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What: “Be the Ball: A Golf Instruction Book for the Mind”

Authors: Charlie Jones and Kim Doren

Publisher: Andrews McMeel

Price: $14.95

Charlie Jones, the veteran sportscaster, and Kim Doren, director of advertising and marketing for Cobra Golf, have teamed up for their second book. Their first was “You Go Girl!”

For this handy 5 1/2-by-7-inch, 212-page hardcover book, they interviewed more than 100 professional and amateur golfers, golf teachers, celebrities and psychologists to determine the connection between what goes on in the mind and what happens as a result during a round of golf.

This book is not to be confused with “Being the Ball” by Billy Balata (real name Billy Muster), which came out last summer. That was a self-help satire. This book takes a more serious approach.

Both got their titles from a line by Ty Webb, the character played by Chevy Chase in the movie “Caddyshack.” Said Webb: “Stop thinking. Let things happen. Be the ball.”

In the foreword for “Be the Ball,” Lee Trevino writes: “You’d be surprised what would happen if you were to go home, sit in a chair on your back porch and read ‘Be the Ball,’ and then think about what it has to say. Next, repeat it in your mind. This would be as beneficial as going out to the driving range and hitting two buckets of balls.”

Trevino is also included in the heart of the book. “Sure, you’ve got to practice until you’ve learned all the fundamentals,” he says, “but if you’ve been playing golf as long as I have, it’s not the practice anymore, it’s the mind.”

Says Tiger Woods: “Physically, you can make a mistake because the golf swing is quick and a lot of things can go wrong in that one motion. But you have all the time in the world to prepare for it. That’s what I believe. But that’s just me. I’m a simple man.”

The book does have some humor. Jack Lemmon talks about the time he was playing Brentwood Country Club with Peter Jacobsen and hit two balls out of bounds and into the street off the eighth tee. Turns out both balls hit the same car. “After that, I figured I was a born golfer,” Lemmon says.

Jack Nicklaus talks about making a quadruple bogey at Augusta in 1992, then going on a birdie run. “You have to concentrate and work on every shot,” Nicklaus says. “You need to have a full, clear mind and know your parameters, your fronts, your backs, and your sides. Make up your mind about what you’re trying to do and do it.”