Corey Pavins Shotmaking [Paperback]

Corey Pavin (Author), Guy Yocum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1997

Corey Pavin teaches you the shots that have made him the most complete player in golf today: how to control trajectory; how to apply spin to the ball; how to "work the ball" left or right to tight hole locations and more. He tells you when to be conservative or aggressive from 150 to 100 yards in, enabling you to handle difficult holes with ease. He shows you how to build a solid wedge game, from full pitching wedge to half sand wedge. He also describes his putting technique that will help you sink money putts from four feet and in, as well as putts from long range.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671545132
• ISBN-13: 978-0671545130
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,161,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good lessons to round out the intermediate player's game, June 10, 2003

By 

max fischer "max-fischer" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Corey Pavins Shotmaking (Paperback)

Corey Pavin's Shotmaking was written in 1996, after his miracle win in the 1995 US Open at Shinnecock. So in a sense you get the feeling that this book is simply going to be a commercial capitalization of his fame and (brief) reemergence on the tour. But this book surprises and there is more than enough meat in here that even the single digit handicapper will get some good use out of it (as I did). This book is and isn't a few things:

What This Book Is:
- Exactly what the title says, a book about shotmaking, i.e. converting a bad fairway lie into a GIR, shortening a dogleg left by drawing a tee shot, or getting up and down by flopping a wedge over a sandtrap.
- A book that relies on the golfer to "get it" (as in "ah ha, I get it!") through words supplemented by B&W pictures.

What This Book Isn't:
- A book about fundamentals. While there is a chapter on fundamentals, it is there just so everyone is on the same page when it addresses the more complicated stuff.
- A book that will handhold. While there are good B&W still shots, they are smallish and there are no time series shots so the golfer must be able to pick up the concepts from reading as well as pictures.
- A book on trick shots - it's intermediate to advanced stuff in here, but not gimmicky.

While at times the lessons he's pulled out to share seem a bit like a grab bag of ideas, this book is a good effort at moving the 80s/90s golfer to better mastery of the course and he does cover the entire course from tee to green. My sense is Corey (and his publisher) knew the correct marketing angle to take with this book and that was not as a power player or textbook swing example, it was shotmaker.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn to make many different shots, August 2, 2006

By 

Current 3L "Law Student" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Corey Pavins Shotmaking (Paperback)

Corey Pavin may not be the longest hitter, but he sure makes up for it in his short game. Here he explains how he does it. He begins with drivers and woods and how to hit high or low, draws or fades. He then moves to long irons (2 - 4 irons) and again how to hit these four types of shots. Next he describes medium irons (5 and 6) and how to maximize their utility. He then describes short irons. Wedges have a chapter to themselves, as do hitting out of the sand and putting. Each chapter gives an all-around description of how to expect to hit each type of club and how each can be hit. For instance, woods you should expect to hit for distance and can add a huge draw or fade, but short irons you hit for accuracy and don't want (or need) to add huge amounts of sidespin, but you can add backspin to keep the ball on the green. He expertly describes pitch and chip shots. The big drawback of the book is that it expects that you are very familiar with golfer jargon (he uses many phrases like "outside to inside.") All you need if you aren't familiar with them is look them up, but a glossary would have been extremely helpful for those who don't know them. Overall though, Pavin is an excellent teacher, especially with the most difficult accuracy shots like pitch and chip shots, as well as shots out of the sand. I highly recommend this book to those who basically know how to swing the club but want to learn about various shots they can add to their repertoire.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a nice guide to shotmaking, March 30, 2004

By 

Living in Budapest "livinginhungary" (Budapest, Hungary (originally Ann Arbor, MI)) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Corey Pavins Shotmaking (Paperback)

I should qualify this review by saying that I've been a fan of Corey Pavin's since the 80s. He's far from being a long hitter, but is proof that you don't always need to hit the ball a long way (though unfortunately this seems to be changing in the 21st century!). It's amazing to watch Corey shape his shots. I was excited when he released his book and shared his technique. While his book can certainly be read by golfers of all levels, it will probably benefit the intermediate to advanced golfer the most. I can imagine that it might be difficult to execute his technique without sound fundamentals. Corey's comments on strategy are also very helpful...probably cut a couple of strokes from my handicap! I would recommend this book to golfers who want a better understanding of how to shape shots.