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What: “Being the Ball”

Author: Billy Balata (real name Billy Muster)

Publisher: B.t.B Entertainment

Price: $9.88 (also available on audiotape, $15.99)

This self-help golf satire of barely more than 100 pages is an easy, fun read for anyone addicted to the game. Maybe the most important piece of advice is on page 67 under the heading “Why Do You Play Golf?”

The author says every golfer falls into one of two categories.

(1) You are a scratch golfer who spends five hours a day on the driving range in hopes of playing on the PGA Tour.

(2) You play golf to have fun with friends and relax outdoors.

Then comes this question: “If you’re not out to play on the tour, why do you take golf so damn seriously?”

The author offers three golden rules of golf:

(1) Golf friends will be your best friends.

(2) Winners always buy in the 19th hole.

(3) Every golf round is perfect as long as you either win money or aren’t hit by lightning.

The author, who calls himself B. Balata, was in the corporate rat race for 10 years when he quit his high-paying job. During most of the 1990s, he played every day and got his handicap down from “a sandbagging 12” to scratch. But his dream of playing in the U.S. Open never materialized.

In the book, he deals more with golf attitude than the golf swing.

“I’ve seen golfers whose relationships with friends and co-workers improved immediately after their golf attitude improved,” Balata writes.

The book is available at most bookstores or through most book-selling Web sites.