Dick Coop - Biography
Dr. Richard Coop is a Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he is a consultant to all the athletic teams in the area of Mental Skills Training and Performance Enhancement. In addition, he has worked with a number of professional golfers on the PGA, Senior PGA and LPGA Tours. A partial list of these golfers includes Payne Stewart, Corey Pavin, Ben Crenshaw, Larry Mize, Jim Gallagher, Jr., Mark O'Meara, Scott Simpson, Steve Pate, Nick Faldo, Bob Estes, Bob Tway, Gene Littler and Donna Andrews. Players with whom Dr. Coop has worked have won six British Opens, four U.S. Opens, four PGA Championships and seven Master's. Dr. Coop has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Academy of Golf at the Hills of Lakeway in Austin, Texas and at Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Florida, as well as an instructor in the Jack Nicklaus Golf Schools at the two academies. He has also been an instructor in the Golf Advantage Schools at Pinehurst Country Club in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Dr. Coop has been a continuing consultant to the PGA in the area of educating, teaching and playing professionals in the mental side of golf. Dr. Coop has lectured in a number of sectional meetings of the PGA and is an instructor in the PGA sponsored "Playing Schools" for professionals. Additionally, he has been a continuing consultant to the PGA Tour on the mental side of golf.
For the past twenty-five years, Dr. Coop has worked with both amateur and professional players on the psychology of golf. In 1978, he co-authored with Dr. Gary Wiren a popular booked entitled, "The New Golf Mind" which discribes the mental side of golf and how it directly affects each and every individual player. Dr. Coop also co-authored an audiotape/workbook with Dr. Robert Rotella. This tape/manual set has been particularly well received by touring professionals and low handicap amateurs. In April, 1993 Dr. Coop published his most recent book, "Mind Over Golf," with MacMillan Publishing. Dr. Coop has also written articles for Golf Digest on the psychology of golf. In November 1985, he began writing a column for each issue of Golf Illustrated on the mental side of golf and has published over 55 articles and columns in this magazine. At the present time, Dr. Coop is the mental game consultant on the staff of Golf Magazine.
Dr. Coop has spoken to many business organizations over the years including J.P. Stevens Textiles, AMACO Corporation, Smithsonian Magazine, Sports Management Institute, Computerland Corporation, Mass Mutual Company and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development. He combines the principles of sports psychology and how the mind works during competition with analogies to business operations. His specialty is in helping persons in sports and business to achieve flow state concentration at higher levels of frequency.
Dr. Coop has also worked with baseball players in both the American and National leagues football players in the NFL and basketball players in NBA. Additionally, he has worked with four NASCAR drivers over the past ten years.
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