Mastering Golf's Mental Game

By: Michael T. Lardon, Matthew Rudy, Phil Mickelson (foreword)

Narrated by: Danny Campbell

Length: 4 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

To be a golfer is to tinker - with everything from equipment to grip to swing. But one thing most players don't give enough attention to is the mental game. Psychologists aren't a new phenomenon in golf, but Dr. Michael Lardon is a different breed of performance coach. Instead of sending his players into a losing battle against emotion, indecision, and fear on the golf course, he shows them how to organize their thoughts and use them for maximum performance. His step-by-step Pre-Shot Pyramid provides any player with the ideal blueprint for shot setup, and his revolutionary Mental Scorecard will give you the tools to accurately measure what you really do on the golf course. You will learn the same techniques that Dr. Lardon shares with Phil Mickelson and dozens of other tour players, including the tools that helped Mickelson right himself after the 2012 U.S. Open to win the British Open a month later with a historic final round.

Mastering Golf's Mental Game will change the way you think about golf, and is a must-listen for any player serious about shooting better scores and getting more enjoyment out of the game.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2014 Michael Lardon (P)2014 Tantor

The Best Book on Golf's Mental Game

I am a single digit golfer who has read numerous books on the mental side of golf (Rotella, Parent, Sieger, Valiante, others) and in my opinion this book is simply the best. He provides practical advice that has dropped my handicap over 2 strokes in the past year (to 5.7). What resonated with me the most includes becoming more process oriented and to follow the pre-shot pyramid. Summary: before every shot use your left brain to diligently calculate distance, wind, hazards, club, use the right brain to visualize and feel the shot, then execute instinctively without any thinking. Keep track of your pre-shot routine and give yourself a score every hole (he calls it the mental scorecard). All I can say is that IT WORKS... and it works immediately. I saw an instant improvement in my game and increased my ability to mentally focus (and win more games/tournaments). The difficulty comes in maintaining that mental focus all year. I revisit this book whenever my game starts to get away from me.

Highly highly recommended. This guy is brilliant.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Very good

Good book. Detailed descriptions of how to improve the mental game and real life examples. I will try it on the course.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great book for Golfers

I loved the info! I took some of the info out to the range and focused my practice. I immediately saw and felt a difference.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Was a 6 handicap. Now after 70, 72, 73 will be different.

If your looking for an edge on your game without a swing change this is the book. Simple process and lead to better scores immediately. Thanks. Great part in just getting started.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Makes sense, will give this a go

I liked the book. It was very understandable, consistent with other Mental books on golf I have read. The important aspect or new thing this book delivers is the Mental Scorecard. I will definitely put that in play

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Shot, 78, 74, 73, & 72 after. Prior 82, 83, 82.

Best book I 've applied and the results speak volume of the small stuff. Tiger should read.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good over

It was not bad but apparently there are some sheets that you need to see, hard to do that with an audiobook.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Book good - still have to execute the practice

Narrator was good and everything moves quite fast. I listened to the whole thing in 1 day which is not common for me. Lots of great ideas. Now I need to listen again to put the items into practice.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great stuff.

A must listen if you want to improve your golf scores. All sports are 90% mental so this is more important than the physical part of the game.

Well done, another way to approach the mental game

Listened to this twice and printed the materials. I also have read and listened to all of Dr. Rotella's books. Dr Rotella's wants a golfer to focus on a target when swinging a golf club. Dr. Lardon's approach is similar in that he states no golfer can execute a good shot regularly while thinking mechanical thoughts. Instead of focusing on a target and score he proposes a "mental" scoring method which you complete after each shot. Supposedly it helps to get you into or very close to the zone.

No mechanics are mentioned which is great. He stresses practice or performance goals and result goals, so no one need fear they will ruin their swing by reading or listening to this book.

I have yet to have the opportunity utilize this while playing but will try it for 10 rounds and see if it works. I have only been in the zone for 18 holes once in my life and if this approach gets me close to that I will call Dr. Lardon and treat him to a round of golf and dinner.