While corresponding with Reid Sheftall, M.D. after reading his book, he introduced me to Tom Coyne, author of Paper Tiger, a hilarious golf story about his journey pursuing his PGA Tour card. I ordered the book and finished reading it in 2 days. I've honestly never laughed out loud more while reading a book! I can't tell you how many times I interrupted my wife, who could care less about golf, to read her another funny paragraph. Based on her response, I think you may need to be an avid golfer to fully appreciate this story of a weekend golfer who pursues his dream.


Tom Coyne's Paper Tiger

Growing up as a young golfer and caddy, Tom Coyne could hit towering drives from the tee, and wondered if the pros succeeded because they were more innately talented or just because they were more obsessed. But after self-destructing in a freshman tryout for his college golf team, he resigned himself to a playing career on the scramble-and-kegger charity circuit. Now, on the cusp of turning thirty, overweight and saddled with a 14 handicap, Coyne makes the dramatic decision to embark on a yearlong quest to doing everything he can to elevate his game--and discover if he has what it takes to make it through the PGA Tour Qualifying School.

Unlike Sheftall's more independent pursuit of the same goal, Coyne gets started by purchasing dozens of golf books, instructional videos, gadgets and swing aids, hits tens of thousands of golf balls, and spends a small fortune on a swing doctor, nutrition expert, fitness coach, and sports psychologist. Although Coyne's approach does prove to deliver results, shaving strokes and pounds, the journey proves to be a wild and humorous one.

While seeking a balance between knowing and doing, he asks, "we call it a thinking man's game, but with so many golf problems and solutions to consider, might we have turned golf into an over-thinking man's game?" He realizes, "the mind-set of the writer and the tournament golfer could not be more opposed. The writer over-thinks by necessity, collecting and complicating small details, while the tournament golfer needs to be simple, myopic, fixated on one detail at a time." He receives some valuable advice, "If you're going to get really good at this game, you're going to have to get a little dumber."

Regarding fitness Coyne declares, "the jury is still out in the case of more hours on the range versus more hours in the gym. Can sit-ups really save you strokes? The silhouettes of Craig Stadler, John Daly, Tim Herron don't bolster the case that you need to love the salad bar to make low numbers. Yet I fear that their breed may be endangered... The way Tiger looks and dresses, the way the young Euro thoroughbreds wear outfits that seem to be painted on--it is all meticulous, and to be a winner in golf's future, there might be little room for anything but."

Coyne's commitment to nutrition and fitness pays off as he sheds pounds and gains strength and flexibility, but he fully experiences the karma of fitness: "The more fun you have letting yourself go, the more you will suffer as you fight your way back."

While diligently improving his health and swing, he also gets properly fit with the latest and greatest equipment from Mizuno. He acknowledges, "that while technology has gotten better--shafts move faster and balls move further--but if we don't complement some of the advances in equipment with advances in our own makeup, faster means wilder, longer means wronger." His dedication to improving his own makeup gradually does deliver results - Coyne lowers his index from the mid-teens to scratch by the time he's ready for Q-School.

But as expected, Coyne's biggest challenges to playing competitively turn out to be mental. He faces these inevitable (and sometimes unexpected) challenges with resigned humor, and his readers are rewarded by learning from these experiences as well.

Perhaps the biggest lesson Coyne learns during his journey is learning to "get to yes" before pulling the trigger. He's first introduced to this concept when he mets a young golfer at Q-School the year prior to his own attempt. This golfers shares that "he tries to work on his visualization. I don't think too much about mechanics. You can't let yourself get wrapped up in mechanics, not when you're trying to make a number. I try to see my target, I think about the shot I want to hit. If I can be clear about my target and commit to what I'm trying to do, if I can get to yes before I go, and not pull the trigger till I do--then more often than not, it's a pretty solid result."

Coyne replies, "my current concept of target is anyplace where I have better than a 50 percent chance of finding my ball."

After interviewing a handful of potential swing coaches, Coyne eventually chooses the same coach this young golfer recommends. This coach teaches him, "If you step up to the first tee wondering what you're going to shoot, thinking about how you're going to play, how you're going to finish against your opponent, then you have adopted what I call a Questioning Mind-set. The only expectation that you can bring into a golf shot--the only expectation that works--is expecting yourself to pick a target with complete focus and clarity, and commit to that one, single golf shot. This is a Yes Mind-set, not a hoping or questioning way of looking at your golf swing. You are going to have to accept your results and your scores for what they are. You have to start thinking about your success on the golf course as whether or not you gave your best effort on each and every shot, one at a time.... when you can do that, then the winning often takes care of itself."

But as the pressures of competition take a toll on his body and mind as he approaches his goal, Coyne ultimately must choose between the love of a fickle game and the love of the long-suffering woman who has stood by him throughout all the shanks, hooks, yips, and chili-dips. By the end of the story, you'll find that Coyne finally figures out how to pick his target and his "getting to yes" will certainly move you.

Tom Coyne, Paper Tiger

Labels: Books, Paper Tiger, Tom Coyne