Dottie Pepper Brings Back Bogey

Dottie Pepper's little buddy, Bogey, is back in a new adventure. The second volume in the delightful children’s book series, “Bogey Tees Off,” tackles the subject of youth bullying and will be released in mid-August. Pepper is the book's co-author with Scott Fuller. It was illustrated by Shon Watkins.

“We are teeing up a serious issue and wanted to time the release when kids were starting to get back to school," said Pepper, formerly the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world and currently a broadcaster for ESPN.

The new book again features the series’ title character, Bogey Ballton, who is attending Best Ball School in an attempt to earn his tour card.  Because he is a range ball, Bogey becomes an easy target for a group of bullies until the other students, led by Bogey’s bully busting gal pal Daisy, stand up and put a stop to the bullying.

Scooter Pines Publishing, a division of Scooter Pines Holdings, LLC, is publishing “A Lesson About Bullying.”  The new book will be formally introduced during the Wegmans LPGA Championship, to be held Aug. 11-17 at, Monroe Golf Club in Pittsford, N.Y.

A portion of the book’s proceeds will go to help support The LPGA Foundation, whose mission is to empower and support girls and women through developmental and humanitarian golf initiatives.  Additionally, 150 autographed “Bogey Tees Off Vol. 1” books will be distributed throughout the Rochester area to help promote literacy and the tournament.

"In addition to giving back, Bogey's mission is to get kids playing golf, reading, and having fun," Fuller said.  “The Wegmans LPGA Championship is the perfect place to have fun and introduce our female hero, Daisy!”

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Stockton Scores Again

Wouldn't you like to have a playing lesson with Dave Stockton? After all, the man won 25 times on the PGA and Senior Tours, including five majors and is known as one of the best teachers in the game--just ask Phil Mickelson, Annika Sorenstam, and Rory McIlroy! You may not be able to spend the day with him on the lesson tee or at a corporate outing, but you can pick his brain by reading his latest book, Own Your Game: How To Use Your Mind To Play Winning Golf.

Stockton uses anecdotes from his five-decade career to illustrate memorable points about the things that make a golfer successful--and none of them include taking the proper grip! Instead, he deals with the territory between your ears where the game is actually played. Topics like concentration, confidence, and composure get the full Stockton treatment, complete with helpful practical tips on how to develop them.

I found Stockton's words about visualizing the shot before you hit it to be particularly insightful. He says,

"The art of visualization is picturing in your head exactly what you want to happen and then letting your body go on a kind of autopilot and produce what you see."

Don't stand behind the ball and imagine a 320-yard drive splitting the fairway, he continues.  Instead, make your mind see the shot you normally hit--a good one, but realistic. If you have a ten-yard slice, visualize the ball doing that in the air and figure out where you have to aim to make it end up in the fairway where you want it. It's all about playing the game you have--and enjoying it.

Own Your Game is short and highly readable. It's also a small volume, so you could easily stuff it into your golf bag for a little helpful reading while you're waiting on the tee for the idiots in the group ahead to take six practice swings and chunk the ball another thirty yards down the rough.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf