Golf Mystics: Is golf really "a good walk spoiled?"

Let's ask Michael Murphy, author of the wildly popular "Golf in the Kingdom" and founder of California's Esalen Institute, once the hotbed of higher consciousness that emerged from the post-Vietnam war-torn Sixties.

Consider the conundrum of Shivas Irons, the mystical hero of Murphy's story. Many say the book is a divine meditation on the royal and ancient game, defying categorization when it was first published in 1972, and apparently still does. Instantly hailed as a classic, Golf in the Kingdom is an altogether unique confluence of fiction, philosophy, myth, mysticism, enchantment, and golf instruction. The central character is a wily Scotsman named Shivas Irons, a golf professional by vocation and a shaman by design, whom Murphy, as participant in his own novel, meets in 1956 on the links of legendary Burningbush, in Fife. As Shivas demonstrates how the swing reflects the soul, their golf quite literally takes on a metaphysical glow. The events alter not only Murphy's game, but they also radically alter his mind and inner vision; it's truly unforgettable.

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