The Laws of the Golf Swing: Body-Type Your Swing and Master Your Game

This book does not get as much advance play as some written by top players or the "guru of the month", but it should be in every serious player's library. Too many golfers (myself included), have spent years twisting ourselves into pretzels trying to emulate Davis Love or Tiger Woods when we swing. If we are built more like Craig Stadler or Jeff Sluman, we are in for some heartache (and probably backache as well). This wonderful little book demolishes the myth that "your fundamentals" must be precisely the same as Faldo's...or Tiger's...or anyone who doesn't have your physical attributes. A brilliant primer on why you are your own best guide to building "your" swing. (Suttie has a degree in biomechanics and is a top teacher as well). Do your golf game and your back a favor and develop "golf your way".

Excellent book. Suttie, Tomasi, and Adams do a great job explaining how the golf swing really works. Most great teachers would agree with the material presented in this book-It is the only book I have read that dosen't contradict what another book says. I compared the book to Golf My Way, and The Modern Fundamentals of Golf and both correlate with what The LAWs of Golf Teaches. In his book, Hogan writes, the shorter your arc the more quickly you need to get your left hip out of the way." That fits quite nicely with the LAWs Theory. The book also adds to the theory that the golf swing is a chain action, which was proposed by Hogan in his book, by telling how the position of the left foot influences how quickly the energy in your lower body is transfered up through the club. As a tall flexible arc player this book has helped me understand my game for once. Now I know why I have a tendency to come from the outside and have fixed that amazingly quickly with the help of the Laws model. In my opinion the book is a must for every golf enthusiast.

The one book I hope the guys in my foursome never discover. I love them, except on the golf course. The is no one correct golf swing for every player. Just check out what three different books tell you about the grip. None of them agree. With this book you match your body type to a basic swing type. Arc for the tall heaver player, width for the broad chested player and leverage for the tall skinner player. Book covers it all grip, setup, alignment, take away and downswing keys. As no one is a perfect body type gives you a map on what to add to your swing to achieve your goal. Now if I can just find a book to do for my putting what this one has done for my swing.

If you have read several golf instruction books or magazine articles about the full golf swing, then you have surely noticed that they don't all say the same thing. They give conflicting advice. Sometimes the conflict is more apparent than real, because different teachers may use different words and images to try to convey the same ideas. But in other cases there are real conflicts in the advice. For example, should your 5-iron ball position be two inches inside your left heel, or in the center of your stance? Should you use a strong grip or a neutral grip? Should you start the backswing with a one-piece takaway (arms, hips and shoulders together) or should you lead with your hands? Should you start the downswing with a hip-slide or a knee kick or what? And do the hips lead the arms or should they start together? Mike Adams et al help you sort out all of this conflicting advice and find the swing that is best for you. They describe three different swing types ! (Leverage, Arc, and Width [with two variations of width]) and explain which setup and swing elements go together successfully, and which elements cannot be successfully combined ("magic versus tragic" combinations). Your correct swing type depends mainly on your body build, and also on your flexibility. Once you understand your ideal swing type, you can fine tune it according to your typical ball flight pattern. In the two months before I bought the LAWS book I had been trying to learn to swing like Jack Nicklaus as described in his Golf My Way book. I wasn't having much success at it. The LAWS book explained why: I'm not built like Jack, and I'm not as flexible as he is (or was). I am rebuilding my swing in a way that isn't too different from what I had been doing naturally before I tried Nicklaus, but with the LAWS advice I am getting rid of some incompatible setup and swing elements and replacing them with compatible elements. The LAWS advice has already! led to better, more consistent drives and full fairway sho! ts, and I expect further improvement as I continue to practice and fine-tune my swing. LAWS is the most valuable book on the full swing in my golf library. My father bought LAWS recently, and he says he wishes it had been available 40 years ago.--Bill from Bangor