As we come to the end of another year, I think it is beneficial to do two things. 1)reflect on the past year (what you did well and what mistakes can we learn from) 2. Set goals and look ahead to 2010 (what do you want to accomplish and more importantly do different and improve on). I enjoy looking at my goals that I had set to see which ones I accomplished and which ones that I didn’t and may want to carry over to next year. I encourage you all to do these things as well. Break them down into different categories (golf, spiritual, career, fitness etc.). I am not going to bore you with all my goals and aspirations but I will share with you a few things that I think might spark some interest in your growth as a golfer and as a person. One of the traits that we live by at the Dana Rader Golf School is being a continuous learner in all aspects of life. I work with a group of go getters that will not let you rest on your success and that keeps me on my toes when it comes to growth as a teacher/coach and as an individual which I like. We all enjoy sharing our knowledge gained from the books we read in our book club sessions or on our own and our best practice trips from other golf schools or facilities. I am a veracious reader and always have 3 to 4 books going at one time. If someone recommends a book I usually find a way to get it and read it. I often get the question from students or people that I meet. “What are you reading?” or “what are your favorite golf books”.  I would guess that I have read hundreds of golf books and you might be surprised that I do read about other things that I find interesting and might help me in life or my career.  So I made a list of the books that I read in 2009 (the ones that I could remember) and also a short list of my favorite golf books that I would recommend having in your library. Although I do think it is difficult to learn everything about golf from a book, it is a great place to start.  One of my idols, Mr. Jim Rohn said,”There is no coincidence why there is always a library in houses of $250,000 or more.” So here is some food for thought or bread for the head. I encourage you all to take some time to write down your goals for the upcoming year and reflect (good or bad) on the past year.  I hope you enjoy my list and would love to hear about some books that inspired you in your life.

Guru’s 2009 Book List :

1.The Power of Nice by Kaplan, Koval

2.Your 15th Club The Inner Secret to Golf by Rotella

3. The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

4. The Power of Who by Bob Beudine

5. Take your performance to the next level, 50/50, secrets I learned from running 50 marathons in 50 days  by Dean Karnazes

6.Going  The Extra Mile by Pam Reed

7. Mind Over Golf by Dick Coop

8. Instinct Putting by Alpenfels

9. The Seven Principles of Golf  by Darrin Gee

10. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

11. Influencer- the power to change anything by Patterson

12. The impact Zone by Bobby Clampett

13. 25 ways to win with people by John Maxwell

14. Breaking the Slump by Jimmy Roberts

15. What happy people know by Dan Baker

Some of my favorite golf books:

1. Rock Solid Golf by Dana Rader

2. Swing Secrets and Lies by Mike Hebron

3. Perfectly Balanced Golf by Chuck Cook

4. Ben Hogan’s 5 lessons

5. the 30 second golf swing by T.J. Tomassi

6. Golf My Way by Jack Nicklaus

7 Flick on Golf by Jim Flick

8. On learning Golf by Percy Boomer

9. The Golfing Machine by Homer Kelly

10.Golfs Sacred Journey- seven days at  the links of utopia by David L. Cook

 

What I am currently reading:

Homer Kelleys Golfing Machine, the curious quest that solved golf by Scott Gummer

Sole Purpose- shoes of hope from the feet of a samariatan by Manny Ohonme.

Let me know of  some of your goals and I hope it includes the help from the GURU and the Dana Rader Golf School.

Happy New Year  and God Bless,

Guru