Don't Choke: A Champion's Guide to Winning Under Pressure

by Gary Player

Gary Player is one of golf's greatest champions. As one of the "Big Three" of golf's golden era (with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer), he helped launch golf as a major international sport. He sits fourth on the list of most major victories on the PGA Tour and built a reputation of being fearless on the course and steely on the greens. Don't Choke is his look at what it takes to achieve success when the pressure is on. Player explains how and why he became a champion and what it takes to win in big-time golf, but he also explains how learning to cope in pressure situations can help anyone. He will review the most pressure-packed situations in his eighteen major victories and how he managed to succeed when things were most tense.
But this book is not all about golf. Player has had a long successful career in business since his playing days-designing golf courses, marketing golf equipment and sportswear, and more. If you want to do better in a boardroom or in your next job interview, Player's advice will help. This personal glimpse into the mind of a champion offers lessons to everyone who has to face pressure-and today that is all of us.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

207 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 9, 2010

About the author

Gary Player, The Black Knight

Gary Player has won 167 professional golf tournaments worldwide and is one of only five men to capture golf’s coveted career Grand Slam. He won nine Major championships on the PGA Tour and nine Major championships on the Senior Tour, and is the only player in history to complete the career Grand Slam on both Tours. Off the course, Player has raised more than $62 million for underprivileged children’s education globally through the efforts of The Player Foundation; he has designed nearly 400 golf courses worldwide; he has bred more than 2000 winning racehorses on the Gary Player Stud Farm in South Africa; and in recognition of his achievements in golf as well as his dedication to charity, Player has received many awards including the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award and the PGA Tour's Lifetime Achievement Award. He currently serves as the Global Ambassador to the World Golf Hall of Fame and has been dubbed the Black Knight, Mr. Fitness, and The World’s Most Traveled Athlete™ having travelled more than 25 million kilometers. In 2015, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his career Grand Slam achievement and his 80th birthday. In 2016 he captained the South African Olympic Golf Team in Rio de Janeiro at the Summer Olympics.

Reviews

[Tariq Mahmood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its another rags to riches story. Gary managed to achieve great results at a relatively young age. Shear hard work and determination sprinkled with hope seems to have kept be his winning formula. But the the book is only written for young people hoping for great results and not for middle class average weekend golfer like me. Because for me most of the great saying are too late unfortunately. so where Gary talks about the importance of memory quoting the time when he was playing badly and is buoyed by an early memory of a Majors win, me in a similar situation is in turn hounded by an early memory of a duff shot! Gary in this book has little to offer chronic sufferers like me. So while I would highly recommend this book to youngsters, I don't think middle age chokers will benefit a lot from this particular narrative.

[John Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's a half full guy. Very Inspirational, cultivate pressure.

[Jude · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book on mental toughness, self-mastery, and maintaining focus on the right things.

[Steven Beningo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that was decent, but a bit underwhelming. It would have been nice to learn more about Gary Player's business work and his experiences playing in non-major tournaments.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book that shows the mental grind required to win in Golf. The points talked about in the book by Gary Player can be translated into any other sport an athlete is looking to excel under pressure during. Gary player uses past experiences from all if his major championships throughout his Professional golf career. A great book for anyone looking to excel in sports when the most amount of pressure is on the line.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was given this book at Christmas and found it to be pretty interesting and an easy read. Some good encouragement to press on, and have a positive attitude. Not a Christian, but a Gary Player is a man of traditional values and standards and extremely dedicated to what he does.

[Rob Dhillon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of old school wisdom that adds to the aura of Gary Player. I would watch him play golf.

[Justin repking · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting mindset he had throughout his career. He really believed in controlling the mind which helped him win so much in his life. Was a very fast read and learned a lot about older golfers.