New PN: Make Your Next Shot Your Best Shot

The Secret to Playing Great Golf

by Dr. Bob Rotella

“In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, . . . they had better aim at something high.”

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

FROM THE BOOK

“The ideas behind this book can be encapsulated in seven words: make your next shot your best shot.

To reach your greatest potential in golf, I want you to set your sights higher than you ever thought possible and to always think positively on your way to achieving your goals. I want you to strive for something incredible. I want you to free up your mind, focus on your process, accept whatever happens, and commit to making the next best shot by doing your process over and over until you run out of holes.

It’s really that simple, but it’s also hard to do.

As you read this book, it might seem as if I’m hammering you with the same stuff over and over—but this is what successful coaches do in other sports. You have to develop the discipline to stay interested in doing the same potentially boring thing, shot after shot, day after day after day. That’s what makes this game hard for smart people. But in coaching, that’s what gets results.

Everything in this book is going to help you do this. I want you to commit to make your next drive your best drive, your next approach your best approach, your next pitch your best pitch, your next bunker shot your best bunker shot, your next putt your best putt. I want your next practice session to be your best practice session, your next hole your best hole, your next nine your best nine. Make your next round your best round, your next tournament your best tournament, your next month your best month, and your next year your best year.

This is your challenge. Let’s get started.”

Brian's Notes

I’m a HUGE (!) fan of Bob Rotella.

This is the third Note on one of his books. We started with Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect (which is fantastic) and then covered How Champions Think (which is, in my opinion, one of the ALL-TIME best mental toughness/peak performance books).

Note: Nate Zinsser’s The Confident Mind is tied for first. And, my friend Mark Divine’s Unbeatable Mind will always have a place in the Top 3 as (a) it’s awesome and (b) it absolutely changed my life when I read it during a challenging time.

So...

During my little “read 101 books in 101 days” sabbatical last year, I decided to read a bunch of Bob’s books. In part because I love him and have fun reading everything my favorite thinkers have ever written as I look to soak up ALL the goodness they have to offer and... because, at the time, I was working with Luke Donald—the Captain of the European Ryder Cup team so I was kinda binging on all things golf and mental toughness. :)

Note: Luke is incredible. His leadership/commitment to his team was one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever witnessed. Here’s a blog post celebrating him and that experience I was privileged to have that you may enjoy. (American golf fans: Sorry. ;)

Of course, this book isn’t ultimately about “playing great golf.” It’s about living a great life. If you’re interested in either, I think you’ll enjoy it. If you’re interested in BOTH, I think you’ll really enjoy it. Get a copy here. I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas and help you apply that wisdom to YOUR life TODAY, so let’s jump straight in.

P.S. More sports/peak performance Notes you might enjoy: Go Long! by Jerry Rice, With Winning in Mind by Lanny Bassham, Changing Your Story by Bill Beswick, Wooden and Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden, and Darrin Donnelly’s Sports for the Soul series especially this one on a golfer: The Mental Game.

Big Ideas

01: DREAM BIG

02: PERSIST

03: A GENERATIONAL GOLFER

04: BOUNCE BACK

05: EFFECTIVE ROUTINES

“If you don’t have a dream, / How you gonna have a dream come true?”

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN, FROM THE MUSICAL SOUTH PACIFIC

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