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Availability:
In Stock.
Arrives
Tuesday, Nov 3
At a glance
- Condition
- New
- Dimensions
- 7 x 0.7 x 9.25 in
- Weight
- 1.6 lb
- Publisher
- Skyhorse
- Publication date
- January 16, 2018
- Edition
- Reprint
- Language
- English
Description
This full-color modern classic of golf instruction by teaching pro Manuel de la Torre (former PGA Teacher of the Year and Golf Digest ranked teacher) presents a simple approach to the golf swing based on Ernest Jones’s widely praised principles. Understanding the Golf Swing includes information on the philosophy of the golf swing (with emphasis on the development of a true swinging motion), the most thorough analysis of ball flights available, and analysis of the principles of special shot play (including sand play, pitching, chipping, putting, and playing unusual shots) and the mental side of golf and effective course management. The final chapter offers an organized approach to understanding golf courses and playing conditions. The result is a blend of philosophy and practical advice found in few golf instructional books. Read more
Specs 9
| Publisher | Skyhorse |
|---|---|
| Publication date | January 16, 2018 |
| Edition | Reprint |
| Language | English |
| Print length | 264 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1510725970 |
| ISBN-13 | 73 |
| Item Weight | 1.6 pounds |
| Dimensions | 7 x 0.7 x 9.25 inches |
No specs match.
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Top Amazon Reviews
When you are ready to keep it simple
I'll start by saying that I don't play full rounds of golf as much as I should. I go to the range more often. Almost anyone will tell you that you have to play the full game to get better, and I agree. Believe me, whenever I retire, this is the game I want to play. Not necessarily because I play well, but because I want to play well. In the search for a great golf swing, my room is literally full of piles of golf books, magazines, VHS tapes and DVD's. I also have been a subscriber to a number of online instructional websites. It would be unfair to say that any one of these did not do something to help my game. The problem is, it has taken me this long to realize that too much of this information, including some very conflicting swing theories, is a very bad thing! I am not sure where I first heard of Ernest Jones and his "Swing the Clubhead" book. I decided to give this book a read, and right away liked the simplicity of his approach. Yet somehow I could not translate his thoughts to my swing. When a heard that Manuel de la Torre is a "disciple" of this type a swing, as well as his very impressive playing and teaching background, I gave his book (and later his DVD) a shot. What I really like about his approach is again the simplicity. At times he compares the golf swing to other routine things we do without necessarily thinking. For example, when we throw a ball, we don't think of exactly where the hip, wrist or ankle are as we are making the throw. Granted there needs to be a good sense of the target when throwing a ball. The more you get used to throwing to the target, the better you will get, and in the process getting the FEEL of how to throw it without thinking about it. The same is true of the golf swing. If you read the other favorable reviews of this book, you will see that the keys are visualizing the overall SWING (NOT THE BALL) and taking into account some very simple mechanics to achieve the swing. His basis of the swing is the FULL swing, with the ball only "getting in the way" during the swing. If you are like me and have spent years hitting golf balls, that can be a tough concept to lock into. If you can get this, you are on your way. Manuel's approach is that by keeping the swing rather than the ball as the central thought, the other body parts will take care of themselves. Granted, like anything it takes some regular practice to get the right feel of this swing to be consistent. I have been using this approach for about 6 months, and I can at least say that my shots are a lot more accurate than they were before. Hopefully the better scores will follow. I have seen some improvement there too, but will know better when I start playing more. With this approach, I at least feel more confident when I do get out there. As a side note, to find a way to practice the golf swing more often, I bought some practice hitting mats and Birdie Balls. If you are not familiar with these, Birdie Balls when struck travel only about 40-60 yards. That way I can have these in my car and turn any given empty baseball field into my own personal driving range. The hitting mats are so you won't tear up the grass (and should keep you out of jail if the cops happen to be driving by). Make sure the mats are heavy enough so they will stay in pace as you are hitting them. I happen to use Real Feel mats. Overall this is a great way to keep your swing going if you can't get to the course or range. Give them a try! P.S. I started off giving this book 4 stars, but after rechecking the table of contents, I switched it to 5. With the possible exception of an in-depth discussion of golf equipment, this book (240 pages) is very comprehensive, including both the physical and mental aspects of the overall game. Definitely a solid book, and an excellent value!
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Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2012 by Aging Rocker
Terrific Golf Instruction Book
Format: Hardcover
Am an avid golfer and over the past 30 years, have enjoyed reading every golf instruction book possibly ever written, and tested each theory in the process. This book encompasses all instruction ever written, in that it shows why each theory is correct, but only for the author. In other words, de la Torre shows and proves that moving a golf club in a positive manner using a swinging motion, will create different idiosyncracies for each person moving the club. Hogan moved it differently than Nicklaus, who moved it differently than Tiger, etc etc. However, the common denominator in all is that each of their bodies responded to the swinging motion of the clubhead, in order to produce the intended result: that of moving the club in a centrifugal motion toward the target. De la Torre's golf theory comes from his father Angel and from the seminal voice of Ernest Jones, father of the Swing the Clubhead theory. De la Torre differs from Jones in his explanation for swinging the clubhead in a simple yet I believe correct way. Instead of the hands swinging the clubhead all the way through the swing, de la Torre believes that on the downswing, the golfer swings the entire club (not just the clubhead) using the arms (that part of the arm from the shoulder to the elbow) toward the target, and that the body responds to the movement of the clubhead while using the arms. After all, centrifugal force starts at the center of the circle, the radius point, and that in a golf swing is between the shoulders - this is precisely why he says swing with the arms on the downswing. His teaching revealed to him that the language of swing the clubhead only on the downswing made golfers too handsy, as the golfer's hands should instead be sensing and reacting to the outward pull of the clubhead. De la Torre's approach is simple yet powerful. What did I do wrong, a phrase that every teacher hears and responds to, is replaced with "you did not do what you should." In other words, corrective or negative focus is replaced with a positive focus. As de la Torre says, when we drive home, do we think of all the places we do not want to travel? His simplicity has as its cornerstone of moving the club in a centrifugal and positive manner. The swing is an arc, and in any given arc, centrifugal motion creates the greatest amount of speed and accuracy possible. His backswing consists of only using the hands to move the clubhead in a centrifugal motion over the right shoulder, while the relaxed body responds to the movement. And the downswing is nothing more than moving the entire club using the upper arms only, again, as the body responds to the movement of the club. Watch Tiger really hit one hard - he doesn't think of whipping his hips more quickly, he only thinks of moving his arms quicker, and his body will move naturally to support that motion. The golf swing is nothing more than moving the club in a centrifugal manner towards the target - the body does nothing but respond to that movement. That is the essense of de la Torre's teaching - absolutely perfect and will be unequaled as long as golf is played.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2004 by Sandwah
A simple, repeatable swing
Format: Paperback
Been playing golf for over 40 years, averaging once a week with little other practice. Usually a 15 handicap, give or take. Will play well for a few rounds, then lose the feel. Picked up this book on a friend’s recommendation and watched some of the author’s videos online. De la Torre advocates a much simpler motion than most other teachers. He cautions against shifting weight to the trail leg on the backswing, and positions the club more in the palm of the left hand (for a right handed player). I’ve been using his advice for about 10 weeks, and honestly feel my ball striking is much improved. Probably have lost a few yards, but the ball tracks much straighter, and fat shots have disappeared. I’m not saying his swing is the best, but for someone who doesn’t practice often, it seems to be a truly simple and repeatable motion.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2022 by ROBERT WILLIAMS
Great for Lefties
Format: Hardcover
I am lefthanded, and I also golf lefthanded. As any leftie golfer will tell you, reading golf instructions books and articles is a challenge, since they are typically written with a "right" oriented golfer in mind. Mr. La Torre was courteous enough to insert comments for us lefties, so as to make it easier to follow. As to the content, I have amassed quite a collection of golf books, determined to find a repeatable swing that will generate the maximum power with the least amount of stress on my low back. After reading this book [the second time through!]I began swinging with the deliberate intention of finishing in a balanced follow-through position, concentrating on not accelerating on my downswing or trying to control or direct my weight shift. It was without a doubt the best ball-striking of the summer! And on the occasional miss-hits I was able to understand better what I did, and how I deviated from the teachings of Mr. La Torre. It's interesting that the solution he lists for the majority of our most common swing faults is to focus on swinging the club with our arms [defined in the book as "from shoulder to elbow"] rather than with any other body parts. What happens when you do this is that the body responds naturally to what the arms are doing. The hardest part is just allowing yourself to try to swing like this, and not falling back into your old habits. I highly recommend this book to any insanely addicted golfer who is convinced he or she has a better swing locked inside of themselves. Update: August 2, 2008- My 14 year old son and I just returned from a three day visit to Milwaukee, where we had the privilege of taking lessons from Mr. de la Torre, something that another reviewer had suggested. This trip memorable for a father and son excursion, as well as a dream fulfilled. My son is a beginning golfer, so he was able to learn the correct method of swinging from the man himself. For me, Mr. de la Torre reinforced the teachings contained in his book, and yes, it really is as simple as he says it is. Simply amazing. Thank you, Mr. de la Torre, for putting your years of wisdom down on paper for the benefit of the golfing world!
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Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2006 by Lefty Pittsburgh
I think I found the swing I was always looking for.
Format: Hardcover
I consider myself a student of golf, someone that studies the golf swing. I have over 60 golf books and countless DVD's and tapes. I don't necessarily read all this to change my swing but I enjoy reading about the golf swing. I can tell you there are many ways to swing the golf club. The more I know the more I realize how confusing it is and why people have so much problems with the swing. What I have learned through all this is that there are some swings more suited to one person and not to another. I spent 10 months of hard work trying to learn a flatter one plane swing. Even though I shot 78 with that swing I know it just wasn't suited to me. I am a more upright swinger, a two planer as Jim Hardy would call it. It feels more natural for me. It was really by accident that I got a hold of Manuel De La Torre's book. It caught my attention since he is basically a two planer, a more upright swinger. When I first read through the book skimming as I was going along I completely missed on how to swing the club. I had to go back again and look through the chapter index to find where it was. The whole section on the mechanics of the swing is very short, so short you might miss it like I did. Having been use to reading detailed descriptions on how to swing a golf club I was rather struck by how little he had to say. My first feeling was this book was a waste of my time. He spends, it seems, more time on grip than he does on how to swing the club So I went back and read that little section on swinging the club. Made some practice swings and within a very short time felt for the first time what I felt was the way a golf swing should feel like. It was too simple. The genius behind this swing is just that. It is so simple that for most people the simplicity will be very difficult to deal with. They will try and throw all kinds of previous ideas or make their body work differently because the swing really can't be that simple. The remarkable thing about how he gets you to swing is the swing adapts to you, you don't adapt to the swing. So every person will have a different swing but that swing is his or her swing and that is why it is so magical. I probably spent about 15 minutes practicing the swing in my living room and then read his entire book with out skiming this time. It is a simple read and goes by pretty quickly since he doesn't have a lot of detail you have to memorize. I went out to the golf range the next day but really not expecting a great deal. I often read a book and practice the swing in front of a mirror but find when you go and actually try and hit a ball it doesn't always translate like it should. My expectations were somewhat low but I made my first swing. It was a pull not bad but it was solid. My next one was also a pull then I remembered that section of faults but really it was just adhering to what little rules he had. My next shot was dead straight. I went from a 7 iron hitting all the way up to a driver. I was impressed, not by the way I was hitting but because it happened so fast. I felt confidence within a very short period and the swing felt like it was mine. My last swing change took 10 months of dedicated work and this one took one day most of it just reading the book. Now I know some and maybe quite a few are going to try this and feel it is worthless. After reading 60 books and having over a dozen golf instructors in my golfing career I can only tell you this is the simplest and easiest swing I have ever tried. It may be difficult to get that feel. I found it almost instantly but once you feel that swing you won't need another book or another golf instructor again.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2010 by dky
The Best for Most of Us
Format: Hardcover
If you want to know how to move your body to simulate a golf swing, then go elsewhere. This book with the companion DVD, is probably the finest combined instruction work for many average to very good golfers. The DVD helps illustrate the concepts in the book and is, in my opinion, necessary to get the full benefit of what Mr. de la Torre teaches. Listening to him and then re-reading the book allows reflection and understanding of how his system actually works. And it does work. I am a lower handicap player -- a scratch player a few years ago before age and injury took their toll. Like many of the reviewers, this book is part of a library of golf materials -- including years of Golf Digest and Golf Magazine. My library includes all Harvey Penick's books and his videotapes, all of Johnny Miller's video series, Eddie Merrins' book and DVD set, Plummer & Bennett's book and DVDs on Stack and Tilt, Leadbetter on Hogan, Flick on Golf, Tom Watson's books and DVD, Tiger Woods' book, Hogan's Five Fundamentals and Power Golf, Haney's Essentials of the Swing and The Only Golf Lesson You Will Ever Need, McLean on Hogan and The Slot Swing, Ernest Jones' Swing the Clubhead, Nicklaus's Golf My Way and Golden Lessons, the Pelz series, the Utley series, The Plane Truth and the Plane Truth Master Class, Floyd on Scoring, Phil Mickelson's book and DVD on the short game, Jacob's Practical Golf...and so many others, it is depressing. For my money, the concept Mr. de la Torre attempts to teach as the central concept for learning and playing the game is the more useful of any of them. We DON'T know how our bodies actually move -- modern photography and video analysis has taught us that. Feel is helpful, but it can mislead. So one needs a visual concept of the motion of the swing. The book and the DVD help provide that. When Mr. de la Torre speaks on the DVD, it amplifies the concepts in the book. The book provides a reference for the DVD. And it is not just "swing the club" as some reviewers have suggested. For example, the explanation of "balance" in the grip helps immensely. The discussion of "squaring" to the target makes sense. Most of all the description of the swing in the DVD as an attempt to prevent the body from getting in the way of the swing is a wonderful "feel" tip. Using what one learns in this book and the DVD allows a player to create something that one sees on tour, but rarely sees on the practice tee among even good amateurs: a rhythmic, circular swing. Because the concepts and teachings are positive conceptual prescriptions rather than specific fixes, one cannot overdo them (believe it, I tried). The problem with applying what Mr. de la Torre teaches comes in learning the difference between swinging and creating leverage for a push "swing". There is a difference. If you learn by feel, try to get something like a whippy club or Orange Whip to help with the feel. If your nature is just to work on fixing what each part of your body does -- if that is the only way you can learn -- don't buy this book because you won't get much from it. But if you are willing to work on learning to swing the club and not muscle the club, the book and DVD can provide real help. By the by, for those who believe this is not a fine instructional set, you should read Jim Flick "On Golf," who discusses a pendulum type swing for most golfers, Tom Watson's descriptions of what he is doing -- reacting to the club (the mechanical descriptions are for the reader), Nicklaus's discussion of Watson's swing and his (which says the body movements Nicklaus describes are reactions to the swinging action of the club and how it feels when he does what he does) or John Jacob's discussion of "swinging" in Practical Golf. Mr. de la Torre's approach uses visualization and feel (with visualization as the predominant tool) to teach the motion we seek to learn. It is actually a modern approach. Do the book and DVD do everything? No. His method of bunker play works, but Utley's artificial technique works better for me. He doesn't describe all the specialty shots one can play. And, in my opinion, one needs both the book and DVD to get the most out of Mr. de la Torre's teachings. But for what the book and the DVD are -- concept and application explained in a number of ways as applied to most of our shots -- they are the best. For most of us. Because, as Mr. de la Torre would say, we are all individuals. So his teaching may not work for everyone. But I think it will work for most people.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2012 by MJ Schirmer
Would be a better magazine article
Format: Hardcover
I am glad I read this book - sort of. If you are new to golf, I don't know whether this is the best book for you. His concept of the swing is to not think about it, which I agree with. However, if someone is new to the game, there are certain mechanics which should be learned first. Its like teaching your teen to drive a car. The ultimate goal is to drive without thinking about it, but certain deliberate skills must be learned first. I found the concepts of the book more intriguing than actually reading it. This book is not like a David Leadbetter or Dave Peltz book that I just couldn't put down. I had to force myself to read through certain sections. It also seemed kind of choppy. Having said that, I found the concept very useful. As a 10 handicap, I went out and utilized his technique and struck the ball more solidly than I ever have. Personally, it was a real breakthough for my swing. So, I am glad I read this book, but I wished I had just checked it out of the local library, because I doubt I will have to refer back to it. Perhaps this concept could have been shrunk down to one Golf Magazine article. For true beginners, there are far better instructional books (Leadbetter and Faldo are excellent). After you have an understanding of the golf swing, I would definitely read the book.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2003 by Cap M
Making golf simplified
Format: Paperback
I have been playing, reading articles, watching YouTube videos forever and never accomplish what I wanted. Reading this book is better than Golfing for Dummies! Everything he talks about gives you a foundation to work from. I'm 60 years old and running out of time to try every new coaching tip. After reading this book, Knowing the basic fundamentals I want to accomplish, I will enjoy the game more and quit chasing the tweaks for a moments improvement. The golfers of old were scoring the same scores with inferior equipment worse agronomy. Yes courses are longer now for the professionals but the game is still the same. Raw talent and the ability to play and practice daily is the real key at that level
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Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2022 by Amazon Customer