The Swing: Mastering the Principles of the Game

In the text on the set-up several times he says bend from the waist,in summing up he says bend from the hips; as a scratch golfer who has played for more than 55 years I know you cannot have it both ways.

Excellent didactic from grip through follow through. This book simplifies the swing to its bare essentials. Excellent anecdotes and swing drills included. Most impressive to me is his criticism of Ben Hogan's classic "Five Step" book with reference to the shoulder plane during the swing and how it forced his swing as a young man to be too upright. This book is not for the 25 or above handicapper simply because the numerous descriptions and examples would probably hurt a very-high handicapper rather than help him/her. But for those below a 25, who are familiar with golf lingo, this book provides excellent structure for working on one's swing.

As a boy, back in the 60's, the first golf book I ever read was Hogan's "Power Golf". Soon after I read his "Five Lessons." Both are classics. The later, revered as an almost "holy" exposition of swing thought. Since that time, I've read most all the available golf texts. I have never failed to learn something from all of them, but I never felt that any of them were as seminal as either of Hogan's. Nick Price has now taken the Hogan torch. In "The Swing" he has written the next absolute classic. This book IS seminal and a must read for any golfer at any skill level. Price relates swing theory in a readable and understandable way while creating in the mind of the reader the belief that a consistent and functional golf swing is attainable. Get it, read it, live it! You will be a better golfer for having done so

Most of the top golfers in the world when they talk about how they took up the game as youngsters, talk with unabashed worship about one of three or four "master textbooks"-- golf instruction books which they discovered when they were young, and read until the pages were mangled and the spine was re-taped. Ben Hogan's "Five Fundemental Lessons," Jack Nicklaus' "Golf My Way," along with primal texts by Bobby Jones, Greg Norman and Harvey Pennick have been elevated to that pantheon. Now Nick Price, one of the most thoughtful, scientific and realistic students of the game, has created a master text which will serve as the bible for the next generation of young tigers just learning the game. Price, writing with Lorne Rubenstein, has created a book which is organized and written clearly, simply and effectively. Price devotes nearly 80 pages to "the swing," before offering his instructions on the short game and putting. His chapter "the theory of the efficient swing," should be the first words read by any new student of the game. Price is one of the most successful golfers on the PGA tour, with dozens of victories to his credit. But despite his success at an early age--he won his first international tournament at the age of 17--he retains the humility and appreciation for the difficulty of the golf swing that I thought only a mediocre golfer like me could have. I'm a hopeless hacker, who at the age of 43 has just begun taking the first golf lessons in my life. Price's book has served as the catalyst to bringing my scores down from three digits into the 90s. Learning from a golf book by itself is impossible, but a book like Price's makes a terrific touchstone, a masterwork that a golfer can return to again and again. To that end, it's publishing in a kind of hard cover binder, with blank pages at the back for a student's notes, to which pages may be added to with a visit to any stationary store. (I suggest that future editions could come with more pages, and perhaps some forms for tracking progress.) Price has a literate, direct prose style which makes the most esoteric aspects of the swing straight-forward. (ever try reading an explanation of "tempo" in another golf book?) He builds one concept on another, from the grip to the address, to the swing itself. Within each concept, his observations and recommendations avoid jargon, and build from Price's own thoughtful curiosity about the complexities of the simple act of hitting a ball with a stick. Framing his central discussion about the swing are opening biographical chapters and a closing except from his own personal "swing journal," in which he kept observations about the golf swing while on the PGA tour. In a field jammed with pompus hack jobs, "The Swing," is as simple, sound and as satsfying as an easy 190 yard 4-iron to the heart of the green. It's the one golf book to buy, if you're only buying one. --Rohn Jay Miller, San Francisc