Golf with Deepak

For golfers seeking an excuse to skip church on Sundays, this is a major theological breakthrough.

"Golf for Enlightenment" is the 35th book by Chopra, the New Age guru whose resume of spiritual accomplishments includes an essay titled "Does God Have Orgasms?" and a $35-million libel lawsuit -- later settled out of court -- that he called "an act of love" designed to raise the magazine to "a higher state of awareness."

To find out more, I recently made a pilgrimage to Chopra headquarters in Carlsbad to play a few holes with the Lord of Links himself.

Dubbed "the poet-prophet of alternative medicine" by Time magazine, the 56-year-old physician boasts legions of devotees -- from Mikhail Gorbachev and Bill Clinton to Madonna and Michael Jackson. He's such a superstar, the story goes, that a London fan once interrupted him dining out with several companions and said, "I hope your friends don't mind, but could I get your autograph?" After obtaining the signature, the fan left and Chopra resumed talking with his friends -- George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Before teeing up in Carlsbad, I stepped into the lobby gift shop of Chopra's two-story training center, where the smell of smoldering incense wafts past Hindu statues, bottles of massage oil, "Eternal Om" CDs and boxes of Three Spices Sinus Complex tablets.

From there, it was a short walk to the clubhouse. Chopra, wearing charcoal slacks, a black polo shirt and a leather newsboy cap, arrived moments later aboard a gleaming golf cart.

Right away, it seemed like a mismatch. Although Chopra learned the sport just 14 months ago, he plays every day and uses custom clubs. I hadn't golfed in nine years and my so-called clubs, which I found at a garage sale, cost less than the box of golf balls I bought for the day.

If golf is a metaphor for one's spiritual health, I was in serious trouble. And maybe Chopra needed a soul tune-up too.

Golf, he writes, "has the ability to bring out the truth about a person almost immediately. I know of corporations that won't hire a CEO until he is taken out on the golf course to be observed, unbeknownst to him, by a psychologist