Customer Reviews:
 An acidhead's philosophizing of golf June 27, 2007
This was Out There. I'm not sure if it is for burnout golfers or just burnouts. I don't think I would classify this as a sports book, more like bad philosophy. I couldn't even believe in the main character, Shivas, I was too aware of his being a mouthpiece for Murphy's attempts to revolutionize one's conceptualization of golf...or life...or something like that...I still don't know. What the heck was his point??
 The Classic Book That Started the Non-Mechanical Revolution March 29, 2007
Golf is a great sport - we all know that. But it's only been in the past couple of decades where we started to bring the focus back on the inner and spiritual qualities of the game - it's always been there but somehow we got distracted with the mechanics and competitive nature of the game. This book is THE classic, the one that started the revolution of mental and inner golf. It took me a while to get through it the first time, but after that, I would pick it up time and time again - it's THAT kind of a book. I highly recommend it.
Golf in space and time January 29, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Patrick Murphy was told he tries too hard and thinks too much when playing golf. On the North Sea in Fife there is an ancient golf course, a golf links. The author met a philosopher-poet on a golf course in Scotland in 1956.
In 1956 Michael Murphy was on his way to India to an ashram to visit the Indian seer, Aurobindo. His mental environment at the time included sayings of Aurobindo, St John of the Cross, Plotinus, and Meister Eckhart. The name of the person in the golf course encounter is Shivas Irons. A year and a half later, in California, the voice of Shvias Irons had taken root in Murhpy's head. Richard Price, a classmate at Stanford, and Murphy set up an institute, Esalen, a residential program, to explore human potential. Murphy returned to Scotland in 1970. He found out Shivas Irons had left some time in 1963.
Personal charm is physical. Irons was not an ordinary golf porfessional. His look was part of his teaching. Shivas played in the Kingdom of Fife. He stressed adherence to the rules. The name here is Shivas as in Chivas Regal. The golf guru being described is a Scotsman.
When Murphy had dinner with Shivas and some of his friends someone said that golf is the yoga of the supermind. Supermind is a term from aurobindo. Later, when the author and Shivas went to Shivas's place, it became clear to Michael Murphy that he was being recruited as a sort of publicist to the outside world for Shivas's musings about golf and metaphysics.
In his youth, when club members had wanted Shivas to compete on the international circuit and were willing to pay his expenses, he realized that he had developed a phobia about people that would impair his playing. He had dropped out of college to pursue his spiritual researches. He did, however, enter the British Open. When he managed to overcome his shyness, it seemed that the round was being played in technicolor and that drums sounded. He saw that he could play golf and be a philosopher.
After hearing more details of Shivas's life, Michael Murphy decided that he had to leave for London right away. He was, at the time, fixated on maintaining his travel schedule of trains and so forth. In golf the ratio of goal to playing field is large. In 1944 Shivas went to the U.S. Open in San Francisco and followed Ben Hogan. Ben Hogan was a true teacher, but unconscious of it. Golf is a game of seeing and feeling. It is meant for the walking, not for the shots. The world is a Koan is one of the statements Murphy found in Shivas's notes.
A small masterpiece about the game of life July 21, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you're looking for help with your six-iron shot, look elsewhere. This book is about virutosity, mastery, and the challenge of rising above yourself.
 I don't get it! July 4, 2006
1 out of 8 found this review helpful
It's TM for golfers with a Scotish accent. Can't believe this book has a following.
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