overall, it is pardonable since overall, Pressfield seems to have a genuine interest in getting American readers interested in the Gita's teachings. He even begins the book with a quote from the Gita.So definitely at least a one time read !

I kind of backed into reading The Legend of Bagger Vance. I was familiar with the adaptation of the story from watching the movie (which I liked), but I started reading Steven Pressfield’s books because I was trying to improve myself as an author – and I was very interested in how he has been so successful – so I started with The Authentic Swing: Notes from the Writing of a First Novel…which, by the way, knocked my socks off (see my review). Of course, after reading the notes and backstory of how he wrote The Legend of Bagger Vance, I had no choice but to read it. That was a great decision.I’m a golf duffer, but was raised around the game, my father having won a Bob Hope Pro-Am, and my mother having won a Regional while we were stationed in Turkey. I always liked it, but never really took it up until I was stationed in Hawaii – and I only took it up to pass the time. I really fell in love with the game, but as all golfers know, I never really understood the almost mystical fascination of the game. I don’t think I ever will.The Legend of Bagger Vance takes a hard run at revealing some of the underlying forces. The book equates “The Authentic Swing” with a person’s own True Self, which oftentimes gets lost in the press of life. When someone loses or walks away from themselves, they often lose sight of their own purpose, who they actually are. This is book is ostensibly about golf, but moreover, I saw it as a book about being true to yourself, to your life, and the people in it.This is a very good book. It makes me at once want to read the classics (Wordsworth – “trailing clouds of glory” – pg. 70), and go out on the course (evolution of the swing, the Self – pgs. 71, 72). The feeling of being out in the open air, in nature, striving hard to relax into yourself is almost addictive.The character development, narrative device, plot, and just good storytelling brought me deep into the world of Rannulf Junah, Bagger Vance, and the world of Golf and Self, as seen through the eyes of the young Hardison Greaves.For most of the book (first and last parts), it is an enthralling book that completely drew me in. I was on the links with them, watching the external, and more interestingly, the internal struggles. I could see them, feel them, I was one of them. As a combat vet myself, I completely empathized with Junna’s struggle to get past all the horror of war and try to come to grips with himself in the rest of the book, but the center part of the book goes too far down the metaphysical rabbit hole for me. It distracted me from what I saw as the main theme, and pushed me back out of the pages into just reading a book. The departure into a realm wherein the characters were not just in a mystical, internal place during their struggles, but actually regressed through time, space and reality into the distant past and other spiritual or cosmic planes completely threw me off the story, and reminded me of some ‘60’s trip in the middle of a ‘20’s struggle for self.Despite what appeared to be a distracting departure, this book is well worth the read. Thoroughly enjoyable, deeply introspective, and a strong reminder of the constant struggle with the adversity of life and trauma to retain – or find – your one, true Self.

I once cursorily watched this on a long haul flight (in between the drinks trolley and choice of chicken or beef) and I was like 'A movie about golf..OK'..but it's so not. It's a wondrous metaphor for life. Based on a story from the Hindu Bhaghavad Gita I didn't 'get it' till I watched it again a few years later and then I was 'How did I miss all this? It's a film about how to get yourself unstuck. Watch it with a relaxed open mind. If your life is a bit gnarly and you can't see the wood for the trees, watch this.

My favourite film of all time. Now I can read the story at leisure. Unlike many books/films this one did deviate very much from the original. Loved it and highly recommended for everyone, golfers and non golfers alike. It has a moral story that goes beyond the golf course - essential reading I think

As a new recruit to the ranks of golf, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It just gives a different view of the game of golf, or the game of life. Not sure which. The writing has the feel of Alistair Cooke about it. An easy, quick read that is well worth it.

I loved the film and bought the book for a friend and she loved it!!

Good film - great castingBook is better